Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sat Mar 3 21:27:06 2007

>>> The idea that the lower body and upper body is 'seperated' is essential in generating batspeed. You can consider this the removal of slack in a loose line. When you start talking about the 'degree' of seperation, can you specify what you exactly mean? To me, there is either 'slack' present or not. Or is there a sort of 'elasticity' in the mid-section (for lack of a better word) we can utilize? <<<

Hi Dennis

As Chris and I were discussing, video analysis of MLB show that after hip cock, the hips lead shoulders by about 20 degrees. An additional 5 -10 degrees of separation may occur due to the added load to shoulder rotation of overcoming the inertia of accelerating the bat. However, after about 25 – 30 degrees of separation, the shoulders begin to rotate with the hips.

Many coaches believe the X-Factor means that the batter should fully open the hips (facing the pitcher) while keeping the shoulders closed. This has led to the 1-2-3 approach of teaching -- (1)stride, (2) open the hip, (3) swing – That approach has stalled the progress of many young hitters. Under this method, the pelvic and leg muscles used to rotate the hips is expended before the swing is even initiated – The hips are basically freewheeling – no load. Then only the muscles of the “torso” would be left to power shoulder rotation.

Jack Mankin