Posted by: The Hitting Guru (hitman3527@aol.com) on Sun Jan 1 18:45:41 2006

> Hi All
>
> Happy New Year! – I would like to start the new year by addressing a topic I brought up In December 2005 but received no response. It concerns ‘bat speed’ vs ‘bat quickness’. I noted while visiting some of the other discussion boards that a good number of coaches believe that a batter my generate great bat speed but be slower getting the bat to the ball than a batter with less bat speed.
>
> I have trouble understanding how two batters can launch the bat from the same position and the batter who generates less bat speed could get the bat to the same contact point quicker than the batter generating greater bat speed. Would someone help enlighten me on this subject?
>
> Note: I define “launch position” as the position of the bat when shoulder rotation (and the swing) is initiated
>
> Jack Mankin



I think that who ever was making the comment was trying to infer that a slap hitter can get the bat to the ball quicker than many hitters who actually have more batspeed. I believe a lot has to do with the player's technique. A lot of hitters that strike out a lot cannot get the head of the bat to the ball at times even though they possess great batspeed. Where as other hitters of lesser ability find a way to meet the ball regardless of how hard some pitchers may throw. EX. Sammy Sosa vs. Rafael Palmeiro Mickey Mantle vs. Ted Williams Mark Mcguire vs. Barry Bonds Frank Thomas vs. Don Mattingly. In each case the 1st player mentioned probably had greater batspeed as opposed to quickness of the 2nd player.