Posted by: Bart (grc) () on Sun Apr 25 17:26:11 2004

Hello,
>
> I am a college baseball player in Gainesville, FL and I was wondering if you could give me your take on the swing. I have been taught by my coaches here to swing down to the ball (Griffy tee) to generate backspin. I also work with a Rockies hitting coach back at home and he tells me to have a "short to it long through it" linear swing (arms) but a rotary core (hips, sholders, torso). I can hit both ways but consistancy is my major problem. I'm 6'0" 180lbs and I'm a gap to gap hitter. How can I generate more power to turn some of my balls hitting the fence into homeruns?
>
> Thank you for your time,
>
> Greg Marlett

greg, the backspin thing, two issues...1) what do you mean, "swing down"?...down as in making contact when the barrel is still headed down, or down as in barrel goes down first, then up, with contact being made shortly after barerel is in the upswing portion of the swing?...of course, the latter is by far the most desirable...if you use method # 1, even if you manage to create backspin, what good will it do you if you simply beat the ball into the ground?...2) you don't have to swing down, up or anything else to create backspin....you create backspin by contacting the ball about 1/4 to 1/2 below the center of the ball...you could have two identical swings but one swing contact below center (backspin), the other contact above center (topspin).....see bahill's book, "keep your eye on the ball" for thorough analysis of this topic...

the "short to it long through it" linear swing (arms)" thing....you say you use this and " a rotary core (hips, sholders, torso"....i infer from your statement that in the jargon of this site, you are "linear" for upper body but "rotational" for lower body...i suggest that this may be an illusion on your part, with you possibly making the assumption that because your hips, shoulders, torso rotate that you are therefore "rotational"....all hitters "rotate", but the concept of rotation goes far beyond the hips rotating....the issue is WHEN the rotation starts...a hitter with sufficient bat cock will, without even trying start his hips AHEAD of the hands, providing more power than an Ichiro, who without sufficient bat cock starts his hands ahead of the hips....

of course, there are trade offs....linearism gives you slightly more time before you have to commit yourself to the swing, but you then sacrifice power....rotation (more bat cock) causes you to commit yourself earlier (you need the extra time to "uncock"), so on the one hand you will have more power but on the other hand your batting average will suffer....

and i don't want to hear any stuff from anyone about "what about bonds, williams, mantle, aaron" and other great hitters who had power AND average....aaron will be the first to tell you that if he would not have worried about a balance between homeruns and average, if he would have went strictly for the homeruns he would have hit over 1000, and if he would have went strictly for average, he would have hit 300 homeruns but would have had a lifetime ba of close to .400......