Posted by: Teacherman () on Tue Nov 20 01:58:48 2007

""Are you serious? Autopilot to and through contact??? Ever tried to hit a 92 mph cutter barring in toward your hands, or a 94 mph nasty sinker? The swing as you explain it is not in any of the 20 swing clips that you've shown.""

You can only see what you can see. The only way to hit those pitches is to get the barrel into the running start, create early batspeed, and then adjust. Any adjustment to the tough pitch may require a "change of direction". This change happens at 'go'....instantaneously.....by controlling the swivel angle. If you wait until recognition, and then hope to push to contact, to get the barrel moving, you have no hope for your "go" to be proper. The high level swing is a whip. A whip, is an instantaneous increase in speed due to the sudden change in direction of the tip. In this case the barrel.

""Your Posada side by side clips show his barrel moving rearward at "go" in both clips, right?

Well...if the launch is instant putting the swing into autopilot, than how did he stop this explosive instantaneous force that you speak of"

He took that pitch for a ball pretty easily.

The reason is because "go" does not happen in a flash. The decision to go happens in a flash, but the launch of the barrel involves a constant application of force once the decision is made.""

Your problem is you don't understand "go". "go" is the point of no return. Everything before that is the preswing. The running start. The loading. The early batspeed. And, yes, loading and the running start happen together. This is one of the "traits" of the high level swing. The swing is started but not committed due to the direction of the start. Rearward. And while this start occurs....the body continues to load as the upper body separates from the lower. Once that is in motion, and decision is made, "go" is instantaneous.

""Is a pitchers "go" instantaneous?""

Absolutely. Pitchers have a tremendous amount of prethrow activity. They can. They have all the time they need to set up their whip.

Are you saying pitchers don't "whip". They do. And hitters do the same thing....They stretch the body against itself....upper body against lower body....they learn to control that separation....which is the TRUE load of the swing....and they learn to time that separation...to the pitch....so that they can "launch and spend" instantly at decision.

The Posada clip is an outstanding example of the running start leading to "go". Both swings start identical. Every swing of his starts identically. His technique allows "go" to be sudden and instantaneous. He stretches his lower against his upper to the point of "something has to give"...he controls that...times that to the pitch...and at the right time he "releases" the barrel....by releasing the stretcy....he does not swing it as in push through contact...or pull on the knob. This is the "stretch and fire" launch mechanic. The ONLY way to hit top level pitching because the energy built up over time...during the "wait" period...it is stored in the stretch....and then is release intantaneously. This allows the maximum read time. Which allows the best decision making.

Pushing through contact is the slowest of all swing techniques. It requires an early commitment....early in the swing process. Which is death. Pitchers love that.

I will say this. Swinging properly allows the hitter to push through contact when fooled to "save" an at bat on a tough pitch or when he's fooled. But to make that you base swing is the kiss of death.

The "stretch and fire" is the only way to hit those 95mph fastballs, 88 mph sliders, and the 75 mph change up.

It's called the "mechanical advantage" of using your body properly to create the whip which leads to the instantaneous "launch and spend". Apparently you've never experienced it.

I recommend you learn where "go" is and how everything leads up to "go". Being strong is a big help. But brute strength will never work. The body must learn the mechanical advantage to be able to have instantaneous speed and quickness.
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Here is an amateur....starting every swing exactly the same....and then adjusting for pitch location AFTER the swing arc has been created.

Barrel blurs rearward at "go". It gets "up to speed". Then, at decision, it's accelerated into that existing arc and adjusted to the pitch location by simply adjusting the "swivel angle". The angle the hands are swiveling.

http://www.teachersbilliards.com/hitzone/Brndncollage.gif

This was "early" in this hitters development. He now has much better separation. But, it demonstrates the early batspeed and high adjustability as well as the instantaneous launch.

http://www.hittingillustrated.com/Brndn/Brndn052407a.gif

This is a HR clip.....later in his developement....showing much better separation. Barrel blurs rearward....great separation....bingo.

Pay attention to the barrel blur to determine "go". Notice it blurs rearward. From that point on the barrel is on autopilot. Not much adjustment needed on this pitch.

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This is an excellent clip showing Bond's "stretch".

http://www.hittingillustrated.com/library/Bonds5c.gif

I missed the "go" frame by one. It should be one frame earlier.

But all the "nopes" are the running start AND loading combination. The occur together. At the same time. The barrel is into it's arc....rearward....but not committed....and the body is still loading....still stretching. In fact....the running start is part of the stretch creation process. A very high level swing technique.

Notice how far open his hips get before "go". Notice his barrel going rearward before decision. The combination of these two things creates the "stretch" between the upper and lower body. This stretch gets "tight" like a rubber band stretching. Degrees vary hitter to hitter....pitch to pitch. But on ALL pitches good hitters learn to get to a 'threshold' of stretch that is adequate to "launch and spend" on time. Once this threshold is reached.....they are storing energy. Then.....because it's release will be instantaneous, they can "hold" it longer for the offspeed and release it later. Or...they can release it instantaneously for the fast ball. If they hold it longer they actually will get a tighter stretch.

The baseball swing is much like winding a rubber band...twisting it...then holding one end and releasing the other. The energy is release instantaneously. The baseball swing is dominated by the twisting of the body against itself....upper v lower. The hands have total control on the release. The hips open and work up into a crescendo against the "hold" the hands have on the system....creating stretch....and then at the proper time they release the hold.

Instantaneous energy.

No pushing through contact.

Here is an excellent side by side of David Wright.

http://coachdm.hittingillustrated.com/clips/Wright_6_23_27.gif

Two different pitch locations. Each swing starts identical but "go" is in the direction of the pitch.

Not as much 'barrel loading' as Bond's.....BUT......the stretch is created....notice the hips opening against the upper body before "go'.....then the barrel is launched rearward. This is extremely important for early batspeed and high adjustability.

A sign of a true high level swinger is the blurring of the barrel rearward at "go". This clearly indicates no "pushing through contact". Because to push through contact you would interrupt this arc. At "go" the barrel is just accelerated into the rearward arc that the hitter has already started.