Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sat May 12 12:40:22 2001

I have been studying this and several other sites that talk about torque in the swing. I agree that there should be torque in the swing, but I think that the way it is explained could be a little better to help hitters understand it and apply it.
> I think the best player in the game today that demonstrates torque is Ken Griffey Jr. This is the way I break his swing down:
>
> 1. Winding up.
> It is easy to see that in his preswing, Griffey winds up his top half. He pulls back with his hands while rotating his torso in a circle back torwards the catcher ( clockwise for right handers and counter clockwise for lefties. ) I think that on this site, pulling back with the hands is way underated. I don't know why, but out of the thousands of swings I've taken over the past couple of weeks, I get the best results everytime when I pull my hands back and around as far as they can go and still get my hands around to make contact with the ball.
>
> 2. The foot pick up
> Right after he begins to wind up on top, Griffey picks up his foot and sets it back down. While he does this its important that he continues to wind up on top to get to what many people call the position of power. He keeps his feet close together and I think this is a large reason why he is so successful. By doing this, he not only gets in the torque position earlier, he can also wind up more on top which is where almost all of his power comes from.
>
> 3. Beggining to open up.
> After he rotates his torso and hands as far back as possible he begins to open up with his lower body and torso(hips). While he does this, its important that he keeps his hands back and shoulders closed as long as possible to create maximum torque.
>
> 4. Whipping the arms around.
> Whenever the timing is right, Griffey finishes his swing which comes pretty much naturally from there.
>
> This is how I believe it is possible for little guys to hit a ball 400+ feet. Ken Griffey was born with this kind of swing, so all he has to think about at the plate is timing and hitting the ball where it's hit. That's why practice is important for guys who wheren't as naturally gifted as him. This kind of swing has to become automatic through muscle memory so that all that has to be thought about at the plate in a game is timing. Once you have the mechanics down, hitting is timing.
>
> This is my attempt to explain how to get more batspeed and power in the swing. Tell me what you guys think.

Hi John

Your post is well thought out and contains many excellent points that deserve further discussion. I plan to bring your post to the top of the board in the near future. --- I do not like to “step on my message” by trying to cover to many good topics at the same time.

Jack Mankin