Posted by: Jack Mankin (Mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Sat May 25 11:34:04 2002

>>>when im in the middle of my swing do i have to snap my wrists hard. or does it do it automaticly? <<<

Hi Tony

Welcome to the site. Below is a post I made earlier regarding the “wrist” and the base/softball swing.

>>> In order to understand the role of the wrist in the swing, I think it is necessary to clarify what is powering the "wrist snap." Is the flexing and un-flexing action being powered by the muscle groups in the forearm, or is the flexing and un-flexing caused more by the inertia and trajectories of the bat, and the wrists serve mainly as hinges?

The muscle groups that control wrist action are a comparatively small group. Considering the bat’s mass, it could only add a small percentage of the energy required to generate good bat speed. Also the baseball grip is constrictive to the range of wrist movement. Therefore, the value of what we commonly think of as “wrist snap” in the baseball/softball swing is way overblown. Although I’m sure the following statement will raise hackles on the necks of many of you. -- “During the swing, the more the wrists flex and un-flex - the weaker the swing.” -- But, before dashing off to the keyboard it may be wise to closely examine some video in frame-by-frame sequence. ---

It probably would have been more accurate if I had stated - 'forced' to flex and un-flex. The wrist is forced to flex whenever the hands are extended forward without a corresponding angular displacement of the bat-head. This occurs when a batter extends the bat knob-first while allowing the bat-head to trail behind. -- Here is where the "linear kinetic energy transfer theory" misleads the batter. Thinking that once he has transferred his weight to a firm front leg and extended his hands, energy will be released that will un-cock the wrist and the bat will come flying through. ---(As I demonstrated in the instructional video), it doesn't happen. Only rotational energy transferred by a circular hand-path and torque applied to the bat can generate angular displacement of the bat. -- With a straighter hand-path the batter will need to rely more heavily on torque to bring the bat-head through.

With a more circular hand-path and applying torque early in the swing, a great hitter will keep his hands back longer and allow the arcing bat-head to keep better pace with the advancement of the hands. Much of the bats early angular displacement takes place while the back-forearm is still in a more vertical position where the wrist can rotate instead of being forced to flex. So the wrist of a rotational hitter can stay much straighter during the swing.

With either the linear or rotational swing, what we perceive as “wrist snap” is actually the push-pull action of the arms applying torque to the bat as it approaches contact. --Example: Lead arm reaches full extension and acts as a pivot point for the back arm to push the bat around (torque). Note that during this action the wrist remains fairly straight. Basically, the same is true when applying bottom-hand-torque but reversing the role of the hands and arms. In either case it is the push-pull action of the arm that generates angular displacement - not wrist snap.

Jack Mankin