Posted by: Joe (joe.flowers@nofreewill.com) on Thu Jun 17 21:24:44 2010

Hi Jack,

Sorry for taking so long responding. Busy at work.

> One of Chris's quotes you posted states, "In a rotational swing,
> the hands, wrists, and forearms do not generate any force;"
>
> If I read the meaning of his quote correctly, he is saying the
> arms, wrist and hands serve only as linkage to the rotating
> shoulders with no ability to impact the bat's acceleration on there > own.


Yes, that's what my interpretation of what he is saying too.


> However, the direction of pull and rotation of the back-forearm and > hand can provide torque that greatly impacts the bat's
> acceleration and trajectory.

I think you are right and I've been working on a proof in my head while driving back and forth to work. But, at the moment, I take PLT and THT as being very similar to what pitchers need to produce higher velocity pitches. i.e., the faster a pitcher can get his arm moving while it is still behind him, then the faster it will be at the release point (with less strain on the arm).


> They were addressing a demonstration video that showed the bat-head > sweeping rearward at a much greater angular rate than shoulder
> rotation - similar to the trajectory in THT.

Yes, I was thinking about a proof similar to that.

>
> I am placing below a video clip that shows the initiation phase
> four hitters with what I deemed as exhibiting "Good" mechanics and > also four hitter's mechanics I deemed as "Poor." The video
> addresses the first 4 frames (60 fps) of their initiation and note > that the "Good" hitters shoulders rotate about 30 degrees while the > bat-head rotates (or sweeps) rearward over a 100 degrees. According > to Chris's statements, this is what he would expect to see in "my
> 2nd graders and in my bad 4th graders, but not in good hitters."
>
> Chris states that in a "Good" swing, "the barrel stays in the same > position relative to the back shoulder as the shoulders turn. --


I'm not sure why a batter would not swing with everything he's got, unless he is playing conservative and just trying to make contact.


> Well, that's about what we see in the batters with what I call
> "Poor" initiation mechanics. Note that their shoulder and bat
> rotate about the same of degrees during the initiation phase -
> little THT being applied.


Thanks Jack! I'll take a look; hopefully, tomorrow morning before I head to work. Should be very interesting.

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