Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Jan 30 13:49:27 2000

>>>A quick question: In your response to Reed, you note that "They all may use the bent lead arm, as you describe, to get the meat of the bat on the ball on inside pitches. But this cost them bat speed (rate of angular displacement). It does not add to it."

Is this a result of dimished translational velocity (shorter lever), is there another force at work there to explain decreased bat speed, or is it some combination of factors?<<<

Hi Jeff

The main problem with a bent lead arm is that there is no longer a direct link from the rotating shoulders to the lead hand. The pull of the lead hand is now much more dependent on the muscles of the arm. This is a less powerful position. --- Consider the “rowing a boat” analogy again; you can pull on the handle with more force with a straight arm and us the larger muscle groups of the legs and torso than you can relying on the muscles of the arm.

Jack Mankin