Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Jan 10 16:10:27 2006

>>> I was playing around today, swinging the bat, and I tried to pull the bat with both fingers, as opposed to only the top hand. If you are righty, this is a pull to the LEFT with the left hand and a pull to the RIGHT with the right hand.

Jack, you have advised us to only pull with the top hand. Why not both hands? <<<

Hi Brett

Both hands are applying force from opposing direction. Even though the bottom-hand remains back at the shoulder during initiation, shoulder rotation drives the bottom-hand around toward the pitcher as the top-hand pulls rearward (THT). Using the muscles of the lead-arm to drive the hand forward separates the arm from the chest to soon and produces a less productive hand-path (CHP).

Note in clip - http://www.batspeed.com/media/THTHigh.wmv , I suggest placing a playing card between the chest and lead-arm. The batter should be able to bring the bat to contact without the card falling – unless jammed or pulling an outside pitch. Keeping the card in place requires the batter to use shoulder rotation rather than the arm to pull on the knob.

Jack Mankin