Posted by: yesisbest () on Sun Feb 5 12:41:26 2006

> Hi Yesisbest
>
> Your post is well thought out and I am in agreement that the back-arm must be driving forward for maximum torque to be applied. I have always disagreed with those that believe bat speed is generated solely by the lead-arm “hooking” the bottom-hand back and the back-arm is just going along for the ride. They maintain that in a high level swing, there is no torque being applied to accelerate the bat to contact. They believe the acceleration is strictly due to the decrease in the arc radius (hook) of the hand-path generated from the lead-side.
>
> Pressure censors place around the handle show that is not the case. It shows that as the bat accelerates to contact, the palm of the top-hand is applying a forward force on the handle about equal to that the fingers of the bottom-hand exert pulling rearward.
>
> So, Yesisbest, if we have a disagreement, it may be in what is driving the top-hand and why the back-elbow remains back on some swings and is more extended on others. I maintain that shoulder rotation is mainly responsible for driving the top-hand forward with the arm muscles contributing far less. I also maintain that how far the back-arm is extended at contact is governed by pitch location and how much the ball is pulled (degrees the bat-head is rotated past perpendicular). – What are your thoughts?
>
> Jack Mankin

My thoughts can be summed up with one question: What is the downside of extending the back elbow at the very last moment of the swing in order to create that last boost of torque (as opposed to simply rotating with the elbow tucked)? What is detrimental about extending the back arm?