Posted by: mjb (berg@pop.ctctel.com) on Fri Dec 14 08:54:30 2001

I don't understand the mechanics of bottom hand torque. If the front shoulder is pulling the bottom hand (and the bat) forward with the body rotation, isn't the front arm fully extended back to the catcher and the back hand already as far back as it can extend? How can you push back even more to get this torque? Or, once the bat is getting close to the plate, does that create some slack in the lead arm so that the bottom hand can be pushed backward to get the torque?
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> BHT is not the easiest concept to get. I still lose the feeling of it in my swing sometimes.
> At the start of the swing (right handed), the left shoulder is pointing somewhere between the pitcher and secondbaseman. As the shoulders turn into the pitch, the lead shoulder turns across the infield, pulling the lead arm and the bat into and through the swing plane. Through the first 90 degrees of turn this pull advances the bat/hands around toward the ball (circular hand path, circling forward). Once the shoulders pass square with the field (body fully open to 2nd base/pitcher), the lead shoulder is moving backward from the field and the back hip and top hand are moving toward the pitcher/field. At this point the lead arm is essentially pulling the bat handle back while the top hand (elbow still kept in against the ribs) is acting as an oar lock - providing a pivot point for the bottom hand to torque against - bottom hand torque. The forward motion of the back hip actually pushes the top hand forward, but it is not the arm or hand that pushes, the hips just advance the hands.
> Hope that helps. It does work if you turn all the way through the swing and don't push your hands forward.
> Hope that helps.

That helps a lot. But does that mean that you don't have to learn how to apply BHT, that if you rotate your body correctly and keep your hands in a circular path, it will happen automatically?