Posted by: Saat () on Sun Dec 16 13:51:06 2001

>>> -a pitch pitched to the center of home plate creates an angle of approximately 88 degrees formed between the path of the pitch and the front edge of home plate.
> -a pitch to the extreme outside corner forms an angle of 87 degrees.
> -a pitch to the inside corner forms an angle of 89 degrees. <<<
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> Hi Ray
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> Your assessment points out the fallacy of the “pinball” effect. A ball 6 inches past the plate is no closer to the strike zone than it was 6 inches in front of the plate. The reason the ball is hit farther back when using linear mechanics is because of the angle (or direction) the hands are extended. For pitches in the middle area the strike zone, the hands are extended more in a line back toward the pitcher. Obviously, for pitches on the outside portion of the plate, the direction of extension must be more toward the first-base dugout.
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> The reason linear extension mechanics has the bat-head lagging behind on outside pitches is not necessarily because hitting to the opposite field is an advantage. The main reason is because extending the hands in that direction restricts the batter’s ability to accelerate the bat-head. His hand-path is straighter and he is in a weaker position to apply torque.
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> As previous posts have pointed out, rotational mechanics with more top-hand-torque can produce the wider circular hand-path needed to reach outside pitches and still develop bat speed for driving the ball to left or right center. --- With rotational mechanics, the contact point (in relationship to the plate) remains about the same. The radius of the hand-path varies for inside to outside plate coverage.
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> Jack Mankin

Jack, it sounds like you believe in modified pinball theory. That is, simply extend the arms out farther in order to reach the outside pitch, but still have the bat travel in sort of a semi-circle kind of a path. Problem is, you still can't ignore the physiology.
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