Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Rollinstone (bstone206@aol.com) on Tue Sep 14 09:04:29 2004

>>> To me it is just something to get the bat on plane with the ball. I have also "back of bottom hand to the ball" I do not like the term knob to ball either! I still want a rotational swing in upper and lower body. Just trying to find a way to tell girls a way to make the bat go where they are looking. ???? <<<
>
> Hi Rollinstone
>
> The basis of a rotational swing is the circular path the hands take. That is what transfers the energy from body rotation into bat-head rotation around the swing plane. For the hand-path to be initiated into a circular path, the first movement of the hands (as a unit) must be directed perpendicular to the path of the incoming ball - or parallel to the catcher’s shoulders.
>
> This is accomplished by the batter keeping the hands back close to the shoulders and allowing shoulder rotation to accelerate them. When the batter keeps the bend (if any) in the lead-elbow constant during rotation, the first movement of the hands will be directed across the path of the ball rather than toward the ball. --- Imagine the top of a circle (12:00 o’clock). The direction of movement at the top of the circle is perpendicular to the direction of movement at contact (9:00 o’clock).
>
> Keep in mind that the straighter the hand-path, the more the batter must rely on torque (driving the top-hand past the bottom-hand) to bring the bat to contact. Normally, girls are not endowed with the arm strength to adequately accelerate a bat relying mainly on torque. This is one of the reasons girls (or boys) taught linear mechanics use the lightest bat they can find.
>
> Rollinstone, whatever cue you can use to promote keeping the bands back and generating a CHP is fine with me. Efficient mechanics has torque adding to a CHP – not replacing it. The more your batters think of swinging the bat-head instead of extending the knob, the more rotational their swings will become.
>
> Jack Mankin
> Ok Jack,now I have the mental picture that has been missing on the start of the swing. That is what I wanted to say but did not know how to say. I had a friend that used a red pointer light on a hitting bag and told his batters to hit the little red point on the bag as soon as they saw it. Ok, make the bat hit the target (ball). Ok. R Stone
>

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> >>> To me it is just something to get the bat on plane with the ball. I have also "back of bottom hand to the ball" I do not like the term knob to ball either! I still want a rotational swing in upper and lower body. Just trying to find a way to tell girls a way to make the bat go where they are looking. ???? <<<
> > 
> > Hi Rollinstone 
> > 
> > The basis of a rotational swing is the circular path the hands take. That is what transfers the energy from body rotation into bat-head rotation around the swing plane. For the hand-path to be initiated into a circular path, the first movement of the hands (as a unit) must be directed perpendicular to the path of the incoming ball - or parallel to the catcher’s shoulders. 
> > 
> > This is accomplished by the batter keeping the hands back close to the shoulders and allowing shoulder rotation to accelerate them. When the batter keeps the bend (if any) in the lead-elbow constant during rotation, the first movement of the hands will be directed across the path of the ball rather than toward the ball. --- Imagine the top of a circle (12:00 o’clock). The direction of movement at the top of the circle is perpendicular to the direction of movement at contact (9:00 o’clock). 
> > 
> > Keep in mind that the straighter the hand-path, the more the batter must rely on torque (driving the top-hand past the bottom-hand) to bring the bat to contact. Normally, girls are not endowed with the arm strength to adequately accelerate a bat relying mainly on torque. This is one of the reasons girls (or boys) taught linear mechanics use the lightest bat they can find.
> > 
> > Rollinstone, whatever cue you can use to promote keeping the bands back and generating a CHP is fine with me. Efficient mechanics has torque adding to a CHP – not replacing it. The more your batters think of swinging the bat-head instead of extending the knob, the more rotational their swings will become. 
> > 
> > Jack Mankin 
> > Ok Jack,now I have the mental picture that has been missing on the start of the swing. That is what I wanted to say but did not know how to say. I had a friend that used a red pointer light on a hitting bag and told his batters to hit the little red point on the bag as soon as they saw it. Ok, make the bat hit the target (ball). Ok. R Stone
> >

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