- Nov 16, 2017
- 406
- 63
My thoughts are that the difference between hard TTB guys and W=w is actually very small. Due to pitch location on all these videos it gets a little hard to tell the difference.
The basic difference is; does the knob start moving forward at the same time rear elbow is slotted?, or does it hold its position until the back elbow is slotted.
All players TTB it just depends on if TTB is a unique top half move or is it part of several things happing at once.
TTB as a unique top half move (Tewksbury): If the knob does not move forward until the front elbow is up and the back elbow is slotted you have a full TTB as a unique move situation. The advantages to this is you can get a larger separation between your top and bottom half. If your top half holds: no forward shoulder movement, no forward bottom elbow (which should be pointed down at this moment) then just your elbows move lE: back elbow to slot and front elbow up above the plane of the pitch. While the top half holds and just the elbows turn the barrel the bottom half (hips and back knee) start to move forward. So you have top half holding firm and hips / back knee moving forward which gives you maximum separation. You will see more of this type of swing with guys with crazy power especially for their size. You can see in this image how Josh is holding his top half back while his hips have already started moving forward.
The disadvantage of this style of hitting is you lose adjustability. You have more power but may be prone to more swing and misses. You have to get pitch plane pretty much right at FYB by using shoulder plane\spine angle.
With what I am getting from W=w is the turning of the barrel occurs as the knob starts moving forward and is a part of the beginning of the swing. The back elbow still gets down, the front elbow still gets up. You basically maintain the triangle from fyb until contact but instead of a sudden turn of the triangle it is a gradual turn of the triangle. This will allow you move forgiveness in the perfect spine angle. This swing is a little more fluid. As I experimented with this way, it is definitely more of a sense of using your hands and swinging down. As the video that W=w posted with the guy talking about barrel on plane vs hands on plane you can see the difference between that and what Josh is doing above. What Josh is doing above is barrel on plane. Hands on plane is different. The video of Acuna above is what W=w is after. Power is going to come from whipping pivot point more where what Josh does is power comes directly from your spinal engine.
Now that I see a clear difference, what is the best way forward. We see players use both of these patterns and be very successful. I would say that the full TTB early with maximum separation can work with very athletic hard working players who can be good at nailing big moves. You have to nail the big move of getting to FYB with the right spine angle. If done right you will hit the ball harder. The W=w method can work for all types of players cause it is less dependent on mastery of bigger moves.
I believe that there is a middle ground here that is the holy grail. What Matt Antonelli does in the previous video is not exactly right. What Josh is doing above isn't exactly what he does either. The question is what portion of TTB occurs before the hands start moving forward. After looking at a bunch of the greats, it appears that the forward motion of Barry Bonds hands start forward when his back elbow is at 45 degrees from a starting point of 0 degrees. 45 DEGREES the perfect middle ground. He maintains as much stretch as possible by turning the barrel until his back elbow gets to 45 degrees. At 45 degrees of his back elbow, his hands start moving forward while the triangle continues the turn giving him the adjustability. Best of both worlds.
So .02 is this whole forever long debate on this forum is a true comprise of both what W=w promotes and others that follow more of what Tewksbury promotes.
The basic difference is; does the knob start moving forward at the same time rear elbow is slotted?, or does it hold its position until the back elbow is slotted.
All players TTB it just depends on if TTB is a unique top half move or is it part of several things happing at once.
TTB as a unique top half move (Tewksbury): If the knob does not move forward until the front elbow is up and the back elbow is slotted you have a full TTB as a unique move situation. The advantages to this is you can get a larger separation between your top and bottom half. If your top half holds: no forward shoulder movement, no forward bottom elbow (which should be pointed down at this moment) then just your elbows move lE: back elbow to slot and front elbow up above the plane of the pitch. While the top half holds and just the elbows turn the barrel the bottom half (hips and back knee) start to move forward. So you have top half holding firm and hips / back knee moving forward which gives you maximum separation. You will see more of this type of swing with guys with crazy power especially for their size. You can see in this image how Josh is holding his top half back while his hips have already started moving forward.
The disadvantage of this style of hitting is you lose adjustability. You have more power but may be prone to more swing and misses. You have to get pitch plane pretty much right at FYB by using shoulder plane\spine angle.
With what I am getting from W=w is the turning of the barrel occurs as the knob starts moving forward and is a part of the beginning of the swing. The back elbow still gets down, the front elbow still gets up. You basically maintain the triangle from fyb until contact but instead of a sudden turn of the triangle it is a gradual turn of the triangle. This will allow you move forgiveness in the perfect spine angle. This swing is a little more fluid. As I experimented with this way, it is definitely more of a sense of using your hands and swinging down. As the video that W=w posted with the guy talking about barrel on plane vs hands on plane you can see the difference between that and what Josh is doing above. What Josh is doing above is barrel on plane. Hands on plane is different. The video of Acuna above is what W=w is after. Power is going to come from whipping pivot point more where what Josh does is power comes directly from your spinal engine.
Now that I see a clear difference, what is the best way forward. We see players use both of these patterns and be very successful. I would say that the full TTB early with maximum separation can work with very athletic hard working players who can be good at nailing big moves. You have to nail the big move of getting to FYB with the right spine angle. If done right you will hit the ball harder. The W=w method can work for all types of players cause it is less dependent on mastery of bigger moves.
I believe that there is a middle ground here that is the holy grail. What Matt Antonelli does in the previous video is not exactly right. What Josh is doing above isn't exactly what he does either. The question is what portion of TTB occurs before the hands start moving forward. After looking at a bunch of the greats, it appears that the forward motion of Barry Bonds hands start forward when his back elbow is at 45 degrees from a starting point of 0 degrees. 45 DEGREES the perfect middle ground. He maintains as much stretch as possible by turning the barrel until his back elbow gets to 45 degrees. At 45 degrees of his back elbow, his hands start moving forward while the triangle continues the turn giving him the adjustability. Best of both worlds.
So .02 is this whole forever long debate on this forum is a true comprise of both what W=w promotes and others that follow more of what Tewksbury promotes.