Posted by: Jim (jwelborn@lexcominc.net) on Fri Aug 24 22:26:45 2007

> > >>> I have been a baseball player for more than a decade. A few years ago, I hung up the cleats on fastpitch and went to slow pitch softball. Has been quite different. I keep hearing I have a baseball swing and have not been near as consistent in softbal with power and line drives as I was in baseball. Is there a difference in the swing of a baseball swing and softball swing? I have been used to the power "V" style of swinging as that is what I was always taught. Thanks for your help. <<<
> >
> > Hi Jer
> >
> > Welcome to the site. -- Whether the batter is playing baseball, slow or fastpitch, a good hitter is a hitter that consistently hits the ball hard. That requires swing mechanics that generates good bat speed and a swing plane that consistently matches the plane of the incoming ball. A side-by-side comparison shows that the swing mechanics of top baseball hitters is the same as top slowpitch hitters.
> >
> > We recently had on the board a question similar to yours except they asked if girls fastpitch swing mechanics was the same as the baseball swing. To show they were the same, we developed the clip below showing side-by-side comparisons of the top Woman’s College World Series and MCWS hitters. – We plan to show a baseball-slowpitch comparison clip soon.
> >
> > <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/media/CWS_Comparison.wmv">Men/Women From College WS)</a>
> >
> > Jer, when you view the swings in the clip, note the position of their back-arms at contact. Their back-arms are not extended to the power “V” (both arms fully extended) until well after the ball has left the bat.
> >
> > Jack Mankin
>
> I understand that for both baseball and softball the swing plane must match the plane of the ball. In baseball the plane of the ball has a much greater downward tilt (maybe 10 degrees from horizontal?) For fastpitch softball, the plane is just about horizontal. So what part of the fastpitch softball swing must be changed in order to match the horizontal plane? Should the softball batter rotate about a vertical axis compared to the back-tilting baseball hitter's axis or is it something else?


Rocky,

Nothing changes about the swing. Adjustment comes in the batter's posture at contact. The fastpitch batter's axis of rotation will be a tiny bit more upright. The adjustment occurs during the weight transfer phase (also called hip slide, positive linear move, stride, etc.), and is set by the time weight transfer is replaced by rotation.

The axis of rotation should be close to 90 degrees to the line of the pitch.

Jim