Posted by: Rich () on Mon Dec 22 19:09:28 2003

> Is this the holly grail for upper body connection ala luis gonzalez?
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> > > > > toti
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> > > > > toti... yup. and then lower the hands perpendicular to the torso to form an "L" with the top arm elbow tight to side. front arm bicep tight to chest elbow up and throw the bathead at the ball. no linear movement of the hands at all on middle/in... allow the hands to go to the ball on the outside pitch. master this then add bottom hand torque(the mechanics of throwing the bathead at the ball) and then top hand torque(part of the prelaunch load sequence)and you will have an extremely fast bat... now the hard part, timing the pitch and putting the bat on the ball. all the best, Rich
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> > > rich,
> > > thanks a pile. i appreciate it. i am an epstein student but he doesn´t talk much about the hands for good reason, i understand. i enjoy the upper body mechanics talk on this site. it is really difficult for me to keep the top arm accross my chest and not fire my hands at the ball due to years of aluminium mechanics. but i am making great progress, specially on the inside heat, which was unhittable in the past. do you favor a straight lead arm accross the chest? it seems like Lau mechanics, dont you think? Epstein favors some bent.
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> > > your thoughts?
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> > > toti, thanks
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> > > Hey toti,
> > You said "it's difficult for me to keep the top arm across my chest..." you meant the bottom arm or lead arm didn't you? back arm stays in the "L" after launch. i too like the bent lead arm with the bicep against the chest. if you staighten the lead arm it will pull your hands away from the armpit area in prelaunch and cast the hands during the actual swing. also maybe even more important by keeping the lead arm bent it stays relaxed and not tight. you want everything that isn't actually rotating the shoulders to stay loose. keep the hands loose too... well, not totally. i think when we launch the bottom hand is firm not tight and the top hand is very loose as it pulls(torques)the bat behind the head. when we enter the lag position my hands(little finger,ring finger and middle finger)are almost straight with the thumb and forefinger holding the bat(like Jack's ore lock on a row boat analogy). put a bat in your hand now and get into the position where the shoulders have begun pulling your hands into the swing and you are lowering your hands into the "L". if the three fingers mentioned above are grasping the bat tight the the bat will be in the position 90 degress or perpendicular to the forearm. not where Epstein would want it or where Bonds has his in his clips... you want it lagging back allowing for faster rotation. as the bathead is thrown at the ball(with the circular hand path) the squeezing of the three fingers will facilitate this and also make the final bottom hand torque much easier. also as the fingers are pulling the bat handle(knob)back toward the body the bottom hand is simultaneously loosing to allow the the knob to slide under the plam(which at this point is facing down). if you don't loosen the grip of the bottom hand you'll bind the wrist and prevent the bathead from being a perfect extension(straight line)from the elbow to the end of the bat at contact. whew... long and winding explanation that started with the bent front elbow. here's what i try and guage every thing i experiment with in my swing against: does it improve or help me have a "SMOOTH, LOOSE, POWERFUL, EVER-ACCELERATING SWING" if it FEELS better and stays within my definition i use it. we are all unique individuals with different bodies that we are trying to teach to swing a bat as fast as that body is capable of swinging... learn the mechanics and then go for the FEEL and you won't go wrong. especially with your desire to improve. i'm just learning, you know more than me... i just like to write about it as that helps me to get it clearer in my head :-) take care Merry Christmas!!! Rich
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> hi rich
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> are you a baseball player? I can see that because i find it easier to communicate issues actually. it is difficult with guys that are highly theoretical.
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> NO BODY, ever talked to me about fingers, which i think are important in the swing. i very much feel the power at the tip of my fingers, and find difficult to relate to other issues talked in this site.
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> relaxed upper body, yes. tight bottom arm in the initiation, yes. slight flex, in BH, yes. now, do you mean that when the swing starts, i should tight my TH GRIP? and loose my bottom hand. should the top hand become dominant after you launch the swing?? most critical question for me? do you favor bat sweep ala luis gonzalez. that is, bat in bazooka fashion(my coach hates it), not perpendicular like Bonds. i seem to get more bat speed this way.
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> toti, thanks ahead.
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> Hey toti,
From your 1st reply "i find it difficult to keep my top arm across my chest and not fire my hands at the ball" Epstein says that it takes 1500 swings to erase an old muscle memory and replace it with a new part of the swing... so here's what you do. in Jan you only hit the heavy bag. do you have a heavy bag? if you don't go and get one as they are by far the best training tool anybody can use. especially when you are changing a major part of your swing. only hit the heavy bag and the T during the month of Jan. why? because if you try and hit a machine or live you'll revert back to wanting to fire the hands... you burn it to memory before you see anything coming at you. HOW? have a friend stand behind you when you have the bat in the bazooka position have the friend hold your hands as you stride. when your heel hits the ground start to rotate your hips(friend still holds hands back),your hips won't go too far because you've got your hands back and cocked. the hips will rotate the torso(friend still holds hands back) then the shoulders will begin to turn from rotation of the torso. as the shoulders begin to rotate they will pull your hands and your friend will feel the tug. this is called, keeping the hands back. now the power of the axis of rotation is being transfered from the legs to the bat. repeat this stride and tug many, many, many times. get the FEEL of it... then hit the bag with this new feel. when the front shoulder is pulling the hands around it makes it harder to fire them.
I used to play, not any more... now i'm learning what i used to do and trying to teach it. you asked "when i start my swing should i tighten the TH grip?" experiment with it... i'd suggest that you try tightening it to help get the bathead out of the lag position. what do i think of the bazooka style stance? it's as close to the launch position as you can get so you can't go wrong... the only reason you might consider moving the bathead is to get it MOVING into the bazooka position during your stride. WHY? first, you've over come getting the bathead moving from a dead stop at launch. this keeps the launch smoother(remember smoother) and at the same time gets the bathead moving 10mph or better before launch. this translates into harder hit balls and more hits. try it a little at a time to see if it can feel comfortable. so just twist the bathead an inch back behind your head(that's just a little) and then as you stride twist it back to the original position and continue on thru as you launch.
got to go.... have fun, Rich