Posted by: JLB (djo910@comcast.net) on Wed Apr 18 23:24:56 2007

I have a question concerning circular hand path, chp, and its cause. Specifically is it a function of shoulder rotation or is it a function of the forces created when Top hand Torque and Bottom Hand Torque are applied? I have two sons playing high school ball and the oldest one has good bat speed measured at 76 but the younger one is significantly slower and I think I may have failed him when instructing CHP. Both boys are rotational, taught by an Epstein instructor, but we have also incorporated Jack’s Top/Bottom hand torque as demonstrated in his Final Arc video. My question concerns the position of the hands relative to the back shoulder during the swing. My older son argues that once you get into Epstein’s tuck position—with the knob pointing above a horizontal line to the ground or level to the plane of the pitch--it is shoulder rotation that generates the CHP and that the hands remain cocked and almost fixed to the same position next to the rotating back shoulder until just before contact. He says that once you are almost fully rotated, belly button at pitcher and shoulders Ninety Degrees it is only then that the hands make the adjustment to the location of the pitch and become active in the swing along with the lead shoulder which is pulling back to the 110 or so degree point and whipping the bat into contact. From his point of view there is really no hand path as the hand path is simply a function of shoulder rotation which by definition is circular. Where I deviated from this with my younger son is what I understood, or misunderstood as the case may be, from the Final Arc, where it is discussed that during top hand torque the bottom hand must be pulling out towards first base, BHT. If this is true, are you not then creating a CHP by the hands and not the shoulders. I have analyzed tape from last years home run derby and it appears to me that both Ryan Howard and Wright keep their hands almost fixed to their rear arm pit area during rotation and it is only just before contact do you see any movement of the hands. Maybe this has been answered before but have enjoyed the website for years, and the videos, but now have to answer to my boys who have mistakenly believed I actually knew something about the swing. Thanks. JLB