Posted by: Dave (nytino20@aol.com) on Wed Jul 8 08:00:38 2009

I think there is a major difference between swinging the bat hard and swinging the bat fast. There is a fine line and could be the difference between a warning track or less fly out and a HR. My feeling is when you swing "hard" you tense up right at the point of contact and try to "kill the ball". This tightens up your hand/forearm muscles along with your shoulders. It's a proven fact that tight muscles perform slower then relaxed muscles.

When you swing fast you stay as loose as possible and just swing through the ball. I wish I had a bat speed radar to really tell the exact difference when I try to kill the ball versus just swinging as fast as possible. This is a hard habit to kick if you are always trying to kill the ball but it can be kicked.

I read on another forum the analogy of swinging hard vs swinging fast. Place a ping pong ball on a table and make a fist and try to hit it as far as you can. Then take one finger and try to flick it as far as you can. The speed of the flick will move the ping pong ball further then the might of the punch. Short and quick is more powerful then long and hard.

Long swings FEEL powerful and quick but in reality they are slower in both bat speed AND bat quickness.

What do yall think of this??