Posted by: Alan () on Mon Oct 21 10:00:17 2002

It was great that these two hitters had home runs with slo-mo replays so you could take a good look at their swing mechanics. First let me say they both just crushed the ball and you can't argue with either one's mechanics based on the outcome.

Both are big and equally strong, both hit the ball on the sweet spot, both swung equally hard, and both hit 95 MPH fastballs, so why did Salmon's travel 410 ft (est) and Bonds' 485 ft, could it be their swing mechanics?

In looking at both in slo-mo Salmon's hands drove out and through the ball, while Bonds'were more circular around his body. Salmon's hip, torso, and shoulder rotation were definitely less than Bonds'. Mechanics looked like it played a part in the distance the two balls were hit.

I'd like to see batspeed's comments on this, since their main message is rotational mechanics = batspeed = distance.