Posted by: Joe B. () on Wed Jun 27 06:32:11 2001

Jack,

It is my belief that power starts with the feet and continues up the body and creats torque with a hip turn that pulls the upper body into the swing.

I compare it to an "unfolding flower" that starts at the feet moes through the hips shoulders, arms and ends with the bat powering through the ball. Each movement following the other from the bottom to the top.

If you don't agree with this, I would like to know your reason.

Assuming you do, this requires that the hips turn before the shoulders and should be a little more open until the shoulders catch up after contact with the ball.

It has been my observation that the "crush the bug" drill encourages batters to turn their hips and shoulders at the same time. Further, that even without the "bug" drill some hitters get into this habit.

I beleive that hips first is the most important source of power in the swing. It allows for the creation of power with out a explosion of movement that results in a control causing misshits. Many coaches miss this hard to see
out-of-sync movement or do not think it's a problem.

What do you think?

Joe B.