Posted by: Jack Mankin (BrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri Oct 12 22:14:43 2001

>>> I have experimented with both linear and rotationl hitting and have found myself at 42 y.o. to be seldom sore the next day after hitting linear but usually sore sometimes very sore after rotational.Neck, shoulders, between the scapulas,lower back and groin areas are the big areas of concern.So I would like to recommend that young hitters though you are more resilent than I am now need to stretch alot more than normal to help prevent injury.I could see how big men like Canseco and McGwire can injure lower backs as well as other parts with the energy they apply to their body in rotation.Just be aware your using more muscles and more energy to the body and of course this coincides with it creating more batspeed. <<<

Hi RQL

Whether you are throwing a baseball, pushing a shot or swinging a bat, having flaws in the ballistic mechanics can lead to serious consequences. I wrote in a earlier post that I felt that flaws in the swing mechanics of Canseco, McGwire , Strawberry (and others) had contributed to their back and limb problems.

At different times during their careers, they all exhibited serious wrist binds and irregular movements of the bat and body. Those flaws resulted from two main sources. (1) They did not keep their hands back near the back shoulder and allow rotation to accelerate the hand-path as they initiated the swing and applied tht. As they pulled the top-hand back, the hands, as a unit, moved linearly away from the body. (2) The bat-head was not accelerated cleanly into the swing plain where the wrist can freely operate. Their bat-head was accelerated to vertically down through the plain of the lead-arm.

These flaws resulted in a great amount of stress being placed on the wrist, arms, body joints and muscles. The bat appeared to stall and then jerked forward as the wrist flipped over. Their swing planes looked more like a sine wave than a flat disc. They all had serious batting slumps during these periods. In 92 or 93, McGwire barely hit .200 with only 20 HR's.

RQL, I would be very careful switching back and forth between linear and rotational principles. As I stated earlier - the two transfer mechanics are not compatible.

Jack Mankin