Posted by: Curt () on Wed Feb 9 23:57:46 2000

>>Like Jack,keeping the bat above the hands has always been confusing because it can be interpreted so many different ways.Above the hands with respect to what? The ground?The swing plane?What if the most efficient swing is with the arms perpendicular to the spine,do you keep the bat above a line drawn where this would be?What if you swing and use this as a swing thought,does your swing improve ?
> > I seealmost all new players drop the bathead because they think they need to swing the bat with the arms which are too weak to keep the bat up.One way to show them what it is like to generate power by rotating the body is to sit the on a chair that spins and turn the chair to let it do the rotating,then see how the arms move to the hitting zone.They usually position the bat well without dropping the head.Lack of rotation and lack of a circular handpath to keep the bat connected to this rotation is what is likely to drop the bathead in my experience.<<
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> Hi Tom
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> Great Post. >>>One way to show them what it is like to generate power by rotating the body is to sit the on a chair that spins and turn the chair to let it do the rotating,then see how the arms move to the hitting zone.<<< --- I use this method in the video.
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> Jack Mankin
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>

Jack and Tom,

My best interpretation of "keeping the bat head above the hands" would be to say, it is in relation to the swing plane (10 to 15 degrees upward). If the bat head is "dropped" too early, it would make it difficult to get it into this plane.

In my experience, there are several reasons that cause this to happen. Adducting (ucocking) the wrist "position" of the bottom hand too soon; usually when initiating the hands forward. This puts torquing of the bat in a much weaker position. I am not endorsing abduction or adduction of the wrists as a means of swinging the bat. I'm only referring to an abducted (cocked)"positioning" of the wrist. It should stay in this position longer, while on its trajectory to the ball. This will keep the bat head higher for a longer period of time, giving you a better chance of putting it in the proper swing plane. If I understand your torquing of the hands on the bat theory, along with the circular hand path, they should both help achieve what I have just described.

While watching slow-motion film of my hitters, I have also noticed that some of them will "lead" their swing with their front shoulder and/or front elbow (upward, in a vertical plane). Their shoulders deviate from the level position that they should remain in, which in turn drops the bat head too soon (looks more like a golf swing).

Another problem that I have found is when the hitter does not rotate onto the toe of their back foot (the classic L-position). This causes their back side to collapse, pulling down the back shoulder with it. Their shouders are again out of the level position, causing the bat head to drop too soon.

All of the above descriptions will cause the hitter to hit from under the ball (uppercut) and make it difficult to get the bat head into the correct swing plane.

I would not disagree with Tom on his referrence to the physically weak hitter. Most young kids use entirely too big a bat. If they were to use a bat weight that would match their strength, it would not be such a severe problem. As far as the spinning chair drill, (I am not saying it is not a useful drill), I am sitting in one right now and can still perform some of the faults that I have described above. Rotation alone, in my opinion, will not fix some of these faults.

Curt