PGStaff, I have never been a fan of sentences which begin with "true, but", or, "true, except".....It's either true or it isn't.....And, if it is true, the "but" or "except" doesn't matter, IMO......
I have never liked to compare hitting with other athletic movements for several reasons.....Not the least of which is that, truthfully, we don't know how they compare, so nothing is resolved in doing so..........
Hands go soft at contact?.....There are two theories at play here.....The old "swing through the ball" mentality and the "release everything" at ball contact mentality.....I subscribe to the latter......I want to see the handpath radius tighten just before ball contact and begin the turn back toward the catcher....This technique is called "hooking" and speeds up the bat as the handpath radius tightens just before ball contact.....The hands must go soft to allow this to happen.....The grip plays an important role in this, also....
I'm thinking you subscribe to the "hit through the ball" mentality......This allows for hand and arm extension instead of hooking.....With this technique there will be unused batspeed in the follow-through.....There is no way to avoid this from happening with this technique.....Extension is the way hitting has been taught for many years.....I have said before, I don't teach conventional baseball wisdom.....I am considered an outsider....This is my comfort zone and where I want to be.....Heck, I've never even slept in a Holiday Inn Express......