2 Questions: Connection and CHP for Rotational Hitting

[class_of_2012]

1) does anyone know if and when is it ok for a rotational hitter to disconnect her hands from her torso for a rotational hitting style? Immediately after contact is made? And when you extend your arms for a middle of the plate pitch, can I disconnect so my arms can extend straight back to the pitcher, with my bat parallel more or less to the front of the home plate, instead of rotating off the plane of the pitch ("plane" meaning the direction where the pitch is coming from)?

i believe both Mankin and O'Leary say extension occurs after contact, but when i watch videos of rotational mlb hitters such as Pujols, they seem to not extend into the plane of the pitch, but rather just continue their rotation after contact and extend their arms as they rotate off of the pitch plane. to me this isn't true extension as it used by many coaches, who want you to extend forward so you drive balls to center field, and not rotate off the ball path and pull them. or am i wrong?

i would prefer to maintain connection until contact and then disconnect and extend forward with my arms since any bat speed lost due to disconnection at this point will be irrelevant, since disconnection occurs after contact. does this make sense?

2) also, during connection, when you keep your hands the same distance from your back shoulder during CHP (circular hand path), how close should your hands be to your torso/shoulder? fastpitch players are often taught to draw a line across their chests as the swing, keeping their hands inside the ball. for me, when i do this, this results in my bottom/lead arm elbow being "chicken winged" (in an L-shape) at contact, since my hands are so close to my torso. but i notice mlb players seem to have their hands farther away from their torsos/back shoulder during CHP, and this means their lead/bottom arm elbow is more straight at contact. but it also means their hands rotate over the plate during their swing and do not stay inside the ball, like seen in this Pete Rose clip:

for some reason that bothers me, but should it? i guess i've been taught to keep my hands tight to my body all these years, and having ur hands so close to the plate could lead to you getting jammed? i stand at the very outside of the batter's box in fastpitch and i sometimes get jammed even on middle-outside pitches as i hit a weak grounder to the SS, which is bizarre to me, so i guess i am trying hard to keep my hands inside the ball.

thanks for any help!

 

[class_of_2012]

ok, maybe i should phrase my question in a different way:

as far as i can tell, rotational hitters rotate their torso into the pitch until contact while maintaining connection. then after contact they continue to rotate as they extend, but their extension is more towards left field. therefore they pull alot of hits.

i, on the other hand, pull the knob in a linear fashion to the ball until contact (there is some forearm and wrist action to bring the bathead around right before contact). after contact, i extend the bat straight back and parallel to the pitcher, again in a linear fashion therefore most of my drives are to centerfield. i am not a pull hitter.

what i propose is to combine the best of both worlds:

rotate my torso while maintaining connection, until contact so i generate tremendous bat speed and a short, compact swing. but then disconnect and extend back to the pitcher so my drives are straight. i would not lose power since this disconnection would be after contact.

is this a good idea?

 

[Mark H]

Your assumptions show a good thinking process but I would disagree with them. If you want a reading list, just ask.

 

[class_of_2012]

That's would be terrific! I have already read jack mankin's and chris o'leary's sites and have seen a lot of o'leary's clips and pics. I like the idea of rotational mechanics except I don't like the idea of (continuing to) rotate my arms during extension so I pull the ball. I want to extend back to the pitcher.

 

[Mark H]

It's an interesting but mistaken thought. Uncocking of the wrists into contact and the timing thereof combined with pitch location means a connected swing can drive the ball to any field. For your reading list I'd suggest starting with everything on the free public side of Englishbey's site, anything by Boardmember or Ssarge on here and Siggy's site.

 

[class_of_2012]

(duplicate post removed)

 

[class_of_2012]

ok thank you! I also want to read the physics of baseball by adair and charley lau's book. but mankin says a bat cannot whip like a towel, so he pans adair for saying that when adair says you take the knob to the ball linearly then slow up the hands to create whip. mankin prefers the double pendulum effect of chp and tht. but the strange thing is the clips on o'leary's site show that wood bats do whip.

and I also heard that englishbey wants you to rotate about your front leg and release your top hand early, before contact. but that seems different from what mankin and o'leary say. but I will check out englishbey's stuff for myself!

 

[Mark H]

I read lots of crazy things about Englishbey that he does not teach. It's the internet I suppose. As fired up as you are you might want to see if your library can get you a copy of the late Jim Dixon's book "The Exceptional Athlete". The illustrations of how elite athlete's move can be very helpful to your understanding.

 

[class_of_2012]

thanks so much! i think i will be getting the two setpro e-books too. i looked at the samples and liked what i saw.

 

[Mark H]

Good for you. With your enthusiastic focus I have no doubt you will be successful in whatever you turn your attention to in life.