Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: ray porco () on Mon Jul 23 19:37:06 2001

I play baseball at southern arkansas university and i have some technical questions. First of all, when you trigger the swing, do you start the swings with your hands starting to the inside half of the ball or taking them back before you start to the ball? Also, whenver i transfer my weight forward to hit the ball, should i keep my head behind the ball and on my back foot or transfer my head to the middle of my stance and hit from there?

fat rat,

1st question:
"...do you start the swings with your hands starting to the inside half of the ball..."?
answer:
you don't start the swing (by start, i mean - initiating forward movement toward the ball) with your hands.

2nd question:
"...or taking them back before you start to the ball?"
answer:
you still don't start the swing with your hands, but, to initiate a proper swing, you must coil. this can be as slight as 1/2" or as much as 12".
try to crack a whip, or cast with a fishing rod without any backward impetus. try starting at the 12 o'clock position, and just going forward. some major leaguers APPEAR not to coil, but they all do.
watch slo-mo and you'll see it.
the reason that they don't coil excessively is that you sacrifice control.

3rd question:
"...should i keep my head behind the ball and on my back foot or transfer my head to the middle of my stance and hit from there?"
answer:
the jury is still out. take your pick. slo-mo a variety of major leaguers and you'll get a variety of head movements. (back, down, forward, up, etc.)
you need background info, first. suggest looking back at thread started by me:
searching for a definition ray porco Thu May 3 19:04:32 2001
there's some clips i suggest you look at, and put your mouse pointer on each batter's ear and see where the head goes.

most guys at baseball discussion boards are looking for easy answers to hard questions. doesn't work that way. takes much more than that. read the entire thread as well. go to archives, and read related articles. your a college guy, do some research. to fully understand you need as much background info as you can absorb.
then take two aspirin, go to bed, and call me in the morning.

ray porco

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> I play baseball at southern arkansas university and i have some technical questions.  First of all, when you trigger the swing, do you start the swings with your hands starting to the inside half of the ball or taking them back before you start to the ball?  Also, whenver i transfer my weight forward to hit the ball, should i keep my head behind the ball and on my back foot or transfer my head to the middle of my stance and hit from there?
> 
> 
> fat rat,
> 
> 1st question:
> "...do you start the swings with your hands starting to the inside half of the ball..."?
> answer:
> you don't start the swing (by start, i mean - initiating forward movement toward the ball) with your hands.
> 
> 2nd question:
> "...or taking them back before you start to the ball?"
> answer:
> you still don't start the swing with your hands, but, to initiate a proper swing, you must coil.  this can be as slight as 1/2" or as much as 12". 
> try to crack a whip, or cast with a fishing rod without any backward impetus.  try starting at the 12 o'clock position, and just going forward.  some major leaguers APPEAR not to coil, but they all do.
> watch slo-mo and you'll see it.
> the reason that they don't coil excessively is that you sacrifice control.
> 
> 3rd question:
> "...should i keep my head behind the ball and on my back foot or transfer my head to the middle of my stance and hit from there?"
> answer:
> the jury is still out.  take your pick.  slo-mo a variety of major leaguers and you'll get a variety of head movements.  (back, down, forward, up, etc.)
> you need background info, first.  suggest looking back at thread started by me:
> searching for a definition    ray porco Thu May 3 19:04:32 2001
> there's some clips i suggest you look at, and put your mouse pointer on each batter's ear and see where the head goes.
> 
> most guys at baseball discussion boards are looking for easy answers to hard questions.  doesn't work that way.  takes much more than that.  read the entire thread as well.  go to archives, and read related articles.  your a college guy, do some research.  to fully understand you need as much background info as you can absorb.
> then take two aspirin, go to bed, and call me in the morning.
> 
> ray porco

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