Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Mar 11 22:28:27 2001

>>> i've watched Alex Rodriguez's swing in slow motion from three angles - from the pitcher's mound, from the backstop and from the first base side. It seems that the highest payed athlete in the world actually uses "linear mechanics."

A-rod DOES NOT rotate around a stationary axis... his axis actually moves FORWARD! His hands extend as in linear mechanics w/o top hand torque initiating the swing, lthough he does use torque just before contact (shoulders in opposite directions. He is LINEAR.... <<<

Hi Person

If what you have posted on the site can stand up to a give-an-take discussion, why not just use a name that we all can identify? --- I have pointed out many times that a batter with a long stride may have the axis move forward (positive) 2 or 3 inches during rotation. A-Rod hit 41 HR and sometimes he has a slight drift of the axis and other times he has a completely stationary axis. On the other hand, Jeff Bagwell has a negative drift of a couple of inches (axis moving toward the catcher) and hit 42 HR. So is he also using linear mechanics (or negative linear)?

Most of the better hitters today do not take a long stride and they do rotate around a stationary axis. I think it would improve A-Rod’s performance if he shortened up his stride and developed a more consistent axis to swing from.

You stated: “His hands extend as in linear mechanics w/o top hand torque initiating the swing.” That is simply a misreading of his mechanics. True, he does not use “pre-launch torque” (bat accelerating before rotation) like Sheffield or Bonds. But he does use top-hand-torque during initiation. In his launch position, A-Rod has a high elbow and the bat is cocked toward the pitcher. If he initiated the swing by driving the top-hand forward (Linear, A to B), the bat-head would also be driven forward toward the pitcher. --- But his bat-head is not accelerated toward the pitcher during initiation. His bat-head is accelerating back toward the catcher. This means the top-hand must be pulling back toward the catcher as the elbow lowers.

Jack Mankin

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> >>> i've watched Alex Rodriguez's swing in slow motion from three angles - from the pitcher's mound, from the backstop and from the first base side. It seems that the highest payed athlete in the world actually uses "linear mechanics." 
> 
> A-rod DOES NOT rotate around a stationary axis... his axis actually moves FORWARD! His hands extend as in linear mechanics w/o top hand torque initiating the swing, lthough he does use torque just before contact (shoulders in opposite directions. He is LINEAR.... <<<
> 
> Hi Person
> 
> If what you have posted on the site can stand up to a give-an-take discussion, why not just use a name that we all can identify? --- I have pointed out many times that a batter with a long stride may have the axis move forward (positive) 2 or 3 inches during rotation. A-Rod hit 41 HR and sometimes he has a slight drift of the axis and other times he has a completely stationary axis. On the other hand, Jeff Bagwell has a negative drift of a couple of inches (axis moving toward the catcher) and hit 42 HR. So is he also using linear mechanics (or negative linear)?
> 
> Most of the better hitters today do not take a long stride and they do rotate around a stationary axis. I think it would improve A-Rod’s performance if he shortened up his stride and developed a more consistent axis to swing from. 
> 
> You stated: “His hands extend as in linear mechanics w/o top hand torque initiating the swing.” That is simply a misreading of his mechanics. True, he does not use “pre-launch torque” (bat accelerating before rotation) like Sheffield or Bonds. But he does use top-hand-torque during initiation. In his launch position, A-Rod has a high elbow and the bat is cocked toward the pitcher. If he initiated the swing by driving the top-hand forward (Linear, A to B), the bat-head would also be driven forward toward the pitcher. --- But his bat-head is not accelerated toward the pitcher during initiation. His bat-head is accelerating back toward the catcher. This means the top-hand must be pulling back toward the catcher as the elbow lowers.
> 
> Jack Mankin

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