Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Aug 23 01:13:50 2001

>>> Jack are you saying then that the bottom hand stays vertical at the rear shoulder and the top hand pulls back thus making the bottom hand go horizontal to the launch position in pre launch torque,is this your position. <<<

Hi RQL

First of all, it is important to note that the top of the bottom-hand should always be in the plane of the swing from initiation to contact. This is one reason I like the bat-head to be near the ear or back of the head in the launch position. In this position, the top of the bottom-hand and the bat are in (or close to) the swing plane. At initiation, the batter can direct the pull of the top-hand straight-away or in-line with the top of the bottom hand. The bat, top of the bottom hand, and the direction of pull from the top-hand are all in the swing plane.

As I pointed out in the post above to Major Dan, when the batter positions the bat more vertical and forward, both the bat and the top of the bottom-hand are no longer in the swing plane. So as I stated, “This requires a constant pulling adjustment of the top-hand to loop the bat-head down into the swing plane before rotation and full initiation begins.” --- So, yes RQL, when a batter uses pre-launch torque, the top of the bottom-hand will go from vertical to a more horizontal position (about 45 degrees) so as to line up with the swing plane. --- As I stated earlier in the thread, the bottom-hand may be away and higher or lower than the shoulder during pre-launch torque, but it should be brought to the shoulder before full initiation.

Jack Mankin