Posted by: Chuck (jcsherwood8458@sbcglobal.net) on Mon Feb 22 13:41:41 2010

> > Hi Jack,
> >
> > As I've worked with my son recently practicing his swing off of a tee, it seems to me that in regards to THT, there's the element of force, but also the element of time. The hitter must not only apply rearward force with the tophand, but he must allow enough time for the bat head to sweep backwards and down before he initiates shoulder rotation. In the effort to generate maximum batspeed, I think the hitter may often tend to rush into the shoulder launch portion of the swing even as he applies THT. If the THT has not had sufficient time to act upon the bat, the bat will not be set up properly to achieve maximum angular displacement from shoulder rotation. When I get my son to allow the THT phase to work a fraction of a second longer, it seems to be more than compensated for by the increase in batspeed - a significant increase in batspeed. In short I would say that rushing causes a short circuiting of the swing that robs power and batspeed. Please comment on this - your experience, if you agree or disagree.
> >
> > If you agree, do you have suggestions to help master this aspect of the swing? It is counterintuitive to a degree to not rush into the forward portion of the swing but rather to let the bat do more rearward traveling. Afterall, you're trying to drive the ball into the field in front of you. And it's even more complicated when timing a live pitcher is involved as opposed to simply hitting off of a tee.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Chuck
>
> Hi Chuck,
>
> You state "The hitter must not only apply rearward force with the top hand, but he must allow enough time for the bat head to sweep backwards and down befor he initiates shoulder rotation".
> If you look at 60 fps video of Pujols, Griffey jr., Holiday, etc. you will see that rearward movement of the bat head (I mean the very first frame) and initiation of lead shoulder rotation are simultaneous. You'll also notice that front leg external rotation and hip rotation occur at this time (it's actually within 5 or so frames. But were talking 60 fps). There is virtually no lag between the initiation of rearward bat head movement and the initiation of lead shoulder pull.
> Speaking to the "rushing" aspect of your post I would say that our young hitters are lacking in strengh and the development of high level efficient mechanics and therefore exhibit quirky mechanics in various aspects of their swings. Fortunetly for them there are dads like you. With all of the heavy lifting that Jack is doing we have available to us the resources neccessary to train and instruct our young hitters so that they might develop into the best hitters in the game.
> I would use Jack's heavy bag for "top hand", "bottom hand", and full swing drills but defer to Jack's authority.
> I hope this helps.
>
> Jim D

Hi Jim,

I failed to distinguish in my post between PLT and THT, I simply included both in one phase - THT. What I'm really interested in helping my son develop on a more consistent basis is the "yellow" phase in Jack's video included in his response, which is really PLT. As you can see this phase occurs before any significant shoulder rotation and is critcal to positioning the bat to get the most angular displacement out of shoulder rotation when it does occur. Any move to rush shoulder rotation will cut off the yellow PLT phase and result in less batspeed because the bat is still too vertical. The difference in a swing (my son's) with good PLT and a swing with little PLT is noticable even to my naked eye, let alone video analysis. The key is to master it on a consistent basis. Too little and batspeed suffers. Too much and the bat loops under the ball. I think it's probably the final and most difficult aspect to master as one tries to rid himself of being what Jack calls a "top hand dominant" hitter.

I'm not sure from your response and your description of major league hitters' swings, if you agree with the mechanics that John displays in Jack's video analysis. I've actually seen this particular video before but was focusing on different aspects of it at the time. Thanks to Jack for all of his work and for having the information so readily available.

Chuck