Posted by: Garrett (retkag) on Wed Sep 10 09:28:18 2003

The following is a little interesting point that was illustrated in The Hitting Edge by Tom Robson.

"Pete Incaviglia and Don Mattingly were compared using 3D graphics and motion analysis by Bio-Kinetics Lab. Overlaping both players they compared bat quickness and bat speed. Both hitters had exactly the same bat speed, but not at the same time. Mattingly exploded a little more quickly through the hitting zone where as Incaviglia bat head trailed to contact but caught up a few frames later after contact. The result Incaviglia couldn't catch up to certain pitches.)
It has been noted that John Olerud had the slowest bat speed when with the Blue Jays yet made up for it with bat quickness and great rotation that year he won the batting title.

The question is, how do we make sure our bat head is moving through the contact zone at it's quickest or highest speed and not dragging?