Posted by: The Hitting Guru () on Tue Jul 18 18:30:22 2006

> This post got lost in the shuffle. I thought it would be worth running it again.
>
> OK Hitting Guru, Jack,Anyone? Please tell me "what is level" in a level swing??? The bat? the shoulders? the hands? the hips? the head?
>
> I see this as just another overstated batting cue nobody can really explain? I don't have a single clip or photo of any of those things I stated above as "being level" throughout or even at Point of contact. So what am I missing?
>
> While I'm at it. How many times did Harold Reynolds say on HR Derby night "see how so & so is staying behind the ball?" What as opposed to staying in front of it??? He should have stated "what was staying behind the ball" so a kid watching it could know what the heck he meant. I happened to have a room full of Babe Ruth age players watching the derby and none of them could tell me what he meant either?
>
> How about- "kept his hands inside the ball" Really?
> So how many players have ever kept their hands outside a ball and hit it??? Point is (again to kids and many coaches) every hitter at Point of contact absolutely has their hands inside the ball!!!!
>
> Sorry, had enough with these stupid unexplained comments we keep hearing that nobody does a decent job of interpreting. So I can't wait for some good explanations from this site.

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Sam R. For the most part, the level swing is a swing in which the hitter starts with his bat about shoulder level and swings straight across his body in order to make contact. Because the swing plane starts up for the most part, the hitter has the tendency to hit the top half of the ball because most pitches are below shoulder level. This in turn makes it difficult to lift the ball, unless the hitter is able to connect with a high pitch or the hitter is able to center or hit the bottom half of the ball. This is why strength is more important when applying this method. Some hitters are able to hit with more power if they start from a crouched and or coiled position. (Julio Franco, Rickey Henderson, Cecil Cooper, George Brett, Davey Lopes)

This upswing is used to loft the ball because of its rotation aspects and loop in the swing. It also maximizes the use of gravity as the ball will carry to some degree even though it is decending rapidly.