Posted by: Ronnie (rwynn@comsouth.net) on Sun Sep 5 13:53:24 2010

I have observed the greatest bat speed with shoulders level to the torso, like driving a stake through the top of your head and out the hips. I am convinced that a tilted axis is good especially as the pitchers get taller. It is like the spinning top - tilt in one direction slows a little but if the tilt is both back plus off center to the hips (dipping the back shoulder and raising the front out of alignment with the hips) rotation appears to wobble. If this were a top, it would slow and fall quickly. My son is both a good pitcher and hitter. When his axis is tilted on 2 axis both swing velocity and pitch velocity suffer. When he is on one axis he is very good. The hitter won't realize it because he is feeling resistance that makes him feel as if he is swinging with great force. What I observe is that as the hips go first the shoulders follow and if the rear shoulder dips out of the plane of the hips then bat velocity + hitting ability falls. The shoulders are the most important factor as they hinge and move. It appears that the more the shoulders stay on plane with hip rotation the greater the batspeed. To me the greatest contribution of the hips are to get the shoulders ready to rotate in plane with the hips - with the bat velocity coming from shoulder rotation. It appears THT helps keep the rotation of the shoulders in plane with the hips. Thanks. Good discussion!