Posted by: Jimmy () on Tue Jan 16 20:08:54 2007

> > To produce a line drive that has backspin on it, the barrel of the bat must not work
from under the ball, it must work through the ball. A severe upward swing will produse a
topspin (ground-balls), or backspin with too steep of a trajectory into the air (pop-ups).
There is very small room for error in terms of quality contact with this approach. Do we
really want to tell our players to try to have an upper-cut swing? Doesn't the swing flatten
out on its own when quality contact is made out front?
> >
> > Please respond
> >
> > Jimmy
>
> Jimmy
>
> It is not an uppercut swing it is a swing that matches the ball trajectory. The ball
trajectory is always DOWN. In your description the bat only crosses the ball trajectory
which means you only hit the ball or you completely miss the ball (think of the letter X laid
on its side, only one spot to make contact).
>
> To maximize your success in timing the pitch and making solid contact wtih the ball the
bat needs to be matching the ball trajectory. The actual error for contact in this scenario
is less then with a flat swing or a downward swing. True if your bat is one inch too high or
one inch too low you will hit a pop up or a ground ball but in the X scenario your bat has a
timing error of less then 5 inches or about 1 mph.
>
> What this means is if your judgement of speed (timing) is off by two mph you miss the
ball. Can you judge the speed of the pitch by less then two mph regularly. I would rather
have to adjust my swing by one inch over the length of the swing that has a 6-8 mph
room for error.
>
> Just my thoughts that are supported by many videos, scientific analysis, and personal
analysis.
>
> DAve P
>
> PS Your statement is correct 'barrel of the bat must not work from under the ball, it
must work through the ball.' and to go through it you should be matching the flight of the
ball. It is easier to go through something if you are lined up to it.

Dave P,

I'm sorry but did I ever state that the hitter should ever cross the trajectory? I thought I said through the ball or trajectory. The problem with your scientific analysis is that when the hitter tries to match the trajectory, he ends up working from benieth the trajectory. So your little "X" example applies to your approach more than it applies to my approach of working through the ball with a natural swing plane.

Many hitters in the Big Leagues do try to swing down on top of the ball to create a swing that actually does match trajectory on your video screen (Albert Pujols). Its all up to the individual's feel within his swing.

I was just asking the question because if hitters are matching trajectory while trying to swing DOWN, doesn't this pose a problem for the hitters trying to swing UP to match trajectory? And doesn't this effect the whole topspin/backspin idea.

Jimmy