Posted by: Jimmy (jimrickon@adelphia.net) on Wed Jan 3 20:50:38 2007

> Jimmy. Rotational hitters strike out and fly out a lot for a number of reasons.
>
> 1. (fault) swinging to hard in an effort to generate homeruns- when the batter swings to
hard, he has a tendency to pull off the pitch. This means he is not seeing the ball the full
60 ft. This leads to an uppercut rather than the desired upswing.
>
> 2. (fault) uppercutting the high pitch. For the most part the hitter must make an early
decision to swing at a high pitch. This means the contact angle has to be precise if the
hitter is to hit the high pitch. This is because the high pitch has less downward movement
than a pitch belt high or knee high. Thus the normal upswing may be inefficient to hit a
pitch that is chest high or shoulder high. And even though the chest high and above
pitches are usually not modern day strikes, batters still attempt to swing at them becausue
they are closer to eye level and appear hittable. Often a player who starts with his hands
high has a better chance hitting a high pitch as his swing plane is more close to the direct
line of the incoming pitch. In addition, when a hitter strides to hit a pitch his head lowers
slightly as his stride takes place. This makes it harder to swing up once the swing is
initiated. This means that a linear hitter will have trouble as well on the high pitch.
>
> 3. (fault) lack of situational hitting- back in the day hitters took striking out as an
embarassment. Lou Brock once sat out the final game of the season in an effort not to
strike out 100 times. Today when a hitter has 2 strikes he still swings for the fences, does
not choke up and still tries to pull the ball (for the most part) rather than focus on putting
the ball in play. Times change, techniques change, and now management is willing to
overlook strike outs if the hitter drives in runs. In addition, players are being paid more if
the hit homeruns and drive in runs (especially in the clutch). Barry Bonds is basically the
only power hitter who chokes up. Ted Williams used to choke up and or level out his
upswing if he was not making contact in his usual fashion.
>
> It should be noted that linear hitters strike out a lot as well. The difference is that since
they take less risk for the most part by simply putting the ball in play, their chances for
contact are increased. And some rotational hitters wait longer for a particular pitch, which
would leave them less opportunities for putting the ball in play.
>
> One of the best players in the game today is Grady Sizemore. He has great speed but
strikes out alot. He also has good power and will likely become a number 3 hitter some
day. Another player with speed to watch is Curtis Granderson. He too has great speed and
has some power. But as a lead off man he strikes out too much and was among the league
leaders in that department. But rather rotational or other technique, many strikeouts and
flyouts can be avoided by learning the strikezone and what pitches one can handle best.
That in itself will allow the hitter to have more productive at bats.

Hi Guru,

I agree with you on the point about hitters avoiding numerous strikeouts and flyouts by
learning the strikezone and what pitches one can handle best. But I also think that hitters
do know what pitches they can handle best, the ones in the middle part of the plate and
about thigh high. That is why they are hit the hardest and the most consistant.

The problem is the lack of control in thier physical approach as well as the lack of a plan at
the plate. The hitter needs a physical approach that will allow him to be aggressive but yet
under control at the same time so that he can execute a solid simple plan at the plate and
ultimately be productive for his team.

As far as strikeouts. Exclusively rotational hitters have less control of thier swing limiting
the ability to take pitches out of thier zone. They also have a smaller area in the strike
zone that they can handle than that of hitters that use a combination of rotation and linear
mechanics. The combination of these two things leads to a poor "two-strike" approach.
This kills them because if they are too selective and get to two strikes, they get beat, and
they can't offer at pitches early in the count because they won't be able to drive them or
even touch them. (unless they get lucky and all the planets line up and they get the only
pitch at the only speed that they can handle).

So the cycle begins for the rotational hitter starting with the "wait and see if I should start
my swing" type of approach, where they get rushed and are late with the barrel and get
beat many times. Then they get into the "try to guess what pitch is comming" approach,
where they look absolutely rediculous swinging at fifty foot breakingballs in the dirt.

As far as the fly balls that rotational hitters hit, I think it has alot to do with the fact that
thier barrel travels more and more toward the ground early in the swing with every inch
that the front shoulder flies open. This allows gravity to work on it way to soon and helps
to cause that path of the bat to come up and under many pitches. This also means that
his bat is working against gravity most of the swing and actually slows his "bat-speed"
down.

The hitters that use rotational and linear characteristics in the swing can have a plan at the
plate and execute it. That is being aggressive to an area of the zone and have enough
control to shut the swing off on pitches out of that zone. These are the hitters that will
produce the most runs for any team.

Jimmy