Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Apr 7 13:34:56 2002

>>> Hi,
Lately I have had trouble making solid contact with the ball. It seems I am hitting it off the end of the bat rather often. My coach thinks im not "finishing" the swing with my hands. Does this mean perhaps I'm not applying enough torque right before contact? Thanks. <<<

Hi Jake

Many hitters learning to use rotational principles experience the problem you describe. Most are accustom to extension mechanics where the top-hand is dominate and is driven forward at initiation. Rotational principles require the hands to stay back and allow shoulder rotation to accelerate the hands. If the batter remains top-hand dominant while fully rotating the shoulders, the hands separate from the shoulder far to early. The batter then gets behind the power curve and the bat-head can not stay in sync with shoulder rotation. With the shoulders fully open and the bat-head dragging, the batter cannot reach outside pitches and hits middle-in pitches weakly to the opposite field.

In order to develop good rotational mechanics, you must learn to keep the top-hand back and rely more on the lead-side and arm (bottom-hand-torque) to accelerate the bat-head. This will require good linkage from the lead-shoulder to the knob end of the bat. --- Jake, for more information on the correct use the lead side, go to "Wrist Action or Torque" on the site. Below is a copy of an earlier post by Tom Guerry that also has good information.

###

Ray-

The difference is that you need to apply torque from initiation to contact in the baseball swing to be able to get full plate coverage (similar swing for all locations), and have a short enough ( circular handpath in close to body bat stays on plane) quick enough (rapid acceleration) swing.

Let me approach this from a comparative swing point of view. I play golf, played and coached baseball up to college level in 70's (small ball era, I could never figure out how to hit or coach for power)and more recently have been trying to figure out what the heck it is that girls/women's fastpitch hitting coaches are trying to do. When I read Jack's stuff, I finally was able to figure out how the power swing worked in baseball. I may still know just enough to be dangerous so don't let respect for me cloud your judgement. This is long, but you asked for it!

In golf, you have the advantage of a still ball and infinite reaction time. You have the disadvantage of having to control the clubface on the end of the club. The preferred way to swing for power(driver)is to have a circular handpath and as long a swing radius as possible. You keep the front arm extended and use a long club. You also use a long backswing and separate the upper and lower torso as much as possible (80 degrees for Tiger) with the club still going back as the lower body is turning forward.

You do not apply torque as the down swing progresses. Instead, you keep the wrists cocked, then snap the wrists to extension just before contact and keep them extended without rolling through contact. The wrists snap together. There is no push pull applying opposing forces on either side of a point on the grip between the hands. An overlapping grip is used with a small diameter grip held in the fingers. Keeping the wrists extended through extension before rolling usually requires ongoing acceleration at contact (clubhead not at maximum speed yet). If you look at Jack's tape, they act mostly like the steering wheel knob creating a hinge to transfer centripetal force to turn the bat with fine tuning of the plane of the swing and the timing so that the clubhead is stable and accelerating through contact. This is not whipping because the torso and front arm keep rotating instead of stopping. Tempo of the swing is really the most important factor to consistency-that is smooth acceleration. One of the ultimate tests is to swing a golf club that is hinged in the middle. A great swinger can swing this club with almost the same result as with the stiff shaft. The feel in the hands wrists is important to control this.

Now in the swing Jack documents that the best in baseball are using, the hitter has to get to maximum speed fast with the bat onplane, but you don't have to worry about controlling a clubface, just getting the sweetspot on the ball. As with Jack's golf drill on his video, top hand torque applied at the top of the golf backswing accelerates the club rapidly. Early in the swing the opposing force is provided just by the front arm pulling the bottom hand forward in a circular path. In hitting you need to continue this application of opposing forces about a point between the hands to keep the bat on plane and accelerating. The top hand has to rotate smoothly in the plane of the swing and allow some slippage of the bat to keep applying opposite force. The bottom hand keeps a fixed grip. The best grip is more in the palms is not overlapping and has to allow this smooth rotation of the top hand or "wrist bind" will get the swing off plane and slowed down. Once you get the palms level(with respect to the swing plane which is perpendicular to the upper torso with the plane set by time of launch by posture adjustment)you can apply torque with the back shoulder pushing the top hand forward and the front shoulder pulling the bottom hand back. There is more and more emphasis on bottom hand torque/pull back as the pitch location gets more inside. To apply this torque when the hands are level and the bat is approaching contact it helps to have the back shoulder blade pinched(horizontal adduction of the scapula, usually accomplished when the back elbow comes up before the swing) and the front shoulder blade Unpinched (which it usually is because it is fixed to the torso early on). Near contact, Pinching of the front shoulder blade can then assist pulling back the bottom hand as unpinching of the back shoulder blade helps drive the to hand forward. This is a completely different action than in golf. If you use a golf grip(overlap and/or in fingers as much as possible and/or especially start with the second knuckles lined up)it is very difficult to apply tophand torque at initiation. This is especially so if the back elbow is not up and then coming down at initiation. If the top hand grip does not allow slippage, it is hard to keep the swing on plane. This is why having a loose top hand and releasing it after contact works well(but is not necessary-just a teaching method like resting the bat against the shoulder as another example).It allows you to keep applying torque and keeps the top hand from causing pre-extension and early wrist rolling/cutting off the swing.

I would call the first example (golf) wrist snap and the second (baseball) torque and they are very different. There are several in between variations in baseball. Not too many players overall take advantage of tophand torque. They keep the grip fixed and then can do one of several things near contact. Most apply bottom hand torque for middle/in pitches because they have learned a good bottom hand pull back keeps the pulled ball fair. Other locations use more wrist snap. Middle/away locations may cast the bottom hand away from the body which stops the bottom hand at extension and lets the top hand whip the bat around it. This is a really bad power swing if the casting happens early as in the typical girl's fastpitch swing (can still work as a placement swing for certain pitch locations).

Alternatively, you can keep the bottom hand in a circle and let the top hand catch up as in golf(bottom hand in golf since you start with club down not up as with bat) or as in releasing the top hand earlier than desirable.

As far as Brian in the demo, the taping prevents ension/straightening of the hand path, but I think he could still do a little torquing.