Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Shawn (leebell@myhome.net) on Mon May 8 22:19:27 2000

BHL,

I believe both hands a very important (the forces transferred to the bat).

Dave uses this check point for staying inside the ball.

The knob is at the front hip before the barrel starts into the hitting zone.

I personally don't see this as a good check point. For years the inside/out approach has been at the top of all coaches instructions. The fence drill is for instructing the position Dave is explaining, bring the knob to the ball (front hip) and push the barrel out of the hand path.

Teaching hitters to apply this much top hand dominance is wrong IMO. The instructor must understand exactly what needs to happen for good bat speed and control, when instructing a tight hand path (inside/out approach). A new coach will take advice (Dave, books, videos) from who he thinks is giving him excellent advice, without even thinking about the credibility of that advice (hey this guy is/was a ML player).

The problem is the instruction involves the top hand only (push). The bottom hand is viewed as only setting the swing plane, never covers it's importance from the pulling force involved in the swing.

The positions often explained for the inside/out swing can create a linear hand path and not the desired "tight arc". The barrel will have very little bat speed if I followed the instructions "The inside-the-ball position gets the bat in a position (to the top hit) where the bat handle leads the bat head, a position where a strong push of the top hand will throw the bat in a tight, circular arc."

I can't create good bat speed from "pushing" only. Thinking about "pushing" anything can destroy the pulling force. There must be a good balance, "Pull and Push".

The arc happens much sooner, and the hands don't go forward unless they are pulled forward (rotation). This is where thinking about the position of taking the knob to the ball, barrel trailing the hands, and then trying to push the barrel in a tight arc can cause problems in the swing.

Follow this link to see why I don't believe in linear hand, and then pushing the barrel out of the hands path. Any motion that doesn't transfer angular velocity to the barrel is wasted motion IMO.

http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/giggs/1006/bbhit/insideout.html

Shawn

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Text:

> BHL,
> 
> I believe both hands a very important (the forces transferred to the bat).
> 
> Dave uses this check point for staying inside the ball. 
> 
> The knob is at the front hip before the barrel starts into the hitting zone.
> 
> I personally don't see this as a good check point. For years the inside/out approach has been at the top of all coaches instructions. The fence drill is for instructing the position Dave is explaining, bring the knob to the ball (front hip) and push the barrel out of the hand path.
> 
> Teaching hitters to apply this much top hand dominance is wrong IMO. The instructor must understand exactly what needs to happen for good bat speed and control, when instructing a tight hand path (inside/out approach). A new coach will take advice (Dave, books, videos) from who he thinks is giving him excellent advice, without even thinking about the credibility of that advice (hey this guy is/was a ML player).
> 
> The problem is the instruction involves the top hand only (push). The bottom hand is viewed as only setting the swing plane, never covers it's importance from the pulling force involved in the swing.
> 
> The positions often explained for the inside/out swing can create a linear hand path and not the desired "tight arc". The barrel will have very little bat speed if I followed the instructions "The inside-the-ball position gets the bat in a position (to the top hit) where the bat handle leads the bat head, a position where a strong push of the top hand will throw the bat in a tight, circular arc."
> 
> I can't create good bat speed from "pushing" only. Thinking about "pushing" anything can destroy the pulling force. There must be a good balance, "Pull and Push".
> 
> The arc happens much sooner, and the hands don't go forward unless they are pulled forward (rotation). This is where thinking about the position of taking the knob to the ball, barrel trailing the hands, and then trying to push the barrel in a tight arc can cause problems in the swing.
> 
> Follow this link to see why I don't believe in linear hand, and then pushing the barrel out of the hands path. Any motion that doesn't transfer angular velocity to the barrel is wasted motion IMO. 
> 
> http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/giggs/1006/bbhit/insideout.html
> 
> Shawn

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