Posted by: Tim (tplamont@garlandisd.net) on Mon Sep 27 10:56:37 2004

It seams that Bonds and Ichiro represent two opposite styles. Ichiro is successful and many would say it works for him and so he should do it that way. But... I have to think that maybe Ichiro with his talent would be an even better hitter and more valuable to his team if he hit using rotational mechanics (more doubles, triples, homeruns, walks, higher on base percentage). Lots of players have the same or better on base percentage as Ichiro including Travis Hafner (???) and drive in a lot more runs. You would never pitch around Ichiro and walk him to keep him from getting a single. (Imagine Ichiro hitting in front of Bonds in the Giant's lineup.)

I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to see Tony Gwynn on his farewell tour. In his BP, he spent the first two rounds keeping his hands inside the ball and driving every pitch right past the third baseman. His third round, using the same swing, he started hitting a few balls to the gaps. In his last round, he sat on his back leg, let his top hand drive through, and hit 8 of the farthest balls anyone hit in the entire BP. I have seen Ichiro do the same thing. The 160lb guy can hit a baseball 450 feet when he chooses to. For what ever reason, these two men choose to be linear hitters.