Posted by: Coach C () on Wed May 14 14:20:42 2003

I am a power hitter, but lately i have been having a great deal of trouble getting huge hits because i keep on top-spinning the ball. I will crush a ball and it will land in front of the left fielder when a kid a third of my strength will use backspin to send a ball sailing 350 feet. I recognize that i swing much like piazza and edmonds in that i come up at the ball and love to drive low pitches. The thing that makes this difficult for me is that i dont want to change my swing a lot since i still hit for great power some of the time. Does anyone have any tips for practicing hitting the bottom half of the ball or any idea for somthing i can do to not topspin it?
> > > > Thanks a lot
> > > > Bauer
> > >
> > > Bauer, if you are targeting the bottom half of the ball but yet getting topspin, seems to me that your problem is either (1)hand-eye coordination or (2) mechanics in your swing are causing you to hit the top part of the ball.
> > >
> > > By the way, you are targeting how much of the bottom half of the ball? According to Bahill, Garvey & others, your target for optimal results should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch below center.
> >
> > Bauer, If you are hitting the ball with overspin too often, you are probably rolling your top hand into the ball. Try and hit the ball with a palm up palm down approach. As far as aiming 1/4 inch under the ball, that is nonsense. If a guy is that good, just hit it dead center. If you swing into the path of the ball, you will hit your share of rising liners. Elbow into the slot and then palm up palm down at contact and you should show improvement.
> >
> > Doug
>
> Topspin is not (necessarily) caused by hitting the top of the ball. Underspin is not (necessarily) caused by hitting the bottom of the ball.
> If the angle of the bat's path is steeper upward than the downward path of the ball, the rising bat will create topspin on the ball if the bat strikes up the back of the ball. If the ball is hit center-of-bat on center-of-ball a hard high popup or flyball will result.
> If the upward swing hits above or near center a topspin grounder will result. If struck below center a topspin flyball will result - that's what you describe.
> It is the 'brushing up' the back of the ball that causes topspin. Hitting through the ball (center on center) reduces excessive spin. But the more severe the swing angle the harder that is to do.
>
> From what you describe you are uppercutting the ball too much.
>
> If you change your swing plane to a smaller upward angle you will probably drive more balls with less topspin.
> The upward angle may be caused by sitting back too much or simply swinging up too much.
>
> Similarly brushing down the back of the ball by swinging down through it will create underspin. Where you strike the ball determines whether you get a grounder, liner or fly. All three can have underspin, created by the downward angle of bat to ball.


Excessive top-spin or excessive under-spin come from over use of the hands or body prior to the hit. I'd bet the farm you're barrel is dragging through the all important phase of the swing (prior to impact), then the barrel is left to flip at impact. I hear coaches say, "hit the top of the ball," this only aggravates the problem by telling the hands to hit a specific spot, thus deterring the hands from doing what they ought to be doing.......tranferring energy. The hands only adjust high/low/in/out, never forward. Forcing the hands to hit a spot normally makes inexperienced hitters to go forward with their hands. Take a piece of PVC pipe.....12 inches long (enough for you have a baseball grip), then swing that thing over and over, without flipping your hands. If you follow the path of that PVC Pipe (The handle) you should see that it creates an arc from the rear shoulder, then low and then back up to the front shoulder, this is the swing plane. If you flip that handle you'll mess the plane up. After you do this get your bat and learn to feel the handle the same way, what the handle does is what the barrel does.

I tinker with my swing plane in certain situations by adjusting the grip, never by hitting a certain spot on the ball. It's hard enough for any of us to hit the center, let alone take half of the ball away from me.

Learn to not flip you wrists and you'll shock yourself. The wrists roll over naturally, no forced effort.

Good Luck,

Respectfully,

Coach C