Posted by: george stanley (saint_george@yahoo.com) on Tue Aug 19 07:48:40 2008

> > The best idea I can come up with is for you to move to a soccer board.
>
>
> Teacherman,
>
> That's the best idea I've heard.
>
> Although, I watched Konerko hit against the A's today and it appeared, from the perspective of the pitcher, that he is shifting and then swinging. I didn't see a side shot but IMO he was weighting his front foot, bending at the waist and then swinging. He look a bit out of sync.
>
> Graylon

hello gray!!

you have observed & made some good points.. but the tv probably didn't show you what you needed to see: PAUL KONERKO is like a lot of guys who think standing with their back heel just barely touching the farthest-back speck of chalk on the back line is the place to be.. when i ask hitters WHY they stand so far back, they say they get more time to look at the pitch before deciding whether to fire.. to those guys i ask
"EXACTLY HOW MUCH EXTRA TIME ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?"
ANSWER: @90 MPH, THE BALL TRAVELS ABOUT 132 FEET/SECOND.. THAT MEANS THE EXTRA FOOT YOU ARE STANDING BACK WILL GIVE YOU - . 0 0 7 SECOND!!
that is 7/10 of a hundredth of a second.. SUCH A RIDICULOUSLY SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME as to make no difference whatsoever.. however,
THE TRADEOFF:
1. FACT: THE FARTHER A BALL TRAVELS THE MORE THE CURVATURE OF THE FLIGHT OF THE BALL..THE FARTHER THE BALL TRAVELS AWAY FROM YOU!so if you stand back an extra foot, YOU GIVE THE PITCHER AN EXTRA FOOT OF TRAVEL ON HIS BREAKING BALL TO PLAY YOU WITH, MAKING IT EVEN MORE DIFFICULT TO HIT A BREAKING BALL, especially when you have 2 strikes & the pitcher is hoping you go fishing for a pitch you cannot do much with. YOU MUST NOT NOT NOT RELINQUISH CONTROL OF THE OUTSIDE PART OF THE PLATE!! TO DO SO IS TO PROVIDE THE PITCHER WITH AN ADVANTAGE THAT HE WILL USE WHEN HE GETS 2 STRIKES!!
KONERKO has a wide stance, & virtually no lower body movement in his swing..he, like THOME, is all arms/shoulders.. he simply starts flipping his wrists.. plus he has a way-too-steep angle golfer's swing.. which means the number of balls you will hit RIGHT on the button are reduced..
that is the cause.. what you saw is the effect. when he has 2 strikes, here comes the breaking pitch out of the zone.. in order to put SOME wood on that pitch, he must bend at the waist (FATAL ERROR #1), drop his power hand off the bat in order to reach out there far enough & turn into a backhanded tennis player(FATAL ERROR #2)..at that point he is dead meat, because HIS BATSPEED IS SO DIMINISHED
HE CANNOT POSSIBLY GET THERE IN TIME TO PUT GOOD WOOD ON THE BALL..
since he cannot hit that pitcher's pitch anyway, he is better off leaving it alone.. that way all he can do is strike out rather than making 2 outs on the play..by getting over the top & hitting a DP grounder.. which he does with mind numbing regularity.
the guy should just be looking dead red.. since he can't do anything with that down/away pitch, leave it alone.