Someone explain to me the obsession with "knee drive" for hitting

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BigSkyHi

All I know is I don't know
Jan 13, 2020
1,385
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If you want to know what the elbow really does, do not stop the gif before heal plant. It does not stop moving.




posey-coil-stride-catcher-view.gif
 
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Feb 25, 2020
953
93
Does that not align with the lower half firing while the upper half is resisting argument???

Sorry got caught up today. I just reread the manifesto on page 1 that rdbass posted early on. That makes alot of sense. But the video in post 8(I think) I'm not so sure about. Maybe it is there in the gif just less pronounced.

I dont know enough about TM's stuff. Will keep looking at it for sure.

I'm not anti-TM. I just am not 100% convinced it is 100% spot on.
 
Feb 25, 2020
953
93
tumblr_pqjarcwzrc1usf292o1_400.gifv

More than one way to skin a cat! Is he a prototype TM hitter?
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
There is no scap 'engagement' in this GIF, the scap 'snaps' back at the moment of uncoil, which happens in the split second after this GIF. There is no active action of scap loading. If you actively 'load' it, it can't snap.

The moment of uncoil, which makes the scap snap and the back elbow go down (and the bat head with it - if you hold the bat right, and have the bat head up, not flat or down), is the initial moment of the swing forward phase. (99% of kids coil open with one foot off the ground, with a tiny scap snap, then the back elbow goes down, then bat drag, then you're out, then you're out of baseball, then you cry.)

Coiling is 'a result'??? I want some of your weed dude.
How does a hitter coil? What body movements are involved? I don’t want to focus on scrap, but it does get engaged during the forward movement .. not too much, just a little. Anyway forget about scap and scap snap(Talk about smoking weed) and I would like to hear from you how a hitter coils?
 
Nov 30, 2018
359
43
Marikina, Philippines
"My question is this - which action do you think makes more sense teaching a hitter at that stage of the swing? "Drive the knee" or rotate the hips in order to coil and uncoil?"

Well there are a couple of issues with using the hips to create your torque.
1) Using the hips can or will create a premature opening of the front shoulder. I think it is hard to refrain when the hips are the focus.
2) The hip focus creates a false hip rotation, in that the back hip never fully closes. This can cheat the batter of potential power.
The back leg is a potential anchor and the back hip never fully closes to a position perpendicular to the pitch plane.
3) If your hips are rotated open, then how do you handle outside pitches, change of speed, or pitches moving away? If you use
the back knee to initiate the swing, and drive the hands, then your upper body can stay detached from the hips when
needed, so even if your hips are closed, your chest can stay oriented over the plate or strike zone to handle the pitch issues
mentioned above. The chest and shoulders release as required by the particular pitch.
4) Focus on hips rotation can affect your bat path. It can create a bat path that can be shaped like a "V" or "U" as some would
say. You want the barrel not in the strike-zone, but on the plane or path of the pitch as long as possible. The "rotational" theory
hitting isn't taught much anymore. Focus is on the marriage of rotational and linear theory to allow the long bat path. You
can't eliminate all rotational aspects of hitting, but you can swing with almost no linear aspects of hitting.

This is me at age 66, nothing pretty, but you can see the back knee, and separation of this movement and the chest. In fact the Chest may continue to face RF while the hips are completely closed to the pitcher. Hip focus will likely take that ability away.

***** I am not going to edit the post above, just say that I screwed up my terminology. I should have said "open" the hips instead of "close" them. I always say don't pull the front shoulder off the plate unless required by the pitch location. Why I said it, I do not know, but it was dumb and no excuse. *****
 

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Apr 2, 2015
1,198
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Woodstock, man
"My question is this - which action do you think makes more sense teaching a hitter at that stage of the swing? "Drive the knee" or rotate the hips in order to coil and uncoil?"

Well there are a couple of issues with using the hips to create your torque.
1) Using the hips can or will create a premature opening of the front shoulder.

If you are coiling inward as you stride, it is impossible to open the front shoulder.
 

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