Posted by: Andrew (drog29@aim.com) on Wed Feb 1 17:09:37 2006

> Hi All
>
> I decided to start this month’s discussion with my take on hip rotation. We all agree that rotating the hips is an important factor in the swing. In fact, many seem to believe that if they can get the batter to attain good hip rotation, the rest of the swing will just naturally fall in line. I have always maintained that since the arms/wrists/hands/bat is linked at the shoulders rather than at the hips, the importance of hip rotation is its contribution to shoulder rotation.
>
> I also agree that most of the energy that powers a great hitters swing comes from the rotation of his/her body with much less coming from the contribution of the arms. However, even if the batter prefects his lower-body mechanics to generate great rotational energy, the amount of angular velocity his bat achieves from that rotation is governed by the efficiency of his upper-body transfer mechanics. – “Of what use is a 1000 hp engine … if the transmission slips?
>
> I have found that if a student has the correct mental image of how to correctly initiate the acceleration of the bat head, the mind will develop a sound lower-body program to accomplish it.
>
> Note: As I stated earlier, hip rotation is an important factor in the swing. What forces are acting on the hips to induce rotation is where you find most of the controversy. I will cover that next.
>
> Jack Mankin

Coach Jack,
What do you mean by "upper body transfer mechanics"? I think this is an are I need to better understand because when I take swings with what I feel is similar rotational energy from my hips, some balls seem to come off the bat much hotter than others. Even with the Swing Mate, I'll take two swings that I feel are very similar, but the speed will be 3-5 mph different.

One question about the Swing Mate, I have been putting it directly behind the ball about 2 1/2 feet when hitting off a tee. I am consistantly 88-90. When I place it as described on this website (a little off to the side), the speed s tend to read much slower. Why is that?

I know I am covering a lot, but I am still struggling with top hand torque. What is the timing of it? I understand the concept, but when I really try to add top hand torque (or what I think is tht) I tend to top the ball and hit a chopper to short or third off the end of the bat. Infact a lot of the balls I pull tend to have over spin. What do you think is going on? Thanks for your time.