Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Thu Jan 10 09:37:50 2002

There is one thing I would like to find out. Is swinging down on the ball a good way to swing. I know when I first started swinging like that when I would hit on a indoor pitching machine I started hitting alot of ground balls, and line drives ever so often. But after about a week or two I noticed that my batspeed was quicker, my swing was shorter, I was hitting low and high pitches with a more level swing, and I was hitting more ground balls and line drives, I hit a pop up rarely. I know that some people have said it isn't good because you hit a tremendous amount of ground balls, but I guess its not applying to myself. The pop-ups I could say are decreasing because I think that when swinging down you really cut down your chances of getting under the ball. I only see a handful of players swinging down today, but one I could say definitley stands out is Paul O'neill. He may of not hit .300 every year in his career, but he was a consistant hitter and from myself watching him, he could hit every pitch. He was probably in my mind the toughest player to strikeout in baseball. He worked that count to the end and never gave in. He was a line drive hitter who hit frozen ropes and ground balls. So after explaining why I think it make's myself a more consistant line drive hitter, do you think that swinging down on the ball is the way to swing a bat?
> >
> > ==================================================
> > *** It's as simple as this: If your hand position is above the pitched ball prior to the swing(they should be!) then a straight line to the ball is swinging down. Swinging down to the ball doesn't mean hitting the top of the ball. Your contact point should be dead center of the ball coming towards you. If you look at the top of the ball, you'll hit the top. If you pull your eyes off the ball just before contact, you'll normally hit the top of the ball. It's all about timing. Even when you swing down, on extension of your arms, the bat head whips around and in doing so goes down and back up again in the follow through. So timing, seeing the contact of bat to ball and hitting in front(out towards the pitcher) create the well hit ball.
> >
> > Hope this >>helps! > Coach Randy--I disagree that as you say "It's as simple as this".For instance-Are you aware that there are studies that show that you cannot see the contact of the bat to the ball?Also in order for you to hit the ball in front(out toward the pitcher)you have to disconnect the arms from the body with a subsequent loss of power >>while creating a long swing.
>>

Coach Randy -
"If your hand position is above the pitched ball prior to the swing(they should be!) then a straight line to the ball is swinging down."

It is true that a straight line to the ball is swinging down. It is also true, and I assume that you assume that, a straight line is the shortest distance. I also assume that you assume that therefore you can get to the ball most quickly by going straight to the ball on this downward straight line.
Unfortunately these assumptions are wrong. Common but wrong.
The body is not a two-dimensional cartesian plane. Otherwise you could be right!
The body's bones, joints, etc. work in arcs and circles. The requirement is not to get the hands to the ball but to get the bat head to the ball. Additionally, the swing isn't started until recognition of pitch desirability and location. That leaves a very short time to start and execute a swing accurately.
The body has to use a highly coreographed sequence of neuro-muscular actions to create and transfer energy to the bat to create enough batspeed quickly enough and in the right direction.
Interestingly, leaving the bottom hand still and pulling the top hand back away from the pitch is the most efficient way to start this process. The hands actually travel in a semi-circle to contact.
Yet the bat barrel gets to the ball most quickly by what would be, in a two-dimensional cartesian plane, a very inefficient route.
So, you see, its really not so simple.

But keep reading and posting and learn more here. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained.