Posted by: () on Wed Nov 28 15:05:24 2001

I read that Ken Griffey Junior rotates his upper body further than most by using abdominal strength.From what I heard by doing this he generates tremendous batspeed. How much does abdominal strentgh affect batspeed etc....
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The torso serves to transfer the lower body energy or torque to the shoulders. Certainly strong abdominals would help do this. What Jr. does more than anyone else is separate the hips from the shoulders. IOW as he turns his hips first the difference in the angle between his hips and his shoulders, just before shoulder launch, is greater than anyone else in MLB. Epstein call this torque angle. Reportedly, Tiger Woods has the greatest torque angle in golf. The key is to transfer all this lower body power up through the torso to the shoulders and then, using a tight connection with the front arm, to the hands and thus to the bat. This part of it is what Jack explains better than anyone else IMO.

Mark H.