Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Thu Sep 11 12:22:03 2003

rql- See also my "tome" answering the post before this.


> > Jack I just looked at the guerero clip and I am not up on Nyman for what he is saying however what I feel is that yes his lead shoulder does inward turn Tom calls this either abduct or adduct while the rear scapula is clearly pinching.

**********Inward turn happens befores back scap loads.In case of Bonds,bat comes up from horizontal to vertical as he bends at waist,then he lifts the stride foot as the back arm internally rotates to cock the bat toward the opposite batter's box.Next he will scap load and "counter rotate" as torso turns back slightly while stride foot goes out.Same basic action("universal sequence") in Guerrero.You have to really stretch out the video(increase frame rate) to "see" it.

>>>>>Now what I don't see and this is the point of my thread below on inward turn is that Guerero's upper body torso ,mid section appears to me to stay facing the plate while the shoulders almost are working seperate, inward turning alone creating separation but not so much as we have said between upper and lower body but more between lower body and shoulders with mid section and chest connecting the 2.Could it be that it is the shoulders that are inward turning during scapula load and when the lead foot reaches out with stride that the stretching that takes place in the mid section[lines on a jersey going back]is being caused by only the shoulders going back and lower body reaching out.I guess I'm saying that upper body in ward turn is not as correct as shoulder inward turn.Jack usually when I disagree with you I get to learn something new so don't take this conversation the wrong way

****rql-This is really an excellent point/description.You clearly "feel" things in great detail.Said another way,you are aware of "many degrees of freedom" that you have developed in mastering the skill of hitting.It's not just a lower body segment and an upper body segment.it's a whole lot of continuous muscle action from bottom up.or maybe more accurately,fron center out.I find the sequence has to be there every time to have adequate degrees of freedom to create adequate torso power to turn to contact.This provides the necessary torque and angular acceleration that Jack talks about.

-Inward turn/bend at waist/start bat cocking/internal rotation of back arm as stride foot lifts and hip cocks,then

-back scap load,a little bit of torso turn back(going up higher and higher,stride foot goes out,stretching body,no more backward turn of lower body

-Then arm action turns bat( part of body loading/turning back has gone even higher-shoulders only then later,maybe only batthis is the tht phase-bat arc starts as hip arc starts with synchronized external rotation of back arm and external rotation of front leg,rotating/coiling body into toe touch(maintaining hip cock to be used at heel drop to trigger launch)

-then heel drop/drop and tilt,bat continues to turn(accelerates back) as front side firms up to tightly connect at "launch" when torso starts to drive "CHP".

I'll bet you can feel the whole thing whenyou think about it.It's things working there way from the center out.I think of it as "out of phase" loading and unloading.Similar to keeping a hula hoop going.******