Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Thu Aug 9 18:22:56 2001

Shawn-

DANGER! Long analytical post.Hitters should not be thinking thses things!Maybe no one should.

That is a really interesting clip.It is unusual for a women's fastpitch hitter to sequence their mechanics this well(allowing some lower body momentum to get into the swing),but I am occasionally seeing it, usually on the outside pitch.Another example was Freed's game winning hit this summer to beat USA gold.She got/was looking for a Fernandez outside drop and got good contact to the opposite field(a hard one hopper/grounder if I recall ,whereas this player is hitting under it,probably for a big fly).In both cases,I think this kind of hitter stays back longer for this outside pitch and creates more separation than usual then quickly launches the swing(link hips to drive torso then decelerate hips) with good connection that keeps the hands from falling back or extending early.If you watch the foot work,you see the back toe drag as the torso receives the lower body momentum and the bathead fires, then the back heel turns(some weight goes back on ball of foot) as reactive torque turns the hips back when the hands get away from the body.The windmill pitcher is particularly good at this because they can snap the hips fast with lots of toe drag just like everytime they pitch-Freed gets a tremendous foot slash on her game winning hit.However,they only get the handpath(upper body is king)right for this outside location where they keep the upper body back longer then have to get the bat out in a hurry-sort of a poor man's top hand torque-not getting the bat head out very far,but not letting it fall too far behind the "power curve" either.

This sequence should happen for all rotational swings with good transfer mechanics with relatively more toe dragging for the inside pitch.However,most women's fp hitters learn the wrong "transfer mechanics" or handpath/sequence.They usually prematurely extend the hands away from the center of rotation,then they fire the bathead.This results in the slow pushing swing most commonly seen and prevents transfer of lower body momentum up into the torso.The lower body action reflects this as the hips just turn with the torso(premature hand extension prevents rotational whipping-swing powered just with upperbody/arms)so the back foot just shows the squish the bug action followed by turning back as reactive torque goes down the back leg when the hands cast away from the body.Ultimately,it is the handpath/transfer mechanics that force the squish the bug action as the lower body is forced into supporting what the upperbody has learned to do to make contact.

So with fp hitters,you see the squish the bug/push the handpath mechanics for most hitters,except occasionally this outside location where you may get the desired up on the toe-toe drag-fall back of the back foot indicating the lower body momentum was successfully transferred to the torso then bat.

MLB hitters on the other hand have learned to keep the hands in until the bathead has fired,and only then let the hands get away from the center of rotation.Toe drag(starts when hips link up if sequential momentum transfer is good and continues until hands cast away from center of rotation) is more pronounced for the inside pitch because the handpath stays in and hooks keeping the bathead in while the hips link up earlier creating fuller torso turn before contact(earlier rotational whip/fuller torso turn/later casting away of hands).This can be seen by looking at the clips of Nomar hitting the inside and outside location in the "outside pitch" thread at setpro:

http://www.setpro.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000394.html

These clips are synched for contact,but if you synch them instead for front toe touch(I think he's taking a tiny stride here)you can see the difference in lower body action required to support the different upper body programs for inside and out location.

The big opportunity for fp hitters is to learn the right "transfer mechanics",especially BHT for the middle in pitch.Then we will start to see "history made on the inside of the plate" instead of squishin the bug,getting sawed off or the dead pull foul.If the hitter does this on the inside pitch,they will get on the back toe and drag it before contact,then fall back on the toe after contact when the hands cast.

Dragging the toe is something to look for that is a signature of the right sequence(analytical tool),but is probably not a useful "cue" just as I don't find "make a figure 4" or "slash with the back foot" useful cues for the windmill pitcher-they are ,however good signs of momentum transfer.