Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Wed Feb 13 13:26:52 2002

>>> To me "casting" happens when your body begins rotation while your hands are trailing too far behind. Because of the amount of force that your body during rotation creates, if your hands are too far behind, it is impossible for your hands to stay inside the ball and on the correct path. They will cast away from your body too soon and create a long arc, like a golf swing on a flatter plane. Get in your hitters stance, lock your front arm straight and try to keep your hands close to your body. This is death as a hitter. If you look a some hitters,Griffey for example, they have great uppper body flexibility and are able to have their front arm almost straight and still keep their hands working inside the ball. You have to remember the professional hitters see live pitching everyday, they develop a swing that complements their strengths. <<<
> >
> > Hi Troy
> >
> > You Stated: “To me "casting" happens when your body begins rotation while your hands are trailing too far behind.” – If that were true, we would have to conclude that nearly all great hitters have a serious “casting” problem. They all have their hands back at the shoulder when they start rotation.
> >
> > For one of many examples , go to - http://www.setpro.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000178.html – Not only does Sammy Sosa have his hands as far back as possible as rotation starts, his lead-arm straightens early in the swing. - How much casting did you observe? - Troy, you can’t just dismiss the mechanics used by one great hitter after another as flawed mechanics just because they do not fit the linear mode. They are not freaks of nature that can make bad mechanics work – why do you think they chose the mechanics they have. Do you really think Sammy would hit even better if he extended his hands before he rotated?
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> > Jack Mankin
>
> Jack,
>
> I think one of the problems with instructors is vocabulary. Something that means on thing to one instructor means something else to another.
> I said the problem starts with the hands trailing too far behind. There is some hand and bat lag in the swing. If your hands do not catch up and get in the correct position your hands will cast away from your body. The way that these great hitters are able to maintain their balance and bat path is they establish a good front side and they keep their head on the ball until after contact.
>
> I don't dismiss any information that I get from an instructor. I listen read evaluate and use the information if it helps my hitters. If you watch hitters, some of them may reach far back with their hand. When contact is made though their trailing arm is bent in an almost 90deg angle (which is the strongest angle for the levers of our body).
> Contact, most of the time, is also made with the hands in front of the torso. So at the power position (weight gathered back, stride taken and hands over the rear foot)if the hands are extended way back behind the rear foot in which the lead arm is almost straight. The hands and arms at some point are going to have to catch up, bend and get in front of the torso.
>
> That is not just my opinion, that is fact.
> >

Troy -
at the following url
http://www.setpro.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000667.html
[a thread on the Setpro public hitting forum]
is a clip of a right-handed Raphael Palmiero (reversed image) and a hitter doing what you describe.
What I see is that the 'other' hitter pushes his hands out front and does contact with hands in front of his body.
Palmiero contacts as he turns into the ball. The hands are below shoulder level but still near his side, approx. above his back hip, except that his back hip is now even with his 'front' hip and he is facing the pitcher. His hands release and come in front of his torso AFTER he hits the ball.
My observations of these clips show that your facts only happen sometimes. Strange that such a good hitter would break the 'rule'.
Is he doing something wrong or are there more than one set of facts?