Turning the barrel, direction?

[rdbass]

Conservation (or lack of) angular momentum.......

In the book on Hitting Biomechanics they discuss the barrel losing velocity/acceleration when the hands get away from the body. They have thousands of analysis to support their research. I like Ted Williams thoughts on this in his video as well as Ortiz, about keeping the hands closer to the body. Ted also said it's a shorter swing and it's "tougher" to get the swing going with the hands/barrel away from the body.

 

[_MIA_]

Conservation (or lack of) angular momentum.......

Going to nitpick with the parenthetical comment...sorry . Angular momentum is always conserved
e.g. in the equation you gave L is a constant. Reducing moment of inertia (I) by bringing your hands closer to
your center of mass means, since L is constant, rotational velocity (omega) has to go up to compensate.
The improvement in rotational velocity one would get from bringing your hands closer in a swing
would be a good deal less I would assume then the improvement the figure skater would get since
their leg position with respect to the center of mass also is changed which isn't true in a swing.
I would think there are probably other biomechanical advantages one gets from keeping their
hands closer to their body which would be more important than the increase in rotational velocity one gets due
to conservation of angular momentum.

 

[rdbass]

I guess I should have left out:

(or lack of)

 

[_MIA_]

I guess I should have left out:

Yes, my bad case of written word diarrhea was basically aimed at that

Also, before Mud comes in and complains about my written word runs, I will add who cares..
practice enough so one can get to the point where it is see ball/hit ball

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

extreme hands away from the back shoulder/body, although there is a good rotational point with the hands.

So does it matter how far away from the body the hands get?

Yes.

In terms of the stance, the hands can be too close to the chest, or too far away. A general guideline that I've heard is that the top-hand should be approximately 6-9" away from the chest in a batter's stance.

 

[FP26]

Yes, my bad case of written word diarrhea was basically aimed at that

Also, before Mud comes in and complains about my written word runs, I will add who cares..
practice enough so one can get to the point where it is see ball/hit ball

For what's its worth, I enjoyed the post...

 

[_MIA_]

For what's its worth, I enjoyed the post...

Thanks. Class is starting in a month, I have to get my lecturing skills back up to speed along with remembering not to wear
gym attire to work anymore

 

[Eric F]

For what's its worth, I enjoyed the post...

As did I...

 

[Rolling Hard]

At what age would you stop trying to fix/adjust the Gator no. 10 swing? Let's say she comes to you for a hitting lesson at 14 yrs. old. Work on approach or mechanics?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

At what age would you stop trying to fix/adjust the Gator no. 10 swing? Let's say she comes to you for a hitting lesson at 14 yrs. old. Work on approach or mechanics?

Many pros continue to work on their swing until they retire from the game.