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No, it's not perfect. I mean, Manny is a strong seasoned professional athlete. And the kid is a not a teen yet. Manny is quicker, stronger and better at it. But.....they are doing the same thing. Maybe not from the exact same setup. Maybe not at the exact same pitch location. But.....that is a very good match, all things considered. This kid knows something that most don't.
Many hitting instructors teach a circular hand path. Their teaching believes in rotation about the hips, that drives rotation about the shoulders, that turns the hands in a circular path. And, of course, there is that 'look' to the hitters in this clip.
But when you swing a bat to duplicate a swing, will you be able to duplicate with the intention of creating a circular hand path? Will you be able to duplicate it by allowing a circular hand path?
First, what is a hand path? You say it is the path the hands take? OK. I'd have to say that is true. What you describe is what you 'see'. You are describing the 'look' of the handpath.
But, the better question is...."What is the hitter doing?" What is he doing that creates his hand path? What is he doing that causes you to describe what you are seeing as circular?
Well, first of all, when the body turns....when it rotates....the 'look' of the hand path HAS to be circular in nature. But, is that REALLY a hand path? Is that caused by the hands? Asked differently, is that what the hands are doing? Does the rotation of a rotating body dominate the look of the hand path? Does that 'look' have to include hands that are trying to be circular? Is it possible for them to NOT want to be circular, and in fact, work to NOT be circular, yet the rotating body gives that appearance? Can a loaded hitter have a circular hand path and remain loaded? Can a loaded hitter have a circular hand path and not bleed his load? What is the direction of a hitters load? What is loading? When does a circular hand path unload? Can a swing have the suddenness it needs to have AND be circular? When does the bat head release in a high level swing? What is the body doing when/as the bat head releases?
These questions will be answered here in my new blog this weekend. And the guys who have not swung, in an attempt to duplicate hitters' movements, are going to have a problem.
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http://www.hittingillustrated.com/im...AxisSpring.gif
....where the forward turning leg stretches against the rearward pulling scap.
When that stretch is established....and the barrel is launched rearward with uptick....you will have the most sudden launch possible.
Um.....please. Get out your bat and your camera.
http://www.hittingillustrated.com/images/MTH13.gif
But, they tend to ignore facts when they have never felt the actions of the high level swing.
First, check out the scap action of both the kid and Manny. NEITHER are releasing their scap until in the follow through of the swing. Their scap is held/clampeddown/pinched throughout the entire swing. They, in a sense, pivot about the scap/spine junction because of it. That action 'removes' the arms, as a power supply, from the swing. The scap releasing and driving forward is the definition of a push swing. A push has little or nothing to do with the rear arm's extension. Extension occurs in every good swing. So the difference between the high level swing and the amateur swing can not be defined by the arm's forward movement. Only when the scap is pushing/driving forward is the swing's energy being generated by a push.
Here is a three swing clip showing a push of the scap, on the left, compared to two hitters who maintain their scap clamp/pinch throughout their swing....
http://hittingillustrated.com/images/DDPujolsRyan.gif
On the left, the hitter 'prepares' to push and then pushes hard with the scap to create late power into contact. In the middle and on the right, the scaps are held/clamped and the body turns....pivots....about the scap/spine junction....and the barrel's are whipped around the corner. As you'll read below, their is no whip without a sudden change in direction. Their is no sudden change in direction without a corner. There is no corner without a held/clamped scap.
Can you feel the hitter on the left push forward with the muscles of his chest? Can you feel the other two whip with the muscles of their back?
Secondly, when you get out your bat and camera and attempt to duplicate what the kid and Manny are doing, you will learn that the energy production in the kid's swing is over....done....complete....BEFORE his barrel gets to the fence line behind him. His forearms turn his barrel rearward instantly at go, against the SnF load that he has created in his rear hip socket. The barrel goes into 'autopilot'. It is speeding about an arc like a ball on the end of a string. This creates an intense rearward moving force against his leg that is internally rotating forward. Both the weight of the barrel and the rearward speed of the barrel develops a strong stretch against the leg. When his barrel gets flat behind him, that intense rearward force goes to zero, it is no longer going rearward, it is curving about the arc that is created by the hand pivot point and has reached horizontal. At that point the leg 'wins' the battle and it drives the barrel forward with extreme force. This force is far greater than any arm push or hip rotation could possibly create.
The rearward nature of the hand pivot point and the pull back of the scap that remains clamped, creates a 'corner' about which the barrel is whipped. Most everyone on the internet likes the term 'whip'. Yet none of them create one. A whip requires a sudden change in direction. A whip 'cracks' when the tip was going rearward but suddenly changes direction and goes forward. A bat that is held as you rotate has no sudden change of direction. A bat that is thrown by the top hand around the bottom hand has no sudden change of direction. Both of those represent a muscled up forward force against a lever (lead leg and bottom hand) Yet, instructors that teach those techniques call their result a whip.
So, what are the kid's arms doing?
http://hittingillustrated.com/images/MTH12.gif
Notice the blur of the barrel, rearward, behind him, before/as the barrel gets to the fence in the background. That rearward speed against a SnF loaded rear hip socket is money. Notice the bat itself is almost completely 'blurred out' as it gets to the fence.
His arms are guiding the 'already speeding barrel' to the ball. They are not generating a forward force. The rearward nature of the barrel, created by the forearms suddenly turning it at go, instead of the arms pulling it, frees the arms to guide the barrel to the ball. Because the launch is from behind the corner, by way of the SnF unload, the arms are free to 'let out' a bit, or 'pull in' a bit, to guide the speeding barrel to the ball.
This is the 'how' of the two great benefits of the high level swing. The two benefits are early batspeed and high adjustability. Because the barrel gets up to speed so quickly, you can adjust and move it into a solid collision with the ball without degrading bat speed. The bat's speed is coming from a source DIFFERENT THAN the source that aligns the bat to the ball. When you throw the top hand around the bottom hand....your source of energy and your guidance system are the same. There is no early bat speed. You can't launch it then fine tune it's direction. You have to know EXACTLY where the contact is going to be made BEFORE you can generate any bat speed. Which means you have to make a decision much earlier than a high level hitter. A high level hitter can start his swing and abort or adjust if necessary. An amateur must know exactly where to swing before he can begin to generate speed/power. A high level hitter does that by launching the barrel rearward into 'autopilot'. Because the speed is rearward, into a rearward arc, he buys the ability to start without commitment. He buys the ability to get the bat up to speed yet maintains the ability to abort or adjust on the fly. Without this rearward speed, the hitter is always behind the timing curve against a good pitcher with a full arsenal.
Those who believe force is still being applied at contact.....have missed the boat. Those are the guys who can't start without commitment. Those are the guys who do not have early batspeed. Those are the guys that have to know exactly where contact is going to be before they can start. Those are the guys that have to make a yes/no decision early. Those are the guys who do not get the longest look possible so they can make the best decision possible....and yet....still have adjustability for the moving pitch.
Those are the guys who are at the pitcher's mercy.
When you slam a door are you still applying force to the door as the door reaches the jam? Or do you quickly....suddenly....create a force and release the door....and it is 'on it's own' when it reaches the jam? An amateur hitter is still applying force into and through contact. A high level hitter produces his force quickly....early....and releases it into autopilot rearward....long before contact. And then guides it into the ball.