Posted by: ssarge (ssarginson@earthlink.net) on Mon Oct 11 14:22:53 2004

I ran Griffey's swing in the attached clip through RVP software, and charted the swing plane vs. pitch plane. Great adjustment up to the ball by Griffey, BTW. His swing plane was a little too flat, but he really salvaged the swing. Fortunately, it wasn't during a drill on "his" machine, or he would have drawn blood. I haven't seen the newest version of the machine, but if it accomodates this swing plane - which is MLB "normal," then I think it could be useful. If not, then I think it is way sub-optimal as a teaching device.

For comparison, I added swings by Bonds, ARod, and Pujols. Pretty nuch cover the spectrum of MLB swing mechanics (unless you're going to include Ichiro, whose swing would, I believe, fit in the device in question). All come from under the ball on an upward trajectory.

I did not carefully select clips - these are just the first clips I pulled out of my collection. I don't think it would matter.

Anyway, the link to view the swing plane of these hitters is:

http://eteamz.active.com/norcalshockers/news/index.cfm?cat=0&subsite=2871449

The red dots indicate swing plane, the green line is the pitch plane. Sometimes things are a little blurry in 60fps video, so some of the red dots could be off by an inch or two. But no more than that.


BTW, this is the eTeamZ page for my daughter's club team, and is the only web site I had available to post a picture. I probably won't leave it up long, but feel free to download it. There are some clips of top female hitters on the Shockers 16U - Daly / Home page if anyone is interested. You are welcome to download those as well.


Regards,

Scott

To build on teacherman's thought, I'd like Erik to view this clip http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/Griffey01.mpeg and tell us what he thinks the swing angle is.
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> Jack,
> > > I just don't agree with this theory that the uppercut, is the only way to approach hitting for all levels .I have had plenty of players approach hitting starting down and leveling out and they have produced.I have been successful as an instructor and I have paid very close attention to their approaches.I have used the ultimate batting tee with different types of hitters and I must say it has done miracles for players that needed to eliminate extreme uppercuts.I have also had great results with helping hitters create power using the ultimate batting tee.I would say that the angle adjustment has really helped players to develope the slight uppercut ,and work slightly down .With this in mind I couldn't change my direction because of the success and results.Why try to fix something that works?I hope someday that you can give the ultimate batting tee the credit it deserves ,this device has helped thousands of players produce.The testimonies support this !! ERIK LASEKE
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> > Please watch some video of mlb players before you continue your implosion.