Posted by: bob (techman4@htomail.com) on Thu Jan 31 11:01:48 2008

> >>> My take on swinging down has always been swing straight down like chopping
wood until contact. That is the shortest distance to the ball and allows for more time to
pick up a pitch. Once contact is made the bat stays in a level plane finishing level. I would
never teach a hitter to hit the bottom half of the ball but to hit the ball "right on". Swinging
down until contact causes a slight backspin on the ball and causes for a slight lift while
hitting line drives. You should not continue your swing downward after contact is made.
<<<
>
> Hi Matt
>
> I hope you take my reply to your post as constructive advice. -- You will never reach
your potential at the plate practicing “Swinging down until contact.” For you to make
consistent solid contact, the plane of your bat’s trajectory in the contact zone must match
the plane of the incoming ball. Since the ball in angling downward in the zone, your bat
must be on an up-slope.
>
> Matt, there is not a single MLB hitter whose bat is angling downward at contact. As the
video clip below illustrates, their bats are all on an up-slope to match the trajectory of the
incoming pitch.
>
> <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/media/Justin_swing_plane1.wmv">High level
swing plane</a –
>
>
> Jack Mankin

Jack,

Thank you and all the response that I have gotten on this subject. I was wondering how I could prove this to my son's coach without him getting mad and taking it out on him.