When you say "palm-up/palm-down", is this in relation to the ground?
yep. exactly
EDIT: I answered too quickly here, and I have since clarified this below. I believe it is in relation to the batpath, not ground.
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When you say "palm-up/palm-down", is this in relation to the ground?
Once you correct the drooping back shoulder, swing plane will be fixed.
yep. exactly
I don't think that is even possible, with a lagging, whipping bat trailing the hands. Also, I believe PU/PD is more in relation to the bat plane itself (vs. in relation to the ground), and I believe this is directly converse to the idea of the hands rolling over.Does this mean you want the barrel of the bat also parallel with the ground?
Lateral tilt would occur AFTER the avoidance of the shoulder drop - per your many gifs.
You want to avoid shoulder dipping BEFORE you begin rotating the shoulders.
In those gifs, the shoulder plane is indeed maintained until the time that shoulder rotation begins, at which time the "lateral tilt" you refer to is commenced in an effort to meet the much more extreme downward-planed incoming ball seen in baseball.
Lateral tilt is nowhere near as extreme in fastpitch, and is almost discouraged once you begin dueling with riseballs.
I can see what you are getting at., in terms of inward ball depth at point of contact, but the setting of the shoulder plane that I was referring to is more in terms of contacting the ball square, or avoiding off-hitting the ball. A dipping shoulder will invariably lead to off-hit balls.I don't disagree with that. There was a recent thread that involved discussion of lead side lateral tilt (or "front side scrunch") as an important component in the loading segment of the swing.
The lateral tilt of the shoulders has to do with contact location more so than pitch trajectory. The higher the pitch, the less tilt.
I can see what you are getting at., in terms of inward ball depth at point of contact, but the setting of the shoulder plane that I was referring to is more in terms of contacting the ball square, or avoiding off-hitting the ball. A dipping shoulder will invariably lead to off-hit balls.
I really enjoy breaking this down - this is awesome, and I appreciate the volleying!
Here's a good example of shoulder plane (and hand path) adjustments for pitch location...