Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Sun Mar 5 23:29:34 2006

>>> Jack. My definition of a long swing is a swing that is more of a sweep to the ball rather than a loop to a point of contact. The long swing can apply to rotational or linear. George Brett uses rotational forces after his lead foot hits, but he sweeps the bat around which allows him to stay in the hitting area longer. Tony Gwynn also sweeps his bat through the hitting area. If these players are late on a pitch, they have a good chance of hitting the ball for a line drive to the opposite field rather than missing the ball completely. The player who loops the bat to the ball like a Reggie Jackson has less opportunity to make any contact if he is late on a pitch. This is because his bat head dips and must come up on time in order to meet the pitch at a particular point. A late start makes it almost impossible to get the head of the bat up in time. His reward is of course tremendous home run power if his timing is right.

If you watch Guerrero on a number of occassions, notice how ofter his timing is off or he is out of rythym, but is still able to make up the difference through strength and athletic ability. Regardless of where the pitch is, he can still on occassion hit that pitch hard and sometimes out of the park. He is an exception to the rule. Julio Franco is another example of a hitter with a long swing. But like the others mentioned, he hits for a high average and benefits from how long his bat is in the hitting area. <<<

(I deliberately choose not to use steroid users in my examples, because they distort actual results of reasonable analysis.) <<<

Hi Guru

My reading of your definition would say you think hitters whose bat is on an up-slope at contact have long looping swings. I also noted that most of the hitters you like have the bat behind their head. It appears from reading your posts that you feel batters who have the bat vertical or cocked toward the pitcher can not have short compact swings. If that were the case, a very high percentage of the games top producers, average as well as power, would fit your definition of a long looping swing.

Jack Mankin