Torque

[LAball]

I think torque is hard to understand in the baseball swing. We all know torque is different from speed. I hear people say batspeed is the most important, but I see my son needs torque. Torque is like the ability to drive thru the ball. And although my son drives the ball, my sure there is more of an anatomical posture. There was another video post on there earlier with a kid having his bat actually go backwards upon contact with the ball. I sure the kid had good batspeed, but no torque what so ever. Most things I read on BBF tends to resolve or involve moving the bat faster or more efficiently. I hope we can find a way to put more torque into the swing, cuz thats what my kid needs.

[callyjr]

define torque please!!

[Ursa Major]

"It increases your batspeed up from 10 to 11!" Coach Nigel Tufnel

[ssarge]

Listen to the sustain. . . . . .

[SwingRookie]

But don't touch it. Don't point at it. Don't even look at it.

[Twitch5]

"It increases your batspeed up from 10 to 11!" Coach Nigel Tufnel

Gotta Love It!!!!! It's not often that you get good "Spinal Tap" references on a baseball forum.

[ssarge]

It's not often that you get good "Spinal Tap" references on a baseball forum.

That's because the authorities said it was one of those things best left unsolved, really. Plus [as we all know], it's difficult to dust for vomit.

[Lady_Knights]

define torque please!!

The force applied to a lever, multiplied by its distance from the lever's fulcrum, is its torque.

[callyjr]

The force applied to a lever, multiplied by its distance from the lever's fulcrum, is its torque.

thanks, but i was looking for LAballs version

[Lady_Knights]

I think torque is hard to understand in the baseball swing. We all know torque is different from speed. I hear people say batspeed is the most important, but I see my son needs torque. Torque is like the ability to drive thru the ball. And although my son drives the ball, my sure there is more of an anatomical posture. There was another video post on there earlier with a kid having his bat actually go backwards upon contact with the ball. I sure the kid had good batspeed, but no torque what so ever. Most things I read on BBF tends to resolve or involve moving the bat faster or more efficiently. I hope we can find a way to put more torque into the swing, cuz thats what my kid needs.

I don't feel torque had anything to do with it. It was more along the lines of not enough mass and strength to drive the bat through the ball. Not sure how torque would have helped this.

[Twitch5]

"Well, I don't really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end because what does the end feel like? It's like saying when you try to extrapolate the end of the universe, you say, if the universe is indeed infinite, then how - what does that mean? How far is all the way, and then if it stops, what's stopping it, and what's behind what's stopping it? So, what's the end, you know, is my question to you." Asst. Coach David St. Hubbins

This quote sums up how I feel sometimes when I try to decipher the in-depth hitting/pitching discussions that take place on this forum!

Twitch5

[ssarge]

OK, Twitch. You DID have to pull the DVD out for that one, didn't you?

[LAball]

Ok, let me explain torque like this. Let say you have a see-saw.

Scenario A: The fulcrum on the see-saw is right in the middle in . Then you (200 pounds) and a 200lbs rock would evenly balance out.

Scenario B: The fulcrum is moved to towards you. Then you couldnt lift eh 200lb rock. The rock would have to weigh less because you lost torque.

Scenario C the fulcrum is moved towards the rock. Now you can put on a heavier rock. You have gained. Torque.


I think Early bat speed can be explained by torque. If you had a car with 500hp and 10 torque. It would go sprint from 0-60 real slow, but have a very high top speed. On the other end 500 torque and 10 hp. It would get to 0-60 faster (especially 0-20). but low top speed. But more torque = early acceleration.

[jbooth]

Ok, let me explain torque like this. Let say you have a see-saw.

Scenario A: The fulcrum on the see-saw is right in the middle in . Then you (200 pounds) and a 200lbs rock would evenly balance out.

Scenario B: The fulcrum is moved to towards you. Then you couldnt lift eh 200lb rock. The rock would have to weigh less because you lost torque.

Scenario C the fulcrum is moved towards the rock. Now you can put on a heavier rock. You have gained. Torque.


I think Early bat speed can be explained by torque. If you had a car with 500hp and 10 torque. It would go sprint from 0-60 real slow, but have a very high top speed. On the other end 500 torque and 10 hp. It would get to 0-60 faster (especially 0-20). but low top speed. But more torque = early acceleration.

That's a good explanation of torque, but not a good explanation of how it gets used in a baseball swing.

There is a very tiny amount of force applied in a torqing manner, early on, to get the bathead into the path of the knob, but the MAJOR forces come as the knob accelerates and have an effect on the bathead that accelerates the bathead. Even physicists have a hard time measuring and defining the forces. It is NOT simple to factually and scientifically measure what is happening, but it IS pretty simple to swing the bat.

There is a combination of many different forces as defined in physics, that are in effect in the swing. Such as;

centripetal force
centripetal acceleration
centrifugal force
angular acceleration
tangentail acceleration
angular momentum
the double pendulum effect
leverage
and torque

and probably more.

Just rotate the body and focus on accelerating the knob, and most of what you need to happen will happen. Torque applied EARLY is the LAST think you should be concentrating on, if AT ALL.

I think I proved in my demo in the "Look Ma, No Hands" thread that you don't need early torque to get the bat going. Some LATE torque to add to the bathead momentum would have helped the demo swing, but early torque wouldn't have done much.

The bat and hands are similar to your "Scenario B" it's inefficient to try an move the bathead (200lb rock) with the fulcrum point (your hands) a long distance from the weight (bat head). Plus, the force that you apply can't continue to accelerate the bathead as fast it can be accelerated by other forces. The bathead accelerates beyond what it can get from a little push at the start. You can't apply enough force (torque) at the short lever (handle/hands) to accelerate the bathead (lift the rock) to 70mph. You have to apply large forces from the body and from angular acceleration. You just can't make it go fast enough to hit the ball far, from torque at the hands because your hands/forearms cannot supply enough force.

[LAball]

The 200 lb rock is the ball. Yes a baseball wieghs 5 oz, but when its launched at 30-80 mph and meets at bat at 80 mph, the force of impact is like the 200 lb rock. At that moment do you have the torque to catch the ball in the trampoline and accerate back.