Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Mar 16 18:44:48 2001

>>> Here's a visual aid. I synced it as good as I could and added frame numbers. It appears his weight did shift more (earlier) in the one on the right. His stride leg was coming down sooner in relationship to the start of the swing.

It was synced at the point of front foot rollover. It appears the swing started at the same time but the stride started earlier on the second clip. Lunged a bit more and didn't stay back as long. Fooled a little yes.

I personally think he is generally rotational with a softer landing. However, he does use his weight to power rotation IMO.

He "sits to hit" and many confuse the "ground-loading" of the lead leg/knee with lunging. These types of hitters IMO do this intentionally and use this as a rotational power source (from the ground up). <<<

Hi Tim --- http://members.home.net/blackhawks12/A-ROD-View.gif

We all owe you our thanks for the excellent job you did. I wish more coaches would have offered their analysis but I would be glad to write a few of my thoughts. --- I find it easier to do swing reviews where I am describing the mechanic while dubbing a frame-by-frame video rather than writing about it later. But here are a few things I jotted down.

Others have already covered his lower-body mechanics so I will point out some of the transfer mechanics he uses to develop bat speed. – It is quite obvious from both front and side views that he applied top-hand-torque as his back elbow lowered to his side. The bat-head was clearly accelerated in an arc back and down toward the catcher.

Coaches that do not understand THT, some of them major league professionals, would say that starting the swing with a raised elbow is “Bad Advise.” They say “a loop” in the swing occurs as the elbow is lowered. And they are right, the bat is looping back-and-downward with considerable speed and energy. But if the “loop” is accelerated into the plane of the swing (inline with the lead arm), then a batter like A-Rod does not have to overcome the inertia of a static bat. His bat already has energy and bat speed as he initiates the swing. Like getting a running start in a 20 yard dash.

Remember, the lead arm sets the plane of the swing. Note in the frontal view how A-Rod’s bat is always inline with the lead arm from frame #1 to contact. Therefore, as he starts applying THT in frame #7, the bat-head is being accelerated (back toward the catcher) into the swing plane. This is how he can develop that great bat speed and yet make it look so smooth, loose and easy.

There are other things I want to point out about his transfer mechanics. But I do not want this post to get to long – so I will continue tomorrow.

Jack Mankin