Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Jul 13 17:10:38 2000

>>>You mentioned the home run contest.Barry's opinion was that Sammy did better when he kept his shoulder in longer.Joe noticed someone(?Sammy)dropped their back shoulder when they got tired.What do you think they meant by those comments?I know you aren't a mindreader,but I would appreciate your best guess.Thanks<<<

Hi Tom

My best guess on Barry's comment would be regarding his pre-launch mechanics. Since he sets up with his hands away from his body, it is important that he gets them to a good position for launching the swing before body rotation (shoulder opening) begins. This timing would be a lot easier when someone is serving him balls to hit (say a home run contest) than when the pitcher is trying to foul up his timing.

I'm not sure just what Joe was referring to. The breaking down of the back side is usually caused by the batter accelerating the bat-head back into a more vertical angle (not into a the proper plane). This causes the back forearm to lower to horizontal much to early which breaks down the back side. --- Maybe as Sammy get tired he lowers his hands and pulls (top hand) the bat-head into a more vertical angle.

Jack Mankin