Posted by: Coach C () on Tue Jun 17 10:40:55 2003

>>> I think my last post got deleted, sorry if this is a duplicate.
>
> Do you agree that level segment rotation (waist and shoulders) can still create an upswing?
>
> My feel is to swing with level hip and shoulders, but due to gravity and the top hand being lower than the bottom hand at contact, my swing is up.
>
> Could it be possible that we feel like we're swinging level, but in fact we are swinging up? Mike Schmidt felt that he needed to swing down, but video showed he actually swung level to slightly up.
>
> I realize that the rear shoulder, does in fact drop, but it's not something we should be trying to do......it happens naturally as the hands go from high to low during the swing. In fact...forcing the shoulders to do anything but turn might only impede on shoulder speed, ie..batspeed.
>
> What research have you done in the way of spine tilt? (The angle at which hitters bend at the waist. Do you feel this too can increase or decrease the angle of the swing. I feel spine tilt is really about balance. Some are more comfortable bent over (Giambi), while others more vertical in their spine tilt (Palmeiro, Williams). Your Thoughts? <<<
>
> Hi Coach C
>
> I have conducted no real scientific research on spine tilt other than the data collected from charting thousands of professional swings. Although a large majority of the players did exhibit a 10 to 15 degree tilt, the data does not support that any degree of tilt is necessary to generate power or consistency of the swing plane. As you pointed out, there is a varying degree of spine tilts among the game’s top hitters. I viewed clips of Hank Aaron showing a slight forward tilt on a couple of his home runs.
>
> That being said, my preference is still to teach a 10 to 12 axis tilt during rotation. That is about the downward angle of the ball’s path in the contact zone. But that is not to say that a more vertical axis cannot produce the same swing plane. A tetherball pole is vertical but the ball still can be hit into many different planes. The same general rule is true for spine tilt in the baseball/softball swing. --- Like you, I do not believe in teaching a student to lower the back-shoulder for high/low pitches.
>
> Jack Mankin


Thanks!
>