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

I was told that the rotation of hip and shoulders can not be separated. That I do not know what I am talking about. I have a flexible waist, even at 66 years of age. I said that rotation is comprised of a sequence like a whip. The hands whip the bat-head last like the tip of a bull-whip, but the whole body acts like a sequence of that whip. I just accidently found a video that talks about it by Antonelli. So either both of us are right, or both of us are wrong!
Approx. 3:00 minute mark.

Quasimodo said:

I was told that the rotation of hip and shoulders can not be separated. That I do not know what I am talking about. I have a flexible waist, even at 66 years of age. I said that rotation is comprised of a sequence like a whip. The hands whip the bat-head last like the tip of a bull-whip, but the whole body acts like a sequence of that whip. I just accidently found a video that talks about it by Antonelli. So either both of us are right, or both of us are wrong!
Approx. 3:00 minute mark.

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The hips do rotate a bit in some players. Usually w more mobility. Some very little.Mostly to get the slack out. It’s not active. it’s so the core and shoulders can stretch the opposite way; against a stable platform (back leg and hips) usually done and complete before foot down. What you want is the hips to be square (to the player) at foot down and the shoulders to be closed (Nothing like Crush Davis). This creates less time to contact, force in a very short window and eventually adjustability. Launch should be middle out. The legs are for stability.

Once the hips and back knee go, the swings direction and shift are done. I think we all agree on that. If done into or at foot down all the time.. we have lost our ability to see the pitch longer, off speed and outside pitches becomes difficult to manage. the gaps of separation become much bigger. The shoulders have to at least get lined up with the hips at contact right? Why make it longer to do so? Since The hips have rotated farther, this takes longer, hence the swing is longer w less time to see the pitch with loss of direction.

Adjustability is a term that means ‘seeing it longer without having to commit while having the ability to not cheat to any part of the zone’.

Most of the greats stayed closed into swing launch. It’s an easy way to shorten the gaps of separation. There are exceptions of course. Mobility matters. The obliques (which pull the shoulders around) catching up to the hips is swing launch. The sooner one can do that, the shorter the swing becomes w/o sacrificing anything. The power source or trigger is the ground instead of rotation to power the swing.

The separation we want is to and through contact. Stretching it forward. Basically the hips stopping while the hands continue forward. The barrel release. Can’t do that when the back knee is going forward willfully. You just spin around.

For me the the hands whipping the bat is the whip since they are free and independent (they can wait). I understand the body as a whip analogy. But don’t Like the analogy bc it’s gives the view as everything opening up sequentially. Not what I think happens in elite swings. I think the swing is upper body against the lower body.


If you want an easy way to think about it... it’s the upper going back while the lower goes forward into foot down.. then the upper coming forward while lower goes backward during launch. ‘Reverse rotation’ if you like. Or balanced rotation. Or reciprocal movement.