| Un-Coil - Throw |
The Throw
 You are now in the Launch Position. The next part of the swing is the Un-Coil, which begins with the throw. The Throw is just that. You throw the barrel of the bat at the ball. Just like mechanics affect how you throw a ball, they affect how you 'Throw' the bat. The First thing that you do during the Throw, is you fire your hips open. This happens immediately after your front foot hits the ground. When your hips open up, they will pull on your front shoulder. At this point you drop the bat into the swing plane, and lift your front elbow. You then immediately pull to open up your front shoulder, while throwing the bat forward with your back hand. This creates the push and pull needed to accelerate the bat. You will be pulling with your back and shoulder on the front side, and throwing or pushing with your chest and shoulder on the back side. While doing this, you want to throw the bat handle at the ball. Remember, the longer you keep the bat head back, the more whip you will create. During the Throw, concentrate on creating whip.
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| Un-Coil - Extension |
The Extension
Extension is the point in the swing, where the extended arm lines up (EAA = Extended Arm Alignment). The extended arm consists of the front upper arm, the front forearm, and the bat. The following paragraphs take you through the extension, what happens and why.
After you throw the knob of the bat at the ball, and as you follow through toward extension, your front arm will straighten out. From the Launch Position until your front arm is straight, all movement of your hands is linear (a straight line). Lets stop here and define torque. Torque is linear force applied perpendicular to a torque arm in order to create rotational force in that torque arm. In other words, torque converts linear force (from the hands) into rotational force (of the bat). Since we know we are going to hit by rotating the bat, and since all of our movement up to this point has been linear, we need to use torque to convert that linear force into rotational force. Remember that the bat is still back so that we can whip, and not cast. Now, once the front arm is straight, your front hand can not go any further forward. Your back or top hand is still pushing on the bat. At this point, the bat can do nothing but rotate. This will cause whip, which will create lots of bat speed, as the barrel tries to catch up to the front arm.
You should make contact just before the extended arm comes into alignment. This is called the Explosion Point. It occurs right before Extension. The Explosion Point is the last point in the swing where the bat is still accelerating. You will put maximum force into the ball if the bat is accelerating when you make contact. One important thing to note is that once the extended arm comes into alignment, the bat can do nothing but slow down. Also, if you hit the ball at complete extension, the bat will not be accelerating through the ball, and you will lose power.
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| Un-Coil - Push |
The Push
The Push is similar to what hitting coaches refer to as hitting against a stiff front leg. As you move from the Throw to the Extension, you push back against your momentum with your front leg. This transfers the forward momentum you have gained to your upper body, and ultimately to the bat. The main mistake people make during the Push, is to slide out over the front foot. This robs you of power by not converting all of your forward momentum into bat torque.
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| Un-Coil - Follow Through |
The Follow Through
The Follow Through, as its name implies, is everything that takes place after contact and Extension. Slowing down the bat is the main piece of the Follow Through. Slowing down the bat can be tough on the front shoulder if you are not careful. First of all, you are now hitting the ball further along in your swing, which means that you have less room to slow down the bat. Add to that, the fact that you have gained significant bat speed, and you could put a serious strain on the front shoulder. After Contact, keep your extended arm lined up. This will allow your back to slow down the bat. The twisting of your torso will properly decelerate the bat. Work up to this slowly, so that you don't hurt your back. There should be absolutely no pain during the Follow Through, or any other part of the swing.
That is it for this basic overview of the mechanics of the swing. Now you are hitting it hard, but don't forget the mental side of hitting. It is the most important aspect of successful hitting. You will never reach your potential without focus. Build on this info with my Videos 'Power SwingMechanics Vol 1 & Vol 2'. They break the mechanics down even further to give you a more complete view of the swing, and how to improve you hitting. They will also teacy you how to get more out of your practice time. Learn to master the mental aspect of hitting, and raise your average by 150-250 points!
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