Posted by: skip (piks5@sbcglobal.net) on Sat Apr 14 07:31:39 2007

> Jack, can rolling over of the top hand too early cause loss of power and inconsistent contact?
>
> Then my next question, can gripping the bat too far out into the fingers (and aligning of door knocking knuckles) promote a premature rolling of the hands? My experience says yes. My 14 year old seems to be rolling the top hand over early. He also grips the bat extremely far into the fingers (aligning the door knuckles). When I grip it the same way and swing my right hand rolls rapidly in the swing. What do you think?

Charles,
One of the truisms of hitting is that rolling over does in fact cause the problems you described.

But the proper grip to avoid it depends on your son's style of hitting.

If he initates his swing with the orthodox "linear" knob-to-the-ball approach, it's very important that he grips the bat with door-knocking knuckles aligned. This is to enhance quickness and batspeed, and avoid rollover prior to contact.

But if he initiates in the THT "rotational" method promoted by this site, he should not use the door-knocking grip, for at least the following reason: it's hard to generate THT using this grip. Instead, he should use a more conventional grip, but with the top hand loose enough that it can rotate around the bat to give him "flat hands" (palm-up, palm down) prior to contact through the full range of the contact zone, regardless of early/perfect/or late timing.

Hitting with "flat hands" is another way of saying "not rolling over" prior to contact.

I don't know why your own dry swings with the door knuckle grip are resulting in rollover. It's a mystery.

skip