Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Jul 24 15:03:27 2005

>>> I purchased the video, and have a question on the mechanics of the swing. Should the shoulders rotate on a fixed plane (ie parallel to the ground), or does the plane vary base on the height of the pitch? Also, the video talks about keeping the left arm across the chest, yet in the drills and swing clips, the left arm has separated at impact. At what point should the separation occur, and is the separation dependent on how far outside the pitch is? <<<

Hi Phil

There are batters who keep their axis of rotation in a more vertical position (Hank Aaron comes to mind) and therefore, their shoulders rotate more parallel to the ground. However, most of the best hitters have their axis tilted toward the plate and their shoulders are rotating more in the plane of the swing (tilted down toward contact).

The lead-arm should be across much of the chest during the initiation of the swing. The most productive CHP is developed when the batter keeps the hands back and allows shoulder rotation to fling them into the plane. Driving the lead-elbow forward and using the arms to accelerate the hands cause the lead-arm to separate from rotation too soon resulting in a straighter hand-path and less pendulum effect to accelerate the bat-head.

Once the swing is initiated and the hands are accelerating, the back-forearm starts to rotate and lower from a more vertical position down toward horizontal. As it does, much of the lead-arm will begin to cast away from the chest. The more the pitch is outside or the more the ball is pulled, the more the back-arm must extend and the farther the lead-arm casts from the chest.

Jack Mankin