Posted by: Dunno () on Sat Sep 1 22:09:23 2007

I've always wondered whether releasing you top hand after contact has any affect on bat speed and power. It's a curiosity of mind for some reason. There are excellent hitters who use both methods, top hand release and two handed follow through. I just noticed something that I've never seen, though. On August 29th, Lance Berkman hit a homerun to Minute Maid Park's right field using a two handed follow through. The next night, August 30th, he hit a dinger to about the same spot, but released his top hand after contact.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/multimedia/tp_archive.jsp?c_id=hou&ym=200708.

I don't think that I've ever seen a major leaguer change that part of his stroke like that--one or the other style is usually deeply ingrained into the player's swing by the time they are in the bigs. Anyway, it seems to me that this suggests that Lau was wrong, and that it doesn't make much difference how one releases the bat, except for personal preference.