Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Nov 18 16:40:33 2007

>>> Hi Jack,

In higher level high school fastpitch, it’s now not uncommon to find pitch speeds identical to those found at the college level. Placement, movement, and consistency are of course not the same, but we often see speeds in the low to mid, and occasionally upper 60’s. With the high school pitching distance of 40’ and a resulting release point around 36’, available reaction time for hitters is very short!

To be successful, our hitters must be able to hit to any field depending on pitch placement. To do so requires correct bat angle at contact and correct timing of the pitch. To pull the inside strike requires contact be made slightly sooner, while hitting the outside strike to the opposite field requires contact be made slightly later.

The four axis analysis explains the how the batter can alter the swing to put the bat head on the different contact points, but it does not address the issue of how the batter controls timing of the bat to allow the ball to reach those specific contact points.

When the batter is facing the highest pitch speeds (in fastpitch or baseball), negative movement (loading) must begin at about the same time the pitcher is releasing the ball…sometimes even before. A batter who attempts to vary timing by waiting to see the ball’s placement will never hit it! The batter must therefore be able to alter not only the path of the bat head, but also the timing of the bat head DURING the course of rotation as the ball is in the final stages of its approach. The question is how this occurs.

I submit that forearm extension is a factor. Certainly, the interaction of all four axis is key. Hopefully, seeing the comparison of Mark Teixeira’s swings will shed some light. <<<

Hi JTW

Reaction time is certainly a factor in fastpitch hitting. But it also a factor in little league. In the Little League World Series (11 and 12 year olds), pitch speeds in the mid 70’s were common from 46 feet. Therefore, a 75mph ball thrown from 46 feet leaves about the same reaction time as a 65 mph pitch from 40 feet.

As I mentioned earlier, when hitting outside pitches, I have not found that a batter’s timing of getting their hands wide enough as big a problem as their mechanics not getting the bat-head to swing out wide enough. For clarification, when you submit that forearm extension is a factor, are you referring to widening the hand-path, or in the angular acceleration of the bat?

PS: I have one more clip to explain what effect the difference in lead to back shoulder rotation has on hand-path width before I show Mark’s inside/outside comparison clips.

Jack Mankin