Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Aug 9 14:54:54 2006

&#61656; >>> Is this hitter applying THT? > > > > http://members.aol.com/bellshw2/alex.mov > > > > My answer is No, I believe it's rotation and where the bat head is when rotation begins. I'll let Jack school us on if this is THT. <<<

Hi

First, let me say that my evaluation is of just this one swing. The batter’s timing may have been off and my not reflect his average swing mechanics.

The purpose of good transfer mechanics is to efficiently transfer the body’s rotational momentum to the rotation of the bat-head around the swing plane. When the batter’s mechanics generates the optimum CHP and applies constant torque at the handle, the angular acceleration of the bat-head will stay in sync with shoulder rotation.

When the acceleration of the bat-head stays in sync with rotation, a video analysis of the best hitters reveals two key observations. (1) When body’s momentum has been depleted (shoulder rotation ceases), the bat-head will have been rotated so the bat is perpendicular to the flight of the incoming ball -- (2) The back-elbow will still be back at the side in the classic “L” position. – A frame-by-frame advance of this clip depicts this. http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/Griffey01.mpeg

I have received hundreds of videos from young hitters for my analysis. I normally find that when their shoulders have completed rotation, the bat is still 30 to 90 degrees from perpendicular. Since shoulder rotation has been depleted, they must now rely solely on the arms to bring the bat to contact. This indicates they have little power to the opposite field and most of their better-hit balls are pulled foul.

In the clip you provided ( http://members.aol.com/bellshw2/alex.mov ), due to the hands (as a unit) being rotated forward, we cannot see how much rearward force his top-hand is applying at the handle. However we can note that when he depleted shoulder rotation, the bat-head was still lagging 30+ degrees behind the hands. Note how far the back-elbow has extended to bring the bat perpendicular. This indicates that during the initiation of his swing there was not sufficient torque (THT & BHT) to keep the acceleration of the bat-head in sync with shoulder rotation. – Note: this would be true regardless of the lower-body mechanics used to rotate the shoulders.

Jack Mankin