Posted by: toti (dt) on Thu Dec 4 07:58:27 2003

hi andy
sorry for butting in.

may be this will help you.

the best power hitter in my team has the same problem. he strides closed an gives up a lot of fly balls to the right. despite having power, he dissipates this power by going the opposite way, his weakest way. he could have had more success if he opened up the stride and tried to pull it off.

the downward plane is bad too. i have hit the ball the hardest when the bat was like a bazooka, like gonzo here. i always get the meat on the ball. but if i start perpendicular like you do, contact is harder and power too.

hope it helps

great success in future.

toti




> Sandman,
>
> Now that's good stuff. A very helpful comparison to myself and Gonzo. Very easy to see the difference. You inquired about my desire on posting my swings and it is two-fold. But first let me say this and ask you a question. The swing plane you see here is indicative of my swing. It hasn't changed in the last 7 years. There is a downward motion to the ball. I completely understand that that costs me power especially with wood in my hands. My quesiton is this though: What do you see in my swing that would cause lazy fly balls to the right side? My goal this offseason is to completely eliminate that from the arsenal. I gave up 25 to 30 points in BA and when I'm struggling is because I'm laying balls off to the right side that I should be driving. The way I see it is that the hip sway after heel drop causes this and not the plane of the swing. Therefore, I am more concerned with that, but if I could become fully convinced in my own mind that the downward plane of my swing caused that then i would be willing to make some very difficult changes. So, my reason for writing is improvement and to take the next step.
>
> Andy
>
>
>
> Andy,
> >
> > From this angle, I cannot tell if your hips/shoulders/head are still sliding after heel plant. It'd be nice if the angle were truly perpendicular to home plate. Also, I lose the bat in frame 18 (but it's visible again in 19).
> >
> > I realize that not everyone will/should exhibit the same swing characteristics, as well as that there is much more to "hitting" than the "swing" itself. With the success you're enjoying, I'm not sure what your goal of posting clips is? Are you wanting to hit for more power? If so, then perhaps some improvements can be made. If you're pleased w/ your current production, then why change anything? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I'm genuinely trying to learn your goals.
> >
> > Seeing you like Gonzo better than Soriano for comparison purposes:
> >
> > http://members.cox.net/dsanda/Andy/Andy%20vs.%20Gonzo%20-%20planes,%20axes,%20hands%20height.jpg
> >
> > Though your pitch is lower than his, the way you go down and get it is quite different. You drop your hands to reach it because your axis is very upright for a thigh-high pitch. This makes your swing plane as you come into contact much flatter than what Gonzo's is on a slightly higher (belt-high) pitch. On this particular pitch, not only did you still manage to make contact, but you did so on the bottom part of the ball - hence the HR.
> >
> > Do you consistently make good contact like this on low pitches though? If you do, then again I'd ask, "What are you trying to improve upon then?". But if not, then perhaps the mismatch of your swing plane to the pitch plane is contributing to that and I would think that a less upright axis, coupled with a lower rear shoulder, would help.
> >
> > Sandman