Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Fri May 24 09:51:56 2002

>>> Swinging on plane is well addressed by Epsteins cues on how to work the front elbow at and after launch, however, this needs to be done in the context of learning the entire progression of the swing. In other words, work on it as a part of the swing, not in isolation. In Epstein language, hips lead hands, match the plane(the most closely related to your question),keep the hands in. In Jack's terms this means you have to learn to rotate around a stationary axis create good connection so the torso drives the handpath in a circle/arc and use the hands and arms to apply torque steadily from launch to contact while preserving the circular handpath. If you do this, the bat will swing out in the power plane perpendicular to the spine. This is where the forces you are trying to harness are going to make the bat swing. How early or late you launch and the handpath radius set up at launch will adjust for inside out. Body posture/degree of bend at waist will make up/down adjustment. Always swing perpendicular to the spine(or said another way, with good mechanics the bat will always fire out in the plane perpendicular to the spine where the big body forces encourage it to swing). <<<

Hi Tom

In your post you stated; “Swinging on plane is well addressed by Epsteins cues on how to work the front elbow at and after launch.” --- I have real trouble understanding Epstein’s “weathervaning” cue for developing the correct swing plane.

I have stressed in my video, that the lead-elbow MUST always stay in the plane of the swing. If the elbow and bat are not in the same plane, the swing loses power and consistency of contact. Therefore, if the pitch were higher (higher swing plane), the elbow would also move to a higher plane. Obviously for a lower pitch, the swing plane and elbow would move lower. But Epstein’s “weathervaning” cue seems to teach something quite different. He states; ---

“When the hitter is able to match the plane of his swing to the plane of the pitch, his lead elbow works in an approximate 6" slot: if the pitch is perceived as "down," the lead elbow works up in the slot. If the pitch is perceived as up, the lead elbow makes the adjustment and works down. The weathervaning of the lead elbow allows this to happen. The proper swing allows for dynamic adjustment.”

Why would you have a cue that tells the batter to work his lead-elbow down on high pitches and up on lower pitches?

Jack Mankin