Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Sep 13 10:45:00 2005

>>> Jack, in a swing with good a good stationary axis and BHT, is the front shoulder being pulled back to the catcher right away, or is it rotating out toward the pitcher first and THEN back toward the catcher? I have problems when I start my shoulders going out toward the pitcher at first. It causes problems with my lead arm, and it seems that my shoulder pulls my upper body toward the pitcher as well, causing me to lung slightly. I find I get a more stationary axis and better BHT with tighter shoulder rotation when I bring the fron shoulder to the catcher right away. Thanks again Jack. <<<

Hi Dougdinger

The head, spine and lead-shoulder can move forward during the stride. But before you initiate the swing and your shoulders start to rotate, all forward (linear) motion should have ceased. The shoulders then rotate around a stationary axis (the spine).

A batter’s inward-turn of the lead-shoulder will have it pointing in the direction of the second baseman. As the shoulders start to rotate, the lead-shoulder does rotate past the pitcher – but there should be no forward movement (or lunging) of the axis (head and spine).

The reason you should have the mental image of your lead-shoulder rotating past facing-the-pitcher back to the 105 degree position, is because that is what maximizes BHT and creates the hook in the hand-path. In this clip - http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/mac03.mpeg – note how the pulling back of the lead-shoulder also causes the bottom-hand to “hook” back toward the catcher.

Jack Mankin