Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Tue Feb 12 08:47:36 2002

Tom:
>
> When you say the top hand pushes to generate torque...that is the point we are fiddling with...we think the top hand never pushes, but always pulls...I may be splitting hairs, but if the fulcrum for the lever on the handle is the top hand thumb/index finger V...then at all times the bottom hand is pulling back and the last 3 fingers of the top hand are squeezing (in effect pulling as well) and everything is generating leverage off the V...this ought to be so as long as the back arm is in the L position...like you say..as long as the L is maintained you have the oar-lock...to hit the outside pitch you need a little elbow seperation and extention...but never so much that the back elbow slides forward...right?
>
> Andy

Andy-

Thanks for pointing out the confusion here.I should not have said top hand push because that would convey that there is the feel of a push which is not the desired feel in most cases.What I was trying to describe was along the lines of the oar lock analogy to describe visually(video analysis)what you might see.

The hitters that tend to stand off the plate and make everything more of an outside/tht approach use less torso turn and more bathead extension at contact(this can also be required of small players who can't cover the plate.From a timing perspective,you want to make contact perpendicular to the flight of the pitch which makes the swing radius as short as possible(for an outside location),but there is still more extension than for bht/inside location.It is important to realize that this extension is NOT from the lead arm getting away from the torso which would break connection.The extension is from the bat swinging out more which does require the "L" coming out of the back arm prior to contact as well as some straightening of the lead arm at the elbow(if there was flex there to begin with).In this case the bottom hand is not pulled back so much(less torso turn) and the top hand does move around the more stationary bottom hand prior to contact-"top hand torque"-as "L" comes out of the back arm(which drives the top hand).The feel,however,is more one of extension and release,not a pushing of the top hand(pushing of the top hand is likely to lead to undesired tophand dominance/premature extension/loss of connection is it is interpreted as feeling like a push from the loaded up/dominant top hand).
There is often also the feel of keeping the front upper arm tight against the torso to maintain connection and the desired swing trajectory through contact.While swing speed measurements are important,the actual ball trajectory tells the real story,because with this swing there is the significant danger of deceleration at the last fraction of a second before contact which will not be picked up by the batspeed meter.Extension is a reasonable cue to prevent this if it is the right type of extension with the front upper arm disconnecting(one type of casting)only after contact.