Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.con) on Sun Jan 30 23:54:10 2000

>>>To clarify, you mean to say the lead arm is straight at contact? I ask because it appears to me that most hitter have little movement in their elbow through most of the pre-contact portion of the swing but still retain a little bend at the elbow, straightening it near contact. In other words, it's not barred throughout the swing.<<<

Hi Jeff

No, in most swings the lead arm is not barred. I stated the following in an earlier post.

>>I would agree that a slight bend might occur as the swing is initiated. But this is because of the inertia offered by the bat and not to have “a shorter path to the ball.” The arm should be fairly straight by mid swing<<

The “barred lead arm” term raises the hackles of most all coaches. But Jeff, what would be the dire consequences of a batter rotating with the arm barred if he kept it across most of his chest to contact?

Jack Mankin