Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Nov 12 09:55:10 2006

>>> Hey Jack, I was saying that although I agree with your position on THT/BHT, I simply can't "feel" it happening while I swing. I concentrated on "feeling" it during a slowpitch softball
game the other night, but to no avail. I can feel the rotation of my body while swinging but not the BHT/THT. I am of the opinion that even though I can't feel it, maintaining good mechanics of BHT/THT does help. I "swing for the fence" and they do go over!

More importantly, my eleven year old son went from the number nine/ten hitter to number three this season after apply your techniques from the video. So, Thank You for that! <<<

Hi John

First, I apologize again for your post being deleted. – To maximize bat speed, the bat-head must be accelerated around the entire swing plane. That means from its launch position behind the head, the bat-head must first be accelerated rearward toward the catcher. Therefore, the top-hand must apply a rearward force on the handle rather than driving forward.

Only the very best hitter’s mechanics apply a rearward force with the top-hand during initiation. Most will drive the top-hand forward. For you to tell if your mechanics is applying THT, you should be “feeling” your top-hand pulling on the handle with your fingers as you initiate your swing. Pulling rearward with the fingers means you are accelerating the bat-head rearward. – “Feeling” pressure of the palm on the handle means you are driving the knob forward while the bat-head remains more-or-less static.

Jack Mankin