- Paul Petricca

Please read Webball commentary on first page before advancing to what makes the Petricca approach unique. This page starts the more controversional aspects of his instruction.


Historically, what is the one instruction all little league coaches give to young hitters? "Take the bat off your shoulder!"

For some unknown reason, probably due to the respect children are taught to have for adults, very few have questioned this advice. If they had, The Torque  may have been invented years ago.

In my opinion, the bat should not be waved in the air like a flag twisting in the breeze or held close to a hitter's chest like a soldier carrying a flag. In order to generate power and maintain bat control, the bat needs to be an integral part of the body. With The Torque the barrel of the bat should be pressed on the hitter's arm. Specifically, the bat should be positioned on the arm where the bicep muscle meets the shoulder muscle. When I say pressed, I mean the hitter's fingers should apply pressure on the bat against the arm to insure that the bat remains attached to the arm as long as possible during the swing.

The reason for this is quite simple. If a player is truly hitting with his or her entire body, then the bat will be the last to come through the hitting zone. By placing constant pressure on the bat against the arm during the launch, hitters will generate a greater amount of torque (hence the name) than traditional hitting techniques and this will immediately increase a hitter's power.

In the Torque position, the bat should be positioned firmly on the hittter's arm and the upper body is turned slightly or coiled like a snake in order to add even more torque to the swing. It  has been my experience that in order to achieve a level and powerful swing, both elbows  should be the same height and ideally, should be even with the bat. Also, the hitter should grip the bat with only the fingers on each hand. A more flexible grip gives a hitter greater bat control and allows the wrists to come through the hitting zone at a higher speed, resulting in more power.

As the pitch approaches, the hitter should begin the swing by rotating the back shoulder towards the ball. Assuming the hitter is keeping pressure on the bat, by initiating the swing with the body instead of only the arms , the path of the swing will remain on a level plane.

The torque created from a combination of the 'launch' of the lower body and the rotation of the upper body will ultimately force the bat away from the arm and into the ball. The result will be a swing that creates as much power as the hitter's body can generate along with bat control historically enjoyed only by contact hitters.  When the lower body is in the launch position, and the upper body is in The Torque  position, the only task left for hitters is to keep their heads still, focus on the ball, and hit the ball hard.



This is the area of Paul's approach that creates the most controversy - the idea of resting the bat on the upper arm and keeping it there while the body generates the launch torque.

For the record, our main concern here is that we like to keep the fingers loose and flexible, the grip not too tight. And traditionally that is best acheived by the bat held high and hands wiggling.

It is tough (in our view) to keep the fingers loose while holding the bat to the arm. Interestingly, that may be Paul's point - the body as it rotates will tend to start the bat flying out into the contact position. The need then is to maintain the grip but still let the bat head fly to the ball. So to master Paul's approach, from our trials, you need to learn how to maintain a loose grip and not be suprised when the bathead 'takes off'.  Just because that's hard, doesn't mean it's wrong. But it may not be do-able or effective for everyone.

Will it work for you? That's the question - and the reason for the alternative theory. It's something to consider; maybe something you need to experiment with.

By the way, WebBall is aware that Petricca may not be the only or oldest proponent of this approach. Others may have been teaching this years and years ago.