Posted by: Coach Steven () on Thu Jan 3 07:13:07 2008

Hi Jack,

I looked at both clips. In my opinion the clip of Brian (more evident on first clip) is a more a swinging gate than revolving door, however Rose clip is the revolving door. You will note that Rose did not have great power numbers.

On Brian you can see the tilt of the body and if you drew a line through the head along this angle at contact you will see the axis is not a straight veritcal line (revolving door), whereas with Rose on the overhead clip you CAN draw a line almost vertically through the head, down his back, and out of his butt -- revolving door. Maybe we are talking semantics here but if you look at elite hitters at contact where they are tilted forward and their unstrech of the load is occuring which brings their body back towards the catcher --- this line through the head (which is where the axis has to start) will almost always be shifted back to front or forward from where they started -- resulting in a swinging gate. I "believe" the overhead of Rose where the line is almost completely vertical is the exception.

Coach

> >>> Hi Jack,
>
> I don't think the axis of rotation has to do with stride at all. In fact, you can have plenty of weight shift with no stride whatsoever. Load / unload is less of a stride and more of strech / unstrech muscles during the load process which shifts the COG or axis of rotation. The COG in elite swings of today and past (supported by video) show the axis of rotation at an angular (shifted forward) position, and NOT a straight line in the dirt from the head through the spine and out the butt. Some are more forward than others, but I will submit there are plenty of videos where you almost see the back foot lifting off the ground all together (i.e. Griffey, Aaron, etc.) the axis is shifted forward.
>
> If you have the (Merry go Round Syndrome) -- spinning like a revolving door, AND the hinge angle of the cocked hands are kept fixed through contact (as they should) then the bat head will never get off of the Merry go round and cut across the ball. Whereas if the axis of rotation is shifted forward, the "hook" as you describe will naturally unhinge through contact and the bat head will power through the ball....it is un-natural to stay on the "Merry go Round" with the swinging gate.
>
> Thanks for listening. <<<
>
> Hi Coach Steven
>
> I will soon start a thread addressing some of the problems that I have with the concept of “weight shift.” For 18 years, I to taught my batters that shifting their weight forward to a firm front leg is where much of the energy for their swing came from. But, I now find that video analysis of high level swings presents many questions to that teaching.
>
> The same is true for the negative connotations surrounding the term “spinning,” or the (Merry go Round Syndrome), as you put it. Like most other coaches, I taught the “swinging gate” concepts I found in Jim Leferbvre’s book and discouraged them from rotating about the center of their body. But now, after studying overhead views of 125 MLB hitters, I find myself wondering how many of those Kids I may have screwed up.
>
> You state, “If you have the (Merry go Round Syndrome) -- spinning like a revolving door, AND the hinge angle of the cocked hands are kept fixed through contact (as they should) then the bat head will never get off of the Merry go round and cut across the ball.”
>
> Sorry to say, I no longer have those overhead views I taped from games in the old Astro Dome. I discarded them at the completion of my study. However, I will post a couple overhead clips I do have. These clips were developed for different subjects but they closely represent the axis of rotation I saw in most high level swings. Note whether you see them rotating around their front side, like a “swinging gate,” or, would you say they are rotating about their spines, like a “revolving door?”
>
> <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/media/John_CHP.wmv ">overhead of CHP by Brian</a
>
>
> <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/media/Rose_Hook_HandPath.wmv ">Rose hook in handpath</a --
>
>
> Jack Mankin