Posted by: Charley Lau Jr. (lauhitting@yahoo.com) on Sun Feb 4 21:30:12 2001

>>>Releasing the top hand is also more of a necessity if the head is kept down facing the contact point as I believe Lau recommends. Epstein feels this head position may hamper rotation and recommends the head be facing out to the pitcher. <<<
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> Hi
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> I would be inclined to agree with Mr. Epstein. The swing plane and timing has been fully established when a fastball is about 12 to 15 feet away from the batter. Once the swing is fully initiated very little changes can be made to the bat’s trajectory. So, trying to track the ball’s flight past that point would be of little value.
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> Jack Mankin
> Jack- I have clearly come to realise that the hands pull the knob of the bat to the ball along with the hips rotating as the ball reaches the hitting area, I prefer to say "The Bathead Is Released in to contact; Not pushed. The goal for the good hitter is to keep the swing as flat as possible and to strike the center of the ball with flat hands and then extend through the ball to create backspin. I have been a student and fine teacher of hitting long enough to realise that hitters tend to push and roll the top hand over too soon thus, cutting the swing off before extending properly. I dont think the top hand needs to come off all the time on the pitch inside even though A-Rod, Manny Ramirez, Tony Batista, Andres Galarraga and several other top sluggers do it all the time. The important piece of information is maintaining flat hands on all swings to create backspin. I started with the legendary information my father left us with and was determined to validate it. After working with swings of all types, I've found that not letting the top hand push but release through extension has been a universal mode to success for the most complete hitters' that drive the ball to all fields.
Respectfully,
Charley Lau Jr.