Posted by: () on Thu Jun 19 11:56:48 2003

i recently played home run derby, for fun, with a group of guys who play semi pro ball, one of which is in AA. We were playing on a field with the demensions of center being 400, 370 to the gaps and 330 down the lines. I was the strongest player there but was having trouble hitting the ball out to anywhere but down the lines while little guys were blasting the ball to dead center. They said the trick was to swing level and get a lot of backspin on the ball, that it would make the ball carry 40-50 feet farther. Sure enough, i leveled our my swing and started launching balls to dead center and beyond quite easily. The ball was shooting up like a golf ball of the tee and i was hitting it farther then ever. On the truisms and fallacies it says that swinging with a slight uppercut(10-15degrees) is the best way to hit the ball, but this will not allow you to get as much backspin on the ball as if you swing level and hit the bottom half of the ball, therefor not allowing you to hit the ball as far. Also, a level swing makes it so you wont be prone to as many pop ups and will hit for a better average...More power and a better average...Thoughts??
> > thejuice
>
> Perhaps you could share with us some clips of MLB hitters actually doing this in games. : )

IN YOUR CASE YOU WERE PROBABLY SO HOME RUN CONSCIOUS THAT YOU WERE PROBABLY PULLING OFF SOME PITCHES. SINCE DOWN THE LINE IS THE SHORTEST DISTANCE, YOU CAN STILL MAKE MISTAKES WITH YOUR SWING AND HIT HOMERUNS. IN ORDER TO HIT HOMERUNS (LIFT THE BALL) IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT ONE SHOULD STRIVE TO HIT THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE BALL. THIS MAY HAVE BEEN EASIER FOR YOU TO ACHIEVE BY TRYING TO SWING LEVEL. AND WITH YOUR STRENGTH AND INCREASED CONCENTRATION BY TRYING TO SWING LEVEL YOUR OVERALL SOLID CONTACT WAS PROBABLY INCREASED WHICH RESULTED IN MORE HOMERUNS. BACKSPIN HELPS ONE TO INCREASE LIFT (HOMERUNS) BUT THIS DOES NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO BE DONE WITH A LEVEL SWING. (EX. SOSA,BONDS,THOME) USE UPPERCUT DYNAMICS. TWO EXAMPLES COME TO MIND OF PLAYERS THAT USED LEVEL SWINGS AND PRODUCED CONSISTENT POWER. (MIKE SCHMIDT (HOMERUN HITTER) AND WADE BOGGS (GAP POWER AND HOMERUN POWER IN BATTING PRACTICE) ALSO GEORGE BRETT AND HANK AARON HAD LEVEL TYPE SWINGS ESPECIALLY ON HIGH PITCHES.