Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Sep 7 17:12:20 2006

>>> My rotational swing is fine, I am just unsure if I am using my lower body correctly. I need some advice on the placement of my feet before and after the swing and correct mechanics for shifting weight from my back leg to the front.<<<

Hi Zane

If your rotational swing is fine, then your lower body must be working correctly. You can not attain maximum bat speed without the lower-body supplying the rotational energy demands of the upper-body to accelerate the bat-head around the swing plane. Read post - Re: why force lower half Jack Mankin Sat Sep 2 14:51:35 2006 – for the best way to address lower-body mechanics.

I am sure we can all agree that the rotation of the hips is an important factor in the swing. In fact, many coaches spend far more of their practice time on lower rather than upper body mechanics. They seem to believe that if the batter acquires good hip rotation, the rest of the swing will just naturally fall in line. To me, that is getting the cart ahead of the horse. The ultimate purpose of good mechanics is not to generate hip rotation – it is to rotate the bat-head around the swing plane to contact.

It is important to keep in mind that the arms/wrists/hands/bat segmentation is linked at the shoulders rather than at the hips. Therefore, it is the rotation of the shoulders that supplies energy to the segments and the importance of hip rotation is its contribution to that shoulder rotation. Rather than having my students concentrate on their lower-body mechanics, I impress on them that when their upper-body mechanics initiates the swing with the correct forces, their lower-body will naturally rotate to supply the energy required to induce maximum bat-head acceleration.

By far, most of the energy that powers a great hitter's swing comes from the rotation of his or her body with much less coming from the contribution of the arms. However, even if the batter perfects his lower-body mechanics to generate great rotational energy, the amount of angular velocity his bat achieves from that rotation is governed by the efficiency of his upper-body transfer mechanics. – “Of what use is a 1000 hp engine … if the transmission slips?

I have found that if a student has the correct mental image of how to correctly initiate the acceleration of the bat head, the mind will develop a sound lower-body program to accomplish it.

Jack Mankin