Posted by: kidwill (kidwill@rtecexpress.net) on Mon Oct 12 05:42:24 2009

> > Jack,
> > I understand you sell a device that measures bat speed, but it is my understanding from some of you previous posts that maximum bat speed of some inefficient swings is not necessarily at the point of contact. I am wondering if someone has a device that measures the amount of force or speed at the exact point of contact. (After all isn't this what really counts?)Something like the machines in an arcade that measures the force of someone punching a bag. This seems to me to give a more accurate reading on the effectiveness of a swing.
>
> The problem with this is it only give one specific point in the swing what a person wants to measure is the batspeed thoughout the contact zone and also measure the length of the contact zone. This is the only true measure of the most effective swing.

The device that measures batspeed does not accomplish the factors you discussed. Why do you want to measure the batspeed throughout the swing? The only speed that matters is at the exact point of contact. This is what generates how hard you hit the ball. The swing before conatact is important, not on it's own, but is very important because it is what causes the batspeed at contact. The swing after contact is only a result of the swing before and at contact. Early batspeed is important only if it helps increase the speed at the contact point. If you had a swing with early batpeed but it slowed before contact, the early speed would be wasted.