Posted by: The Hitting Guru () on Mon Feb 19 21:15:45 2007

> Hi all
>
> I haven't been very active on the board lately. Most of my time has been devoted to creating a new two part Swing Analysis Program, which will go hand in hand with my Final Arc 2 Instructional Program. Many of you have sent emails asking about it, so here is a brief introduction. Part one will teach players and coaches exactly how to perform a swing analysis including the key positions to look for, identifying common swing flaws and drills how to correct them, and we perform a step by step analysis on three baseball players, two slow pitch softball players and two fast pitch softball players so that you can learn exactly how I perform a full swing analysis. It will be about 100 minutes on DVD and will be packed with information.
>
> The second part is a software program that will allow you to capture batting swings (or any other sporting activity) from a camcorder and import it into your computer for frame by frame analysis. There will be many useful features to assist you in analyzing and comparing swings (including pro hitters swings), and ultimately create a video lesson with voice override that can be burned on a CD/DVD burner that will allow you or your players to study your lesson at home.
>
> We hope to have the Swing Analysis Program available in about 30 days, and I think you will really like it.
>
> In the meantime, I thought you might like to watch a sample of what we will be demonstrating in the Swing Analysis Program. In the clip below, we address a topic recently discussed on the board - swing plane and upward path of the bat at contact. Click on the picture below to view the video (3mb -- need windows movie player).
>
> <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/media/justin_swing_plane.wmv"><img src="http://www.batspeed.com/images/justin_swing_plane.jpg"></a>
>
> Jack Mankin
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Jack. I thought that was an excellent clip of how the hitter is leading with the knob of the bat. That forces him to take a more direct route to the ball. As such his bat head does not dip significantly under the plane of the incoming pitch. This has the effect of having the hitter stay in line with the pitch better, which in turn leads to better contact. This is the opposite of a hitter who has to loop the bat up in order to hit the same pitch.

I also noticed the launch angle at contact 2 feet in front of the plate was in a near optimum point at contact. The launch/projection angle at contact is something the makes alfonso soriano and other top hitters so good as well as effective in hitting homeruns.