Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Jul 7 09:25:15 2006

>>> Jack. Do you believe tophand torc can be applied more naturally if the back elbow is up? I noticed David Ortiz starts with his back elbow up with the barrel pointed at the pitcher. He then makes a torc type movement while bringing his hands to the launch position. Since Ortiz has to be considered the best clutch hitter currently, perhaps his technique deserves further study. >>>

Hi Guru

To apply THT, the top-hand is pulling rearward on the handle with the fingers. So the answer to your question is yes. Just as an archer finds a raised elbow a more powerful position to pull rearward on the bowstring, a batter can better apply THT with the back-elbow up. That is why you will find that most of the top hitters initiate their swings with a raised back-elbow.

Hitters that have their bat cocked vertical or pointing toward the pitcher, like Ortiz or Sheffield, apply THT in two stages. In the first phase, the bat-head is accelerated from a cocked forward position back behind the head to the launch position. This phase occurs before body rotation is initiated, and therefore applied mainly with the arms and shoulder muscles. Since this phase occurs before body rotation is initiated, we refer to it as “pre-launch torque.”

The second phase occurs as body rotation is being initiated to aid in accelerating the bat-head rearward to (and through) the lag position (bat pointing at the catcher). – Below is a post from the Archives on this topic.

Jack Mankin
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Re: THT

Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Sep 8 15:14:35 2003

Question/Comment:

>>> Following is a link to a file with some frames showing my interpretation of THT. Please let us know if this is correct. How do you teach it? Is the que flatten the hands useful? (The file is best viewed in frame by frame mode)

(http://webpages.charter.net/nickkio/THT.mpg

Thanks, Nick >>>

Jack Mankin's reply:

Hi Nick:

In order to generate maximum bat speed at contact, the better hitters first accelerate the bat-head back toward the catcher before rotating and directing their energies at the ball. The purpose of Top-Hand-Torque is to apply forces to the bat that will accelerate the bat-head in an arc back toward the catcher. With many hitters, Bonds and Sosa to name a couple, the bat-head is accelerated back in two phases.

The first phase occurs prior to shoulder rotation and we refer to it as “Pre-launch” Torque. During this phase, the batter starts with the bat cocked forward toward the pitcher and has his hands some distance from the back-shoulder. Bonds, for example, starts with his hands low and forward from the back-shoulder. As he prepares the launch position, his hands (as a unit) are brought up and pulled to the back-shoulder.

The bat-head is being accelerated into the normal launch position by the top-hand being pulled back at a faster rate than the bottom hand (THT). Therefore, the hands as a unit are being pulled to the back-shoulder but the top-hand is moving faster, or, arcing around the bottom-hand. During the pre-launch phase, one can clearly see the top-hand being pulled up and back (or toward the catcher).

The second phase of THT occurs during initiation as shoulder rotation begins. The direction of force applied by the top-hand at initiation continues to be rearward, but shoulder rotation accelerates the hands (as a unit) around and forward. Therefore, once shoulder rotates begins, the hands (as a unit) are viewed moving forward, but the rearward directional force of the top-hand causes it (and the bat-head) to arc around the bottom-hand.

Many good hitters do not use pre-launch torque in their swings. They apply THT at initiation as described for the second phase. Since they are applying THT as the shoulder start turning, the hands (as a unit) will always be viewed moving forward. --- Nike, the clips you are showing has the batters starting with the bat at (or past) the normal launch position.

Note: With linear mechanics, at initiation, the direction of force of the top-hand and the hands (as a unit) are both forward. This results in a straighter hand-path. --- With THT, the rearward directional force of the top-hand results in the hand-path being directed more parallel with the catcher’s shoulders into a more circular hand-path (CHC).

Jack Mankin