Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Mon Jan 20 16:22:01 2003

Question/Comment:

>>> I think they both happen. I put more emphasis on the back hip in terms of the force used to 'unfold' the body. The lead leg/front hip plays an equally important role IMO.
While we both see the same action/motion from the outside view, I feel that the swing originates from the hips and works both down and up. If you 'pop' the hips to start the swing, the back hip drives forward, the lead hip pulls around and the front leg straightens as a result of this.
"uses the extension of lead-leg to drive the lead-hip around and back toward the catcher" I'd say "drives the lead-hip around... to create lead-leg extension"

We disagree possibly on cause and effect, but we are looking at the same event. I used to teach front heel down to trigger the swing.
Now I teach to pop the hips from a balanced stance. The front heel rotates into foot plant, but it is a result of the hip action. Looks the same however But I can get consistent results with very little complication/overthink/overteach on my and my students' parts. <<<

Jack Mankin's reply:

Hi Major Dan:

I find that most of the batters I have worked with are already back-side dominant and few use the lead-side effectively. One of the key reasons great hitters like Bonds are so far ahead of the field is because of the BHT (and "hook" effect) they apply from the lead-shoulder pulling back toward the catcher to accelerate the bat-head to contact. Bonds lands on a well-flexed lead-leg. To generate his strong 105 degree lead-shoulder rotation approaching contact requires the aid from the straightening of his lead leg.

Therefore, I do not think it helpful to think the lead-leg straightens because the hips rotate. Rather, the extension of the lead-leg is a major factor in what drives rotation. --- I want the student to understand that the sole reason they rotate their body (hips and shoulders) is to cause the bat-head to rotate -- that's what it's all about. So I teach the student that as they initiate their swing by rotating the lead-heel back, they should also think "rotate the bat-head rearward --- Think, "rotate the heel -- rotate the bat-head." From initiation, the muscle groups in the batter"s legs, torso and arms should be working together (in unison) to maximize the angular acceleration of the bat-head around the swing plane.

Jack Mankin

Followups:

Re: The stride's role thom blinn [ Tue May 17 07:26:19 2005 ]
Re: The stride's role Major Dan [ Wed Jan 22 05:32:37 2003 ]

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> Question/Comment:
> 
> >>> I think they both happen. I put more emphasis on the back hip in terms of the force used to 'unfold' the body. The lead leg/front hip plays an equally important role IMO. 
> While we both see the same action/motion from the outside view, I feel that the swing originates from the hips and works both down and up. If you 'pop' the hips to start the swing, the back hip drives forward, the lead hip pulls around and the front leg straightens as a result of this. 
> "uses the extension of lead-leg to drive the lead-hip around and back toward the catcher" I'd say "drives the lead-hip around... to create lead-leg extension" 
> 
> We disagree possibly on cause and effect, but we are looking at the same event. I used to teach front heel down to trigger the swing. 
> Now I teach to pop the hips from a balanced stance. The front heel rotates into foot plant, but it is a result of the hip action. Looks the same however But I can get consistent results with very little complication/overthink/overteach on my and my students' parts. <<<
> 
> Jack Mankin's reply:
> 
> Hi Major Dan:
> 
> I find that most of the batters I have worked with are already back-side dominant and few use the lead-side effectively. One of the key reasons great hitters like Bonds are so far ahead of the field is because of the BHT (and "hook" effect) they apply from the lead-shoulder pulling back toward the catcher to accelerate the bat-head to contact. Bonds lands on a well-flexed lead-leg. To generate his strong 105 degree lead-shoulder rotation approaching contact requires the aid from the straightening of his lead leg. 
> 
> Therefore, I do not think it helpful to think the lead-leg straightens because the hips rotate. Rather, the extension of the lead-leg is a major factor in what drives rotation. --- I want the student to understand that the sole reason they rotate their body (hips and shoulders) is to cause the bat-head to rotate -- that's what it's all about. So I teach the student that as they initiate their swing by rotating the lead-heel back, they should also think "rotate the bat-head rearward --- Think, "rotate the heel -- rotate the bat-head." From initiation, the muscle groups in the batter"s legs, torso and arms should be working together (in unison) to maximize the angular acceleration of the bat-head around the swing plane.
> 
> Jack Mankin

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