Posted by: Jack Mankin (mrbatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Apr 18 15:08:06 2004

>>> Davis .269, Mac .263 and Strawberry at .259 are not in the great catagory as hitters. Brett was a great hitter, and I can't find any tape of him hitting and outside corner pitch into the seats in right field. The pitch I am talking about is the pitch on the outside corner, not the outside middle. A ball hit to straight away left or right is what I consider a pulled ball......not a foot to the left or right of second base. <<<

Hi Doug

Your question to me was, “Other than Bonds when he stood on the plate, who else pulls balls a long way that are outside corner pitches?” You did not ask for hitters with high batting averages that pulled outside pitches. Williams and Brett pulled for distance and their averages were about as high as they come. – Of all the hitters in my study (300+), Brett consistently hit the hardest line drives to all fields. When he got elevation on the ball – it really went. One of his home runs to dead centerfield cleared 410 feet in less video frames than any other swing I charted.

Doug, the pitches I charted that were pulled for long home runs were on the outer edge of the strike zone. They were not pulled down the line or even to the power alleys. They were a few degrees left or right of straightaway (more left or right center).

Jack Mankin