Posted by: Eric (eritson@hotmail.com) on Sun May 1 19:30:59 2005

Hitting through the top of the ball, on fastballs, at about a 45 degree angle creates backspin, which makes the ball travel farther, when hit correctly deep in the zone. You can see where Puljos wants/expects the ball to be when he moves his hands up and down during his pre-pitch preparation. He wants/expects a fastball down the middle that he can catch deep and drop the head of the bat on, then, after contact, driving it out of the park somewhere. Also, any ground ball is always better than a fly ball, thus getting on top of the ball is generally what you want to do 90-95% of the time in most situations. You have to field, throw, and catch on a ground ball. A fly ball just needs to be caught.
> why would you want to hit the top of the ball?