Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Mon Dec 16 16:14:11 2002

It seems to me that top "HAND" torque is a misnomer; what is torquing or working in opposite directions are the scapula -- maybe it should be called scapula torque.
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> There is a lot of criticism by this website of "cracking the whip" and the truism that the hands are too weak to generate necessary bat speed, then coin a phrase to tell our hitters to use the top "hand to take the bat head towards the catcher" because of the need for early bat speed. We already know by our own criticism of linear hitters that the hands/wrists are not where the focus should be for bat speed.
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> I knew it could not be that simple of a choice: either push your hands forward (linear) or use top hand torque and your rotational.
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> It seems that the real cue is with what happens with the shoulders and bicep and elbow -- and really has nothing to do with the "hands".
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> Now we got to talk about internal and external rotation and abduction and scapula loading, which is a lot more complicated than just take the bat head back toward the catcher with the top hand.
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> BUT there is still a problem: we need someone to explain these mechanisms in English or understandable/ real life, layman's terms so we all can understand. It is like my speech teacher use to say: Pretend you are explaining this to a 6th grader, and then simplify it somemore. Somebody needs to bridge the gap between what goes on scientifically and explain in HITTERS lingo what the sequence is. That's why top hand torque works because it is a simple "cue" for something obviously very complex. And you can watch the video and look at pictures all day and if you do not know what you are looking for (in what sequence) it does not really matter either. Somebody take a shot at it and KISS (keep it simple stupid)!
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I think it's important to teach hip cock in both hitting and the overhand throw.In throwing it is usually felt best with the crow hop,getting the front knee up/showing the back/back pocket and learning how/when to break the hands.Then the same feel can be applied in hitting.Williams describes the hip cock pretty well as turning front knee in,rotating the hips back,cocking the hands.You could just teach cocking the hips and the bat together,making sure the hand cock includes internal rotation of the back arm.

For the scap loading part,you might use keep the hands back,keep the hands in,or Epstein's "scoop sand with the top hand".Even the old "knob to the ball" works if the knob is turning while the hands are still staying back and connected.Lots of possibilities.One key to not confusing the student with the cue/interpretation is for the teacher to know what has to happen at a fairly fundamental level.