Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Aug 21 12:40:43 2007

>>> Jack, others,

I did a short video showing what happens in the swing. I didn't cover everything and will redo whatever needs to be shown or discussed.

I'm not a very good speaker.

http://home.comcast.net/~ben_2004/THT1.wmv <<<

Hi Shawn

With your interruption of Bonds’ swing, shoulder rotation is totally responsible for accelerating the bat-head as he initiates his swing. You are basically saying that what the does with his top-hand has little or no influence on the bat’s trajectory. If that were true, every batter that assumed a good launch position and generated great shoulder rotation would automatically generate great bat speed regardless of what he does with the top-hand.

That is simply not the case. The main reason batters with good shoulder rotation do not produce good bat speed is because the direction of force they apply with the top-hand. Their top-hand drives forward with the palm on the handle as they initiate their swings. This means that both their bottom and top hand are being driven in the same direction – toward the pitcher.

For torque applied at the handle to cause the bat-head to rotate, the force of the hands must be from opposing directions. Driving both hands in the same direction drives the knob forward, but leaves bat-head dragging behind. – Pulling rearward on the handle with the fingers of the top-hand during initaition produces a very different bat trajectory than driving forward with the palm.

Jack Mankin