Posted by: ray porco () on Mon Nov 21 19:34:50 2005

Oooh boy, Jim,

More definitions!

“Is there a difference between “weight shift” and “hip slide”?”

Technically, there doesn’t seem to be. I mean, if one were to “slide” the hip, then one would expect a shift in weight, since the center of mass is practically tied to the hip, right? And as you say, “I have yet to see a pro clip where there is no hip slide/weight shift.”

How about your first:

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/mpg/bagwell1.mpeg

I do see a weight shift, but I don’t see a hip slide.



But let’s forget about Bagwell. 99.9 % of hitters that do stride (or don’t), do slide their hips. But it’s not just the hips that they slide. The whole front side slides. The front foreleg, the knee, the thigh, the hip, the torso, the shoulder, the head.

I don’t think that when most talk about “hip slide” they are referring to the the hips moving forward with the stride. I think most are referring to the slide of the hips that occur after heel plant, after what I call “full sit” (sitting to hit), and continue to slide even after torso rotation begins. But that’s another topic.


For the sake of argument, let’s say that there is no difference between “weight shift” and “hip slide”. You disagree that a batter who strides while hitting, may or may not weight shift. I take it that you don’t believe that there is an option. But, there is. I can physically transfer my center of mass over my rear leg, and keep it there while striding (stepping out) with my front leg. So can you. I can also stride as far forward as I can possibly stretch while trying to keep my center of mass as much back as possible. I can also stride as far forward while trying to transfer as much of my center of mass over the stride leg as I possibly can. A similar case can be made for no-striders. The point is to refute Jack’s silly assumption, “If forward weight shift develops linear momentum that is transferred to rotational momentum, you would think the best hitters would be taking longer strides and shifting more weight”, with one as silly.

Jim, the important thing to remember is that each batter has an individual choice as to the length of stride (including no-stride) AND (totally independent of stride) the amount of weight shift.

For instance, an extreme example of what Jack is assuming:
Let’s say the batter’s box was 20 ft. long, and that you could take a running start at a pitched ball from the rear of the box, like the running start of a javelin tosser. Let’s further assume that your timing and contact point were perfect. Sure, you would hit the ball further than a no-strider, or even a strider under the constraints of baseball rules. Happy Gilmore success. You know, there is even an old clip around, of Babe Ruth doing a cross-over walk-up swing. What’s the point? Speed vs. Accuracy. Like it or not, there is an optimal trade-off point. One for the other, and hitters tinker (experiment) to find what is optimum for them.