The "back elbow up" advice

Let's first begin with the saying "the more you know, the less sure you are."

For many, many fans out there it seems "get your back elbow up" is the only piece of advice worth giving to young hitters. I'm not really sure why they say it or what it attempts to accomplish. It looks awkward and uncomfortable when the kids do it.

Ostensibly, I believe the back elbow up idea is to create a flatter bat path but boy does it create the exact opposite effect.

However, is it bad advice?

Many elite high level hitters do in fact hit with their back elbow up. Shouldn't we ask of our amateur players what our professionals do?

The back elbow up is a power mechanism that high level hitters use to create leverage into their swing from rotating correctly and staying connected correctly. If you don't stay connected(have the arms rotate in conjunction with the torso) then the back elbow up is usually the death knell to a hitter.

But, to dismiss the elbow up as bad advice isn't correct either. You simply need to know when it works.

It's better leaving the hitting tweaks up to professionals.