Posted by: Jack Mankin (Mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Feb 12 19:59:20 2001

>>> grc asks a very good, burning question with his post "question about BATSPEED' on Sun Dec 17 12:03:22 2000, right here at batspeed.

after reviewing the "El Grande" clips, - your response to grc (on Mon Dec 18 14:47:29 2000) was right dead on target.<<<

Hi Ray

When I ran the one-hand vs two-handed bat speed test, I started both swings with a static bat so as to eliminate any bat speed development prior to initiation. The one-hand test was initiated with the hand held high and stationary. Under those conditions I found the results as I described (wider and longer hand-path).

When I duplicated the test as shown on Paul’s clip, I found results similar to his. By using a hand motion similar to that of a catcher throwing side-armed to first base (from the chest, up to the ear and then around) I was able to generate a good deal of bat-head speed before body rotation and full initiation began. This did produce a somewhat tighter hand-path but the overall time and length of the swing seems to remain about the same.

I think it is interesting to note that in the one-handed swing, the torque supplied by the wrist is significant factor. This is not as true for the two-handed swing. With just one hand on the bat, the wrist has freedom of movement to apply torque over nearly the total range of the swing. But having both hands on the bat restricts the range of wrist movement. Torque in the two-handed swing is mostly supplied from the push-pull action of the arms.

Note: With a bat held in both hands, set down and place your elbows on a table. Note how little bat movement you can obtain with wrist action while keeping both elbows on the table.

Jack Mankin