Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Mar 28 17:54:23 2006

>>> I am totaly new to this site and relatively new to the art of hitting instruction. My 8 year old son is in his third year of organized baseball and he/we are going through a similiar problem with this years coach as the previous two. My son by all accounts (I hope I'm not just another blind dad) is avery gifted athlete. He is the tallest, strongest, fastest kid on his team and he is also the youngest and one of the least experienced players. He seems to have a gift for hitting a baseball and I take very little credit for his early success. I tought him the bare basics of hitting that I was taught: balanced stance, relaxed hands, short stride, eyes and hands to the ball. I knew nothing of the debate between rotational vs. linear mechanics. He naturaly finishes his swing high and lets go of the bat with his top hand.

The problem comes from all three of his coaches insist that he finishes the swing with both hands on the bat. His current coach said that he was letting go of the bat because of bad "linear mechanics". I had no idea at the time what he meant so I went home and jumped on the internet and discovered the whole big debate. I guess my son displays some of the characteristics of the "Charley Lau" swing though I never taught them, and his coach seems to be comming from the "Bat Speed" camp.

I guess my question (finaly) is why should I mess with his swing when what he seems to do naturaly produces incredible results and when I insist on him holding on to the bat with both hands he cuts his swing short and hits nothing. I know he's only 8 but with his good natural athleticism I would like to give him the best instruction possible to open doors for him down the road. Is it possible that his natural gifts are compensating for his poor mechanis or maybe is there more than one way to skin a cat? <<<

Hi BruinPaul

Welcome to the site. – Some of the best hitters keep both hands on the bat while other equally good hitters release the top-hand. Since the releasing of the top-hand occurs after contact, it has no effect on how hard the ball is hit. Therefore, this site has not made either (releasing or not) an absolute rule. I will place below a post from the Archives I wrote on this topic.

Jack Mankin
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RE: Top hand release - Charley Lau Jr.

Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Feb 1 18:57:27 2001

Hi All

This is a discussion on “Releasing the top hand” brought forward from January.

>>>If you look at the Skeleton of Big Mac at the web address posted by Shawn under the hip rotation 2 thread, Mac is letting go with the top hand after contact. This seems to keep the bat on plane and allow the shoulder to keep turning back instead of breaking down the front arm. Do you think there is any advantage to this or intending to do this? Does this accentuate the pull back/bottom hand torque or keep things on plane better/longer? <<<

Hi Tom

>> First of all, I would like to make a couple of commits regarding the “Skeleton” action they showed (http://www.biokinetics3d.com/hitters.htm). -- I was curious as to why they showed the two forms in different time frames. They showed Mac’s skeleton starting at initiation, shoulders starting to rotate. Whereas, they had the “Amateur” starting with his stride and his swing initiation (shoulder rotation) starting about 4 frames later.

It was also interesting to note that the mechanics of the Amateur generated greater bat- displacement (about 85 degrees/ frame) coming into the contact zone than did Mac (about 45 degrees/frame). Maybe the Amateur was using a -10 bat.

The last 2 or 3 years, Mac has moved slightly away from the plate and sets up to treat most pitches as being middle-out. This means he plans to use a lot of top-hand-torque well into the swing (forget the Skeleton for a minute, Mac develops great early bat speed). This also means he will have less hip and shoulder rotation and the back arm will be more extended at contact. These mechanics will cause a wider hand-path and full extension of the back arm occurs while the bat is pointing in the direction of the first or second baseman. With the bat sweeping in that direction, the lead elbow cannot break down-and-in. Therefore, it would require a sudden change in the direction of the bat’s momentum (hard jerk to the wrist) if he attempts to keep both hands on the bat. Releasing the top hand and allowing the bat to coast out in a wider arc will eliminate this.

The lead elbow will break down-and-in for batters who have their back arm reach full extension as the bat is sweeping past the pitcher. Here the bat’s momentum is directed more toward third base and the batter can keep both hands on the bat.

Note: The release of the top hand normally occurs well after contact and therefore has little impact on bat speed.

Note: Batters who limit hip and shoulder rotation by casting to much weight forward onto the front leg may also find it necessary to release the top hand.

>> Jack Mankin

Jack- What is the function of the top hand precisely after contact? I would also like to learn how the top hand and when it pushes in the swing? When the top hitters' bat speeds exceed 90 mph, when should the top hand decide to push?
Respectively,
Charley Lau Jr.
Charley Lau Jr.

Jack Mankin's reply:

Hi Charley:

Welcome to the site. – The ball is only in contact with the bat for about 1/2000 of a second after contact (bat moves forward about 3/4 of an inch). Therefore, any forces applied to the bat (or bat speed gained) after contact has no effect on ball flight. The batter should practice batting drills and develop mechanics that that will generate greater bat speed prior to contact. After contact the main role of the batter’s mechanics is to relax and allow the bat’s energy to coast out.

During the swing the top hand is constantly applying force to the bat in the direction the bat-head is accelerating. At initiation the bat-head accelerates back toward the catcher. So the top hand is pulling with the fingers back toward the catcher. --- A little later the bat-head will be sweeping past the catcher and the pull will be more toward the first-base dugout. At this time the back elbow will have lowered to the batter’s side and the palm of the top hand will start to roll from palm-down to palm-up. So it would be about this point where the batter starts more of a pushing action (instead of pulling with the fingers) with the top hand. It is important to remember that the top hand is being driven forward more from shoulder rotation than from extending the elbow. This is especially true for inside pitches.

Charley, as I stated earlier in this thread, releasing the top hand after swinging at outside pitches is not only OK, it is more of a necessity. But I do not think it is a good practice when swinging at inside pitches. --- Letting go of the top hand on outside pitches allows the bat to expend its energy harmlessly in a wide arc. The batter’s lead arm will usually finish high and the bat will threaten no one. But if the batter releases the bat with the top hand on an inside pitch, the bat will be sweeping past the pitcher as the top hand releases. Under these conditions, the lead arm can swing back to a point where the bat can strike the catcher with a good deal of force. I have seen this happen too many times.

Note: I will place this thread in the new month so more can join the discussion.

Jack Mankin