Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Sun May 19 12:09:07 2002

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> Many good hitters have varying amounts of flex in the lead-elbow as they initiate their swing. This allows them to get good wood on inside pitches by keeping about the same bend in the elbow to contact. By keeping the elbow angle fairly constant during rotation, the batter can inside-out the ball or still apply a good amount of bht even with the bent elbow. And, as you and rql have pointed out, the elbow will straighten to allow greater reach for pitches middle-out. But unlike what Mike advocates, the arm straightens early in the swing for a wider hand-path and does not cause disconnect. Mike would have the batter use the muscles of the arms to extend the hands away (toward contact) from the body.
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> PS: I still prefer having the lead-arm fairly straight at initiation and allowing it to flex for inside pitches.
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> Jack Mankin
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Jack,rql,et al_
Do you still feel some degree of pull back with the bottom hand at contact even on the outside pitch?

For the outside pitch,as I understand Jack's description,the front bicep stays against the chest,the handpath is wider at launch with less flex in the elbow creating a higher load situation.There is less torso turn with more bathead extension including some "L" out of back elbow at contact.Even though visually any remaining flex can come out of the front elbow just before contact,I find personally there is still the feeling of pulling back with the bottom hand(bht feel/torque feel)which may come from the fact that as Jack says the big muscles are driving the swing.This pulls the front elbow to extension(if there is still flex in it near contact)even if the bottom hand is resisting pulling back.This would be quite a different feel from feeling the extension of both elbows(smaller muscles) through contact.rql-what feel do you prefer ? Does it matter ?

Another point Jack may be making which I had not appreciated before is that having the lead arm near extension at launch can increase the amount of plate coverage using bht mechanics,maintaining this handpath for middle/out stuff and hooking the handpath for anything further in.I'll have to give that a try.Am I interpreting this right Jack ?