Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sat Feb 11 19:56:40 2006

>>> This is my first post here. There is so much in the archived discussions that I feel like I've got to make a good faith effort to work through that stuff first before I can ask more of all the knowledgeable people on this board. But here, I can't resist.

Jack, given my relative inexperience, it would be difficult for me to argue with you about the merits of the importance of THT as opposed to lower body action. But, assuming you are correct, isn't it extraordinarily likely that the folks on this board owe that misconception directly to you?

I have reviewed The Final Arc 2 many times. In it, you say, and I quote, "Now I want to point out that this [THT]is an advanced mechanic, and John and I are not going to be working with the younger kids on this because really they should really have down their bottom hand torque -- be very proficient with that -- before they start getting into trying to add top hand torque to the swing."

What am I missing here?

I really like the dvd, really appreciate the work that has gone into this site (the reason I bought the dvd), amazed by your restraint and professionalism in dealing with this discussion board, which is online due to YOUR hosting (though it is valuable due to the diverse opinions presented as well). Keep up the good work. <<<

Hi Dan

Welcome to the site and, no, you are not missing anything. I did say that THT was an advanced mechanic and batters should be proficient with BHT before trying it. However, the more I work with young hitters, the more I find that in order for them to become proficient with BHT they still must learn to accelerate the bat-head rearward to the lag position during initiation. This requires the holding back (or pulling back) of the top-hand as lead-shoulder rotation pulls the bottom-hand around. BHT cannot be proficiently applied if the top-hand is driven forward during initiation.

The important point to remember is that in a great hitter’s swing, torque applied through their hands aid the pendulum effect of their CHP in accelerating the bat-head from initiation all the way to contact. I refer to the torque being applied as THT or BHT to denote which hand is applying a rearward force at that point of the swing.

Jack Mankin