Posted by: swb (batspeed@integritycorp.com) on Thu Apr 25 01:25:40 2002

Hi Jack,

You may have not picked up my questions at the end of my overly-long reply here (http://www.batspeed.com/messageboard/output/6474.html), but I'd appreciate comment to them (repeated here).

Thanks.. Scott

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1) You emphasized top hand torque for outside pitches, and bottom hand torque for inside pitches. I expect that a “R” hitter should always be launching with top hand torque, and finishing with bottom hand torque, regardless of where the pitch is. I assume that the hitter will be using more of one method over another, depending upon where the pitch finishes. Correct?

2) You emphasize the bottom hand arm (lead arm) should be fairly extended (no slack) at the beginning of hip rotation, so that hip and torso rotation can pull the bat through the zone. However, at some point, the bottom hand must be pulling back towards the catcher (where the top hand becomes the stationary point, or “oar lock”) to develop the late hand torque. So it appears the bottom arm pulls the bottom hand towards the pitcher at launch, and pushes the bottom hand back towards the batter a fraction of a second later at finish. That sounds hard to do. Seems like the hitter is either going to emphasize pulling with the lead arm, or will hold it back to develop late hand torque, but not both.

One more Q: I've noticed on the video of my kids that their body is still in motion forward while the hands are initiating the swing. It looks like their top and bottom hands start together towards the zone (more so, in the case of my daughter). Am I correct in instructing them that all forward movement of the body should be stopped when the swing begins (i.e. when the hands start accelerating off the shoulder), and that the bottom hand should be the last thing to move (i.e. top hand torque initiates the swing)? Maybe I'm being too literal about the event timing. The lead (bottom hand) arm is supposed to be extended, and the hips use that to start the swing, so perhaps this hand movement starts as soon as the batter takes a timing step, and/or moves the left knee (RH batter).

As I said before in other posts, I'm trying to break down rotational mechanics into a series of clear "check points" (or cue's, as some call them). Currect "event timing" (my background is computers software, so forgive the syntax) seems to be critical to proper initiation of the swing.