Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Sat Dec 2 09:59:02 2006

One breakthrough description of lining up the bat was Williams description in SCIENCE OF
HITTING.

He preferred a swing with some upslope which could be varied to "match plane" and the
swing could be "shortened" "by getting on top" if you were falling into the typical
temptation to load up and hit too much with the back arm adding too much loop to the
swing.

Williams noted that the point was to get the bathead or his term "joyspot" on the ball with
a well lined up collision. and his description was that you wanted to be somewhere in the
range of 15 degrees early or 30 degrees late (memory here, don't have book at hand).

This would make sense from the perpsective of optimizing timing errro assuming the bat
was accelerating to max at contact. Then it goes faster the farther in front you make
contact. The timing window would then be centered spatially the way Williams described it.

As far as "mechanics" that Williams described togive the adjustable/plane matching swing,
he said the basic things required were hips leading, upsloping swing trough contact and
wrists that were unbroken or uncocking like axe (wrist aDduction thorugh contact) without
wrist rolling (described as more delicate "tackhammer") until after contact.