Posted by: Andy (aaa.com) on Wed Nov 2 19:53:57 2005

Kurt,

thanks for the explanation. The straight line I was referring to in the "a to c pathway" is the diagonal-downward line. This is the line I usually hear referred to as "straight to the ball". I have never seen a good hitter take this path, and I see this path ruining young swing every day. The picture you showed is exactly what I see taught at the youth level, the hands traveling downward until contact. The path that I see the high-level hitter take levels off well before contact, and usually travels up in the hitting zone...an elipse.I understand very well that the hands and the bat take different paths, the hands actually level off well before the bat does...



> First of all I'm not trying to sell anything to anyone. I just came across that website yesterday and wanted to see what people’s reactions where about the device. I agree that the device is constrictive. I hate devices where it simply grooves your swing for a pitch belt high over the middle, (like if all the pitches were belt high and over the middle) It's a nice device but I myself wouldn't purchase it.
>
> Now back to the A to C path argument
> http://www.hittingacademy.com/ohalibrary/picpages/atocpathwaypic1.cfm
> First of all, Andy, you said "There are no straight lines in the swing." I never said that there was a straight line in the swing. Remember that in the picture I showed you, you're looking at a side view, not an overhead view. So although that the A to C path looks like a straight line if you were to employ it in motion in a video using an overhead view you would see that the hands do indeed take a curved or "circular" path as the body rotates around a stationary axis. (Remember hitting is 3D not 2D, I think you're thinking too much in terms of 2D because the picture is 2D. Think 3D!)
>
> You also mentioned momentum. You have to remember that we don't hit the ball with our hands, (or we would break or hands every time :-))
> We hit the ball with hopefully the barrel of the bat. That A to C path is the path that the HANDS take as they position the bat to hit the ball. The bat itself takes a different path. As rotation of the shoulders begins the hands begin to flatten out horizontally (bottom hand starts facing more downward, top hand starts facing more upward). When the barrel reaches the contact zone it will be in position to travel through the contact zone on an even plan with the ball (about 8 degrees upward). I think that what you are trying to say is that if the hands travel downward then the bat will also travel downward. This simply isn't true, because the hands change orientation (which adds to batspeed) as they travel through space, this cause the barrel of the bat to also change orientation and therefore travel at a different angle than the hands.
>
> So I'm still not convinced. The A to C pathway is the best path (maybe the only path) for hitter’s hands to take to the ball. All good major league hitters take this HANDPATH to the ball. The A to C pathway that's on that picture I showed isn't the only orientation of the A to C pathway. Major league hitters for instance, when they begin their swings, point A will be closer to point B (reexamine the picture and you'll see what I mean). That’s why it looks like major leaguers don't take this path, but indeed they do, you don't notice it because angle ACB is so small it looks like a straight line, oops, I mean straight curve (there are no straight lines in the swing, and that's true).
>
> The smaller angle ACB is, the more of an upward angle the bat will travel when crossing the contact zone.
>
> The bigger angle ACB is, the straighter the bat will travel through the zone. Or if you over do it and angle ACB is too big, the bat might actually start to travel down through contact, and that's the worst thing that can happen. (Unless it's a hit and run)
>
> Pretty much the HANDS AND THE BAT should never drop below line BC. Point C corresponds with the height of the ball while it's in the contact zone, and point B corresponds with where the hands are horizontally when rotation starts.
>
> If the HANDS or BAT drop below line BC you can forget about hitting the ball. You'll be swinging up from UNDERNEATH the ball with and this adds slack and slows batspeed dramatically.
>
> Well I guess I've gotten a bit overzealous with my explanation, but just I wanted to state and try to prove three points. I wanted to agree with you, Andy, that indeed there are no straight lines in a swing, I wanted to show you that the just because the hands travel downward doesn't mean the barrel travel also travels downward (through contact), and that there are different orientations for the A to C handpath, and major leaguers do use the A to C handpath, it's just so slight you might not notice it.