Posted by: aniello (aniello35@hotmail.com) on Sun Aug 26 10:26:58 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. <<<
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> > Hi Jer
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> > 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.
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> > 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.
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> > <a href="http://www.batspeed.com/media/CWS_Comparison.wmv">Men/Women From College WS)</a>
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> > 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.
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> > Jack Mankin
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> Jer. With regard to your question, the swing is not different for rotational power hitters. But was is different is that in softball the hitter has to hold the angle longer than in baseball. Some softball hitters walk up to the ball in an effort to make up the difference in timing. Other hitters use some form of the leg lift in an effort to wait longer before committing to the pitch. And those methods work well for the hitter who has trouble adjusting to varying speeds of such a slowly moving object. Note that many major league hitters have trouble hitting the knuckleball. And of course part of that trouble comes from the pitch's lack of velocity.
Jack, love your site. But walking up to the ball and having a higher leg lift really has nothing to due with adjusting to the difference in time. In fact, having that extra time is a way to generate as much power as possible since you are not being helped by ball speed. Example, the higher leg lift, walking up to the ball, the completely closed stance with the high leg lift. Also, top slowpitch players hit the bottom half of the ball and roll there wrist to generate back spin. This also helps the ball fly out of the park. Sure, we all need a trigger point (in reguards to timing) but being short and quick to a slowpich ball in a "classic" baseball stance is not going to generate the power you are looking for.