Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Feb 9 14:23:06 2001

>>>I am confused. Bottom hand torque has the lead arm pulling back toward the catcher and against the 'stationary' (but turning with the body) top hand.
Top hand release allows the bottom hand/arm to pull forward and extend the arc of the swing.
Are these two theories advocating opposite directions of movement for the bottom hand at/after contact?
Or am I getting confused by terminology that sounds different but is the same in reality?<<<

Hi Major Dan

Good point. – On an inside pitch, the batter attains full shoulder rotation. The lead shoulder is now pulling back toward the catcher and the hands slow to a near stop at contact. And, as you pointed out, the back elbow is still at the batter’s side. – Under these conditions there is no reason (nor can anything be gained) to release the top hand during follow-through. In fact, as I point out earlier, it can be damaging.

But these are not the conditions found while swinging at an outside pitch. In order to reach an outside pitch, the shoulders can not fully rotate and the batter is relying more on top-hand-torque to develop bat speed. This means the lead arm will be casting away from chest and the back arm will need to extend much farther. The hands will not slow nearly as much at contact and are sweeping in a wider arc. --- If the batter does not release the top hand under these conditions, he will receive a hard jerk when the back arm becomes fully extended.

So, yes, the bottom hand does move quite different on inside and outside pitches. Major Dan, I hope this helps rather than cloud the issue.

Jack Mankin