Posted by: StevenV (steven@ars-inc.com) on Sat Jul 8 09:50:46 2006

> > Jack,
> >
> > I am a coach of youth baseball players and I have recently come upon your site. I am also an engineer and I think the concepts that you promote are very technically valid, however I am trying to find some way to translate these concepts to teachable methods. For example it does no good to tell a ten year old that he needs to do x-y-z in order to generate more torque, etc... They have a limited attention span and I have found that a few concise pointers will go a long way in improving the swing of a player at this age.
> >
> > Anyway, that is not the intent of this message. In reading through your articles, messages, etc. you seem to discount the "drive the knob" theory as more of a linear approach to hitting and I have to say that I disagree. I do not see any reason why this theory cannot be combined with the Circular Hand Path (CHP) logic using the principle that the path of the bat must follow the path of the hands. With the hands leading the bat in a circular path, the forces exterted by the rotation of the body and wrists will be transferred out to the bat at the time of maximum rotational speed.
> >
> > Centrifugal force will be maximized in much the same manner as casting a fishhing pole where the pole is rotated in a circular motion and the line receives the maximum force to be cast as far as possible.
> >
> > While I agree that instructing a child to drive his hands in a "choppping" motion or linear fashion would not yield the best results, it is not wrong to teach him to move his hands in a circular motion with the hands leading in front of the bat, hence "driving the knob".
> >
> > Your Thoughts??
> ================
>
> I have a son that is 11. I dont ever say drive the hands. I always talk to him about pull the bat not push. IMO Drive the hands means push the hands A to B. Pull the hands meand to use the body / CHP.

Hi All,

I also coach youth kids, a travel baseball team for anyone who is familiar with that.

I try not to tell the kids to do anything that would lead them to think that moving the hands forward or at the ball is rotational hitting. They automatically revert into a linear (all hands arms) swing when the focus is on the knob or movement towards the ball / hitter.

There are some hitters (Frank Thomas) that incorporate a linear movement into some (little) rotation mechanics with success, so I am not saying it would not yield results, but timing would be too critical in my opinion to tie all that together (similar to your fishing pole analogy). For youth this age, I try to get them to pre-load the hands in the launch position (static, not ready to do this in the swing yet) and then tell them to feel like the lead hip and lead shoulder initiate the swing with the hands following close to the body in a circular movement. By telling them to pull the back shoulder (lead) and hip (lead) they seem to really grasp that. The only thing to watch for then is to make sure they don't pull off the pitch or step "in the bucket".

Just some thoughts, as this has yielded very good results for our team (8 year olds) and they all hit the ball harder than the opposing teams (for the most part). I am interested to see how this translates when an opposing pitcher is trying to strike them out, rather than the "Coach Pitch" situation we play in right now.
>
> Sorry, I am not Jack just thought I would add that.
> Mike