Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sat Mar 18 10:04:34 2006

>>> Hi I was reading a article by Mike Epstien. He said that torque is generated by when your legs or hips go foward when your hands and upper body go back. He said he thinks of it as winding the rubber band. Is this the way you are supposed to do it? <<<

Hi Tyler

From my understanding of Mike's material, when he speaks of torque, he is referring to the forces that cause the body to rotate. One can think of the legs driving in opposite directions and the muscle contractions in the torso that cause the body to rotate as a "rubber band" effect or torque.

What Mike calls the "counter-rotation" of the shoulders, I refer to as the "inward turn" and "shrugging" of the lead-shoulder. Where we may differ is, he has the shoulders counter-rotating as the hips rotate whereas I teach completing the inward turn before hip rotation is initiated. I guess there may be some top-level hitters who have their shoulders counter-rotating as the hips rotate, but I find most do not.

Normally, when I speak of torque (BHT and THT), I am referring to the forces applied at the handle of the bat that causes the bat-head to rotate around the hands. As I stated above, when Mike speaks of torque, he is referring to the forces that cause the body to rotate. I have not read in his material where he has addressed the forces that induce bat rotation.

Jack Mankin