Posted by: The Hitting Guru () on Sun Feb 4 20:45:53 2007

> Barry Bonds in below link looks like the picture before he was bloated from steroids:
> http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?p=17&n=1&m=12&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9
> He's using rotational mechanics (straight leading arm, rotating body) Rotational mechanics, as you know, generate greater power than linear
>
> And then I saw this gif picture which is definetly Barry Bonds on steroids
> http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?p=16&n=1&m=12&c=4&l=0&w=4&s=0&z=9
> Judging by his bat angle and bent lead arm, he's using linear mechanics.
>
> My thought is that, before he was on steroids he used rotational mechanic to generate power. After he saw some power effects from steroids, he turned to linear mechanics to facilitate contact w/out a lot of strikeouts. Linear mechanic sacrifices power, but Bonds is juiced with power.
>
> Just my wild guess on Bonds's mechanical change. Any comments?
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Bond's swing from those videos is slightly different but the more critical factor in Bond's success is that he has years of knowledge of pitching, better than average technique, and more strength than he had in his initial prime with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Most hitters who have played to his age do not have the same physical skills they had when younger. Sure he cheated, but to his credit he maintains solid mechanics and the willingness to improve his physical conditioning. I do not advocate his steroid use but we should remember that steroids was not always a banned substance. As such many who are remembered as cheaters actually felt they were merely using a loophole in the system. And throughout history baseball has been a game were it was considered "it aint cheatin until you get caught."