Posted by: Sly (silvas-36176@mypacks.net) on Sun Feb 13 16:48:41 2011

> Hi Sly,
>
> There are an infinite number of planes of the pitch.
>
> This "plane" (a curved surface when gravity and a non-vacuum are present) contains every point that the ball travels during release to catch.
>
> From a hitters perspective, you want your bat head to travel in that same plane (at the same time as the ball) as long as is reasonably possible with maximum bat head speed.
>
> From a pitcher who is throwing junk perspective, you want those planes to have as much curvature in them as possible at whatever velocity the ball is traveling.
>
> Joe
> ---


Hi Joe,

Thanks for your reply. I think I agree with most you mentioned.

Regarding the first point you make, about the pitch having an infinite number of planes -- since there is not just "one" plane on which the line of flight exists, but many on which it "could" be contained -- doesn't that make a case for using something besides a plane to describe the ball's flight path? What if we think of the flight path as a line? (I saw a graphic recently which showed many planes intersecting each other to create a common line).

If so, wouldn't the batter then simply adjust the "swing plane" so that the line of the ball's flight is contain on the swing plane?