Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: RQL () on Mon Oct 15 20:15:56 2001

As my son, Matt, works on using pre-launch top hand torque, he sometimes pulls his bottom hand down as he pulls his top hand back. THis of course results in dropping the barrel of the bat and either popping up or hitting a high fly ball.
> I've seen this type of error as a common pitfall on the road to using this technique properly.
> Anyone else see this happen during the learning curve?
> During Bonds' chase for the HR title, I got to see him swing a few times (that's about all the swings he got from the Astros!). Bonds certainly uses tht and pre-launch tht at that. But his initiation is similar to many of the old time players - his hands are held low. Rather than keeping his bottom hand up and pulling back with his top hand, he lifts his bottom hand while pulling back with the top hand.
> I tried this myself just to experiment. If you do it correctly, the bottom hand assists the pre-launch tht. Rather than the top hand pulling around a stationary bottom hand, the two hands torque the handle. Its actually easier to get the bat torquing that way.
> I've seen clips of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth who also used this technique.
> Any opinios on this?
MD,I wrote on this about a month ago and I think you responded ,I felt if you were torquing with 2 hands in opposite directions you could generate more speed and more control with the 2 equally used as counter balance.What I believe that is essential as a hitter is what allows you to most consistently get on the right plane of the ball,if you do not do this you will never hit and as I watch these major leaguers I see so many who do not get what I consider a perfectly timed swing yet crush the ball.It is motor skills programing that allows them to make adjustments during the early read of the pitch that means so much.So often I see them initiate for 1 swing then make an adjustment after initiation like extend to get a fading fastball.Jason Giambi hit a deep line drive that was pulled in the upper deck,yet his rear elbow was well out of the 90L at contact.I think he may have committed to pull that pitch early and then the ball movd or he just misread it early and then he extended his arms to hit the outside of the ball.

Followups:

Re: Re: THT, popping up and Barry Bonds [ Tue Oct 16 08:33:52 2001 ]

Post a followup:

Name:

E-mail:

Subject:

Text:

> As my son, Matt, works on using pre-launch top hand torque, he sometimes pulls his bottom hand down as he pulls his top hand back. THis of course results in dropping the barrel of the bat and either popping up or hitting a high fly ball.
> > I've seen this type of error as a common pitfall on the road to using this technique properly.
> > Anyone else see this happen during the learning curve?
> > During Bonds' chase for the HR title, I got to see him swing a few times (that's about all the swings he got from the Astros!). Bonds certainly uses tht and pre-launch tht at that. But his initiation is similar to many of the old time players - his hands are held low. Rather than keeping his bottom hand up and pulling back with his top hand, he lifts his bottom hand while pulling back with the top hand.
> > I tried this myself just to experiment. If you do it correctly, the bottom hand assists the pre-launch tht. Rather than the top hand pulling around a stationary bottom hand, the two hands torque the handle. Its actually easier to get the bat torquing that way.
> > I've seen clips of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth who also used this technique.
> > Any opinios on this?
> MD,I wrote on this about a month ago and I think you responded ,I felt if you were torquing with 2 hands in opposite directions you could generate more speed and more control with the 2 equally used as counter balance.What I believe that is essential as a hitter is what allows you to most consistently get on the right plane of the ball,if you do not do this you will never hit and as I watch these major leaguers I see so many who do not get what I consider a perfectly timed swing yet crush the ball.It is motor skills programing that allows them to make adjustments during the early read of the pitch that means so much.So often I see them initiate for 1 swing then make an adjustment after initiation like extend to get a fading fastball.Jason Giambi hit a deep line drive that was pulled in the upper deck,yet his rear elbow was well out of the 90L at contact.I think he may have committed to pull that pitch early and then the ball movd or he just misread it early and then he extended his arms to hit the outside of  the ball.

Anti-Spambot Question:

What is the MLB championship called?
   World Championship
   World Series
   The Finals
   The Cup