Posted by: Chuck (.) on Sat Mar 9 13:39:40 2002

I want max batspeed! However, when I swing I am unsure whether to concentrate on top hand pulling the bat through the zone or top and bottom hand working together to torque the bat before impact.


I recently saw a special on the golf swing, and apparantly in golf the lead hand should never break before impact for max power. I suspect this is true for baseball too. Therefore, here is my theory: For max batspeed, I should be concentrating on the shoulder turn for batspeed and forget the hands. I should NOT get that pulling the bat through the zone feeling that you get when the bottom hand exerts dominance. Nor should I get a pushing feeling before impact when the top hand exerts dominance. The shoulders and hands should work in unison and the feeling of forces on the hands should be moderate and, if anything, all concentration should be given to a rapid shoulder turn and rotaion. This is especially true on middle of the plate pitches and outside pitches.


HOWEVER, on inside pitches the bathead is often way out in front before impact. On inside pitches, there is a torquing of the bat that is done just before imact using primarily the bottom hand working with the top hand. The top hand puhes and the bottom hand pulls right before impact. This seems to get me more batspeed on those inside pitches and this is done only on inside pitches for max batspeed. This is necessary on the inside pitches because the bat head is so far in front, that the hands must become instrumental in maintaing batspeed.


That is my basic understanding of swing. Am I off base?