Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Sun Nov 13 22:27:37 2005

Jack-

As I mentioned above,I think the top of the swing in hitting is about when the back elbow
starts down.This is when the "club" or bat "starts gathering speed"/"starts down fromt the
top. This is the same phase as what you would call "pre-launch tht" - the initial gathering
speed is the bat uncoking/accelerating back toward the catcher.Forward weight shift has
preceded this,then continues and blends in with hip turn just as described by Jones in this
Bonds clip (see below) for example.This is also when the major "sit" occurs in both golf
and hitting.See first swing (this clip has several BP swings,the last one from the rear
shows arm action/tht very well):

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/Bonds12.mpeg

Forward shift of front hip does not stop until after the pre-launch tht has begun,and even
then the body mass continues forward as the hips go "UP". I would even estimate that this
means the center of mass does not fall back before contact even though the head does
fade back some,but this would require experimental measurement to confirm.