Posted by: phil (philipland@aol.com) on Fri Aug 5 18:21:56 2005

> Phil,
>
> I said “hands and arms”, you changed it to “arms and wrists”.

******When I think of the action of the hands in the swing, I think of the movement of the hands at the wrists.******

> Why did you put the word “releasing” in quotes?

******Because it is what I would term the final arcing of the bat. I know it's usd in golf, but I wasn't sure if it was an appropriate term to use in a description of a baseball swing.*****

> Why do you advocate building arm strength (heavy ball drill) for “releasing” the bat?

******I don't advocate it, but feel it could be useful in building strength, as would any type of resistance drill that targets muscles used in the swing. The release of the bat, in my opinion, is an unhinging of the wrists, and to a lesser extent, the elbow. Added strength , I feel, will add force to this release.*****

> I’ll be more straightforward with my question:
> Do you feel the hands and arms (in and of themselves, not from or thru other parts of anatomy) provide any power/force to the bat?
>
******If you mean just their mass, no. If you mean their strength, you cannot speak of them in and of themselves because their muscular attachments, and hence leverage points depend on other parts of the body.******
>
> “How about some good instructional sites?”
>
> Who are you kidding, Phil?
> You're more than a novice, Phil.
> You cannot (or should I say, should not) teach (I’m assuming you are a coach- correct me if I am wrong) what you do not believe.
> Williams, Lau, Ferroli, Schmidt, Gywnn, Baker, Mankin, Epstein, Emanski, Nyman, Hudgens, Candrea, Slaught, Peavy, etc. teach what they believe.
> You must realize YOUR OWN beliefs.

******Actually, I'm just a dad who likes to understand why and how things are done. I'm not a coach, but I'll go out on the field to help out if asked. I've just become frustrated by what some coaches are teaching. I have played alot of baseball and am amazed at how uneducated some are at teaching baseball. I'm very mechanically detailed with my golf swing, and I'm approaching the baseball swing from the same perspective. Even before I found this site, when I video taped baseball games I would slow motion swings to try to understand the mechanics players were using. What pushed me over the edge was when an AAU coach started using drills th have hitters swing down through the ball to create back spin. The other term I never understood, and still disagree with was throw the top hand at the ball. This is the only site I've found where detailed mechanics (as detailed as sequential finger firing) are explained and dicussed. So my question about other sites was sincere.******

> One way: mlb.com
>
> And to put it into action:
>
>
> http://www.coach.ca/WOMEN/e/journal/feb2003/pg1.htm#Roots