Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Feb 15 11:03:09 2010

Hi Bobby

Thank you for your reply. I will try to address your major concern. --You state, "You failed to acknowledge rear hip action and barrel movement in relation to the shoulder rotation. The relation is critical." & "In your four hitters video, when you said the hands were not moving, the barrel was moving. Your clips start when the lead shoulder rotation begins. The problem with this is it is after the rear hips has already fired and after the barrel is starting rearward."

This site defines the mechanics that accelerates the bat rearward in two phases (PLT and THT). There are a number of posts in the " Archieves " you can read that discusses these phases in detail. Basically, the mechanic that accelerates the bat prior to launching shoulder rotation is PLT (Pre-Launch Torque) and then THT (Top-Hand-Torque) once the power of shoulder is initiated.

In the 'four hitters video' you referred to, we were discussing when the lead-shoulder started to rotate. It is possible there could have been some rearward bat movement prior to shoulder rotation from PLT. However, I fail to see how the "firing of the back-hip" had any impact on the bat's rearward movement if it did not cause the shoulders to rotate. And, as you acknowledged, the shoulders had not started rotating.

The arms/wrist/hands/bat segments that accelerate the bat are connected at the shoulders - not the hips. Bio-mechanical energy cannot jump from the hips to the bat. It must be transferred upward to rotate the shoulders. The back- hip could fire open 90 degrees and have no impact on the bat if the shoulders remained static.

Below is a clip that shows that phase of the swing where bat is first being accelerated rearward. Bobby, I fail to see in either the frontal or across the plant view the "firing open" of the back-hip you described as the bat starts its rearward acceleration. Maybe you can point it out.

Difference Between PLT & THT

Jack Mankin