Batting - Final Points

The swing is a series of straight line actions. Better to use the terms ‘effort’ or ‘force’.

• Back Knee drives straight forward off the Pad of the Big Toe of the back foot. The effort/force provided by the batter is straight.

• Back Elbow drives straight forward to the hip, along side the torso. The effort/force provided by the batter is straight.

• Top-hand Wrist snaps straight forward, out towards the field. The effort/force provided by the batter is straight.

The completion of the Wrist Snap has the barrel of the bat pointing straight out towards the field and the top-hand arm fully Extended. 

At this point, the batter is finished putting effort/force into the swing. The momentum of the bat barrel, created by the batter ‘snapping the bat’, causes the bat to continue moving past the straight line of the ‘swing’.

Watch this video (0:14-0:22) of Josh Hamilton making a ‘circular’ movement with his bat (which he is trying to avoid) and correcting the direction of his effort/force to be in a straight line.

Maintaining straight-line effort in the swing is an on-going challenge for batters at all levels.