Posted by: Steve (laflammesteve@ymail.com) on Sun Aug 21 08:43:00 2011

> > > Hi guys,
> > > I'd like to offer a different point of view here. I think a hitter can get in trouble by focusing on the shoulders as a swing key, as it could lead to a leakage of power due to the shoulders starting the swing after heel plant, versus the lower body. In the clips "lead shoulder rotation of 4 great hitters", watch the early separation of their hips as they open, creating a stretch between their hips and shoulders. They don't all rotate in unison. As the hips go forward, the bathead goes rearward from a swiveling of their elbows and wrists. The shoulders do catch up by contact, but a better key for me is to think "hips rotate forward, bathead rotates backward" to start the swing. If you think "shoulders first", then the tendency is to bring everything around together will little resistance. I am in no way advocating linear principles, just offering up what I see in the clips, and going from what I experience in the cage.
> > > Steve
> >
> > Steve, the way I see it, the hips are only indirectly linked to the hands, whereas the shoulders are more directly linked to the hands. Any movement from the shoulders therefore will have a more direct impact on the rotation of the hands than any hip movement. I think we all agree that you want both hip and shoulder rotation. The difference in opinion is what the batter should focus on. If you focus on rotating the shoulders, the hips will naturally follow and accommodate the shoulder movement, whereas rotating the hips alone won't necessarily generate the proper shoulder rotation and will likely cause you to pull the ball. I think that pulling the hips first will indeed cause you to pull the ball more often.
>
> Great discussion guys.
> Steve your point actually is right on, the hips must lead in order to
> utilize the transfer of energy from the ground up. Legs, hips, shoulders, hands. If the kinetic link is out of sync power is lost. The shoulders are more directly linked to the hands, but if the core muscles are not stretched by the separation caused by the hips leading, the energy transfer to the bat is reduced dramatically

Thanks Coach,
"Kinetic link" is the term I was searching for exactly. The thing is, you never hear a pro hitter talk about their shoulders as a swing key. I get that they sometimes they speak of their swings in what may be construed as linear terminology (hands to the ball, stay on the ball, stay inside, etc), but my theory is that these keys work for them because they already have the basic rotational principles of CHP and torque (although you will never see them use those terms either!) ingrained. I think there is actually merit to the term "keep your shoulder in there" as long as a hitter understands the proper hand path is circular caused by a good load position, instead of extending the arms from a bent position to contact. That way "keep your shoulder in there" lets a hitter initiate the kinetic link from the ground up as you put it. GB, watch the last clip on "lead shoulder of 4 hitters" and look at Chipper's hip rotation vs his shoulder rotation through contact. Notice his scap load, and sequencing and stretch. When you hear high-level hitters talk of their swings, it's almost like they try to remind themselves of not rotating the shoulders too early, in fact.