Posted by: Sandman () on Sat Nov 29 08:25:25 2003

> There is lateral hip slide. My hope in using the leg kick that day was to eliminate the lateral hip slide and to come down more centered. It worked somewhat but the hip slide still occurred.

*** Whew! Glad to know I wasn't seeing things! (or at least not seeing things that didn't matter) :)

> I must also confess though that I don't necessarily like the stroke that you used to compare me with. Soriano does do an excellent job using rotational principles and the swing you chose incorporates them about as well as any swing you could use, but my question to you is what does he sacrifice in the swing. Look at Soriano's vertical head movement, which I believe is worse than horizontal head movement (although neither are good). From the time heel drop occurs to the point of contact, his head raises about 2-4 inches thereby changing his eye level. I think an excellent comparison swing for your purposes would by Louis Gonzalez since both swings use a leg kick. I am not a fan of Soriano's swing although he has some excellent elements in it. The reason he punches out so much is found in the amount of vertical head movement that is blatantly evident in his stroke.
>
> Gonzo on the other hand has no lateral hip slide and no vertical head movement. His leg kick gets him centered and toe touch and heel drop occur in unison, which I like but I don't see many advocating. His launch position is excellent and his path is superb.

*** Agreed. Gonzo's head doesn't move up like Soriano's; but it does move down.

http://members.cox.net/warwickcontinentalll/Gonzo%20head%20movement.jpg

Sosa's head moves up too, as does Bernie Williams, but most of the other clips show a steadier head than Soriano's. But my point of that clip was the lateral hip slide, not necessarily the entire swing.

You're absolutely right that Gonzo's hips don't slide. I wouldn't expect that they would.

http://members.cox.net/warwickcontinentalll/Gonzo%20hip%20slide.jpg

> With that being said, I agree with most of your judgments, but would like your opinion on this. The majority of hip slide you see occurs before the swing initiates but after heel drop. I've noticed this timing delay in my swing many times and frustrates the heck out of me. I can't seem to find a way to center myself without letting this occur. The hope is to completely eliminate the hip slide, but I want to maintain that sense of "power" as I eluded to earlier.

*** It looks to me quite a bit of the hip slide (and thereby lateral upper body and head movement) occurs _during_ the swing. I guess that depends upon what you consider "the swing". To me, it's everything after the heel drops.

Frame 1 is heel drop, frame 2 is when lower body weight transfer onto planted lead foot appears to stop:
http://members.cox.net/warwickcontinentalll/Andy%20vs.%20Gonzo%20-%20upper%20body%20lateral%20slide%20after%20stride.jpg

See how far forward your lead shoulder continues to move?

To me, it appears that you're not maintaining the same axis of rotation you established at heel drop throughout the swing (red line is at heel drop; blue just prior to contact):

http://members.cox.net/wclittleleague/Andy%20vs.%20Gonzo%20-%20axis%20drift.jpg

So the question would be "Why?". It looks to me like you're standing up during the swing:

http://members.cox.net/wclittleleague/Andy%20vs.%20Gonzo%20-%20body%20tilt%20at%20contact.jpg

We could really see this well if you could get a pitcher's view camera angle. I can't say for sure from the angle you provided, but I'd guess that you're much more upright (from pitcher's perspective) during the swing than this clip:

http://members.cox.net/wclittleleague/Adam%20Dunn%20-%20body%20tilt%20over%20plate.jpg

Perhaps if you could maintain some bend from the hips out towards the plate, you would be able to drop your rear shoulder more during the swing. By doing so, I wonder if this would reduce the upper body sway - because the upper body would already be turning? IOW, to me it seems that there are 2 angles to the axis of rotation - the one we usually tend to review from the view that is from the plate to the pitcher (and how far back the hitter leans away from the pitcher), but also the one that is from the hitter to the plate (how far bent towards the plate the hitter is). This second angle appears too upright in your swing. As you mentioned, this pitch seemed a little high for you, so that might explain some of it. But I think that even on these belt-high pitches, most MLB hitters exhibit more tilt towards the plate, and a lower rear shoulder.

> Like I said too, this was a fairly sloppy day of hitting. As a ballplayer, a couple of months off destroys rhythm and timing. As an athlete, we compensate for that anyway we can and sometimes that is at the expense of proper mechanics. Just like when a great big league hitter gets fooled on a pitch but manages to still drive it.

*** I'm glad you didn't take offense to my comments Andy. Your admission that this was a "fairly sloppy day of hitting" was what I was getting at. This particular swing just didn't seem to me like one that would have resulted in one of your harder/longer hit balls.

I look forward to seeing some of your higher quality shots.

Thanks for being a guinea pig out here for us. As I've said many times, I'm a novice hitting student and have much to learn. But I'm trying. And I sincerely appreciate it when I don't get my head bitten off for taking a shot at analyzing someone's swing. If I'm off in my analysis, I welcome the criticism. That's how one learns. I think it's kind of like "taking a quiz or test" in school and I appreciate the feedback. :)

On a separate note, is there any chance you can use some sort of "sports" mode on your camcorder? It's really blurry and only has about half the frames that the Gonzo clip has. Thanks.

Regards,
Sandman