Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Sep 11 23:40:12 2008

This thread is continued from --
A REAL Swing Review

>>> The MLB player was an ametuer at one time, he was not born a MLB player, these are the cues they have been using forever.

The MLB player can look at video also, it's not rocket science, we are not the only ones who have computers and cameras.

They know what they feel, they know what there trying to do.

Take David Wright for instance. I have a dvd with a drill he does, it is a one handed, top and then bottom. He says to use your hands and try to allow your shoulders to finish where they started. He says, this sounds weird, but try. He then has someone toss in front toss while he uses his top hand to fire the barrel around it and through the ball. Then the same thing with the bottom hand. It seems that he wants his shoulders to stay nuetral. He said he does this drill before every BP. This is a drill that forces the hands to work. Forces the feeling of the bat working around the hands. All while the shoulders stay nuetral. I think that we can probably agree that Wright has a good swing and is a good hitter. How can that be when he does a drill that you will probably think is useless? Scince he doesn't know what he does. <<<

Hi Graylon

I would like to offer a few observations regarding you’re above statement. First, let us address the role of the hands in the swing. I have always had a problem with the concept that we “hit with our hands.” The hands cannot move under their own power. Therefore, the only force the hands can apply to the bat is how tightly it is griped. Any pushing, pulling or rolling action that either hand applies to the bat must be transferred from shoulder rotation and arm movements.

In regards to David Wright’s mechanics, let us first address what accelerates his bottom-hand around the swing plane to contact. You have repeatedly stated that shoulder rotation plays little or no role in transferring power for the swing. In fact, you have stated a number of times that in order to maximize power and bat speed, shoulder rotation should be restricted.

This site has always maintained that since the bat-hands-wrist-arms segmentation is linked at the shoulders, it is the rotation of the shoulders that transfers the energy from the large muscles of the legs and torso to the bat. It is the initiation of shoulder rotation that initiates the acceleration of the hands. Therefore it is obvious that we have very different concepts of how energy is transferred in the swing.

Since you featured Wright’s swing, I have placed below a clip of his mechanics along with my analysis of how his shoulder rotation transfers power in his swing. According to you, Wright says “to use your hands and try to allow your shoulders to finish where they started.” Lets review his game swing and see if his “shoulders to finish where they started.”

Wright – hands/arms, tilt/rotation

Note: We are running out of space with this thread. I will continue this discussion as a new thread.

Jack Mankin