Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Wed Dec 7 13:18:04 2005

wog-

Interesting stuff.A few comments.

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Epstein is the best one I know of in explaining the range of styles and adjustments which requires his "tilt" concept among others.

Batters are typed by him according to general degree of axis tilt with a preference for a more upright axis resulting in more line drive/contact/less power and leaning the axis back more giving a longer more powerful swing with perhaps some tradeoff in consistency of contact.

Also, "tilt" is a way of adjusting up/down late and on the fly for every swing superimposed on the basic tilt range.

Also he recommends that part of shortening up/improving contact as for 2 strike situation be getting the axis more upright (he also recommends rotating open in the stance as part of this 2 strike mechanical adjustment).

His video analysis is pretty good. He has described Pujols as compared to Williams as a great high ball hitter. I think Pujols has nearly perfected a way to hit with the axis upright without any significant power or contact sacrifice.Certainly he must have great "hand-eye coordination", but beyond this,I think his mechanical style creates a quicker swing than Wiliams with lower timing error while maintaining power.

Still I think both Williams and Pujols exemplify the basic universals that Epstein preaches- hips lead hands,keep hands in,match plane (tilt) and start on time.

Awesome bat lag is a sign of efficient storage by body coil (that depends on good "transfer mechanics") that translates to "progressive speed gains" and a quick swing with maximum recognition time (can wait on ball longer),and low timing error, and a swing that can be checked late.

The hip fly open appearance can be part of the short/flailing/highball swing with upright rotational axis where there is low load/resistance to rotation (turn on ball more) which is usually in a flatter plane as for high ball.

The slide the back foot is a sign of reactive torque that is part of an equal and opposite response when the hips decelerate and the torso accelerates. It is not this drag that causally keeps the hips closed,it is the well synched tension of all the links of the "kinetic chain/kinetic link" (think of this as progressive speed gains for each "arc" of the swing - hips then upper torso/soulders/handpath then bathead as Jack has described the model with "exponential resistance factor" that keeps the "transmission from slipping" - and also permits a more powerful engine output/coil dynamics in my opinion). Vlad tends to have a swing at the opposite end of the spectrum (longer/more "L" out of back elbow,more soil/separation,more lowball type axis tilting back type swing) geared toward "handling" anything in the same county as the strike zone. This is usually a swing where the bathead accelerates in a swing plane that is more tilted and wider,making contact with the bathead more on the upswing (in between Williams and Pujols,closer to Williams).

I think that one problem with trying to keep the front hip closed (as a cue or swing key) is that it messes up good coil because this is not where coil is most directly controlled. Coil is produced more reliably by focussing on lead arm action instead (good transfer mechanics,including "tht"). This is analagous to the overhand throw where front side/lead arm action is a better place to focus on to avoid spinning or flying open (a descriotion of flawed/poor coil dynamics,especially if used with the long Vlad low ball type swing) than trying to "turn the back hip into the front" or "keeping the front hip closed".

Appearance of hips and shoulders "flying open" would be more likely a flaw for the long/Vlad/low ball swing than for Pujols, but you would have to look for other factors on video to assess this.

I look forward to clips.