Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Nov 9 15:19:13 2008

>>> Jack,

In the Final Arc 2 DVD, you mention that you don't agree with teaching students to hit by using the Numbers Drills (1-2-3). I'm not sure I understood your reasoning on the DVD. Could you elaborate as to why you don't like these types of drills? <<<

Hi Ken

Regardless of what John implies, my problem with the drill has nothing to do with Epstein’s teaching. It has been some time since I reviewed Mike’s videos and therefore I do not recall whether or not he even referred to the drill. How Mike teaches lower-body mechanics has not been my major disagreement with his program. Our major differences have to do with the upper-body mechanics that transfers the body’s rotational energy into bat speed – the mechanics (CHP & THT) John refers to as “information overload.”

First, let me describe the (1-2-3) drill I have problems with – (1) The batter strides (2) The batter fully opens the hips while the keeping the shoulders closed (3) the batter swings. – My problem is with what occurs during #2. As the batter fully opens the hips while restricting shoulder rotation, he has used up the contractions of leg and pelvic muscles under a no-load condition. Basically, those muscles were expended just freewheeling the hips.

With the potential energy of the legs and pelvic region already exhausted, this leaves only the muscles of the torso region available to power shoulder rotation as the swing is being initiated. This may be acceptable with linear mechanics where the hands are extended in a straighter path and bat-head acceleration occurs much later in the swing. These mechanics requires less power from the shoulders during the initiation phase.

However, rotational transfer mechanics generate much earlier bat speed from the application of THT and a CHP. These mechanics place a larger load on shoulder rotation. The greater demand on the rotational power of the shoulders requires much more efficient use the muscles of the legs and pelvic region. Therefore, rather than allowing the hips to freewheel, you will find the best hitter’s engaging shoulder rotation just after the hips start cocking open.
This allows the legs and pelvic muscles to be engaged in powering the shoulders.

Jack Mankin