Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Tue Apr 19 18:13:54 2011

>>> Jack, my kid has been hitting nothing but towering popups. I recently recorded him hitting and i noticed that the barrel of the bat is angled downward at bat lag.Is this the reason for the popups if so what causes the bat to get into this position and how could this be fixed. Thanks <<<

Hi Dave

With most good swings, the bat does not 'bottom-out' its downward trajectory until about 18 inches from contact. Therefore we would expect to see the bat still on a downward path at the "lag" position. Below is a video that shows the swing plane (across the plate view) we typically see with good hitters.


Swing Plane --Across the plate view


Most good hitters' swing-plane will have their bat angling upward about 12 to 18 degrees at contact. With this up-slope, hitting the center of the ball will produce a 'line-drive' - a ¼ inch below center will cause the ball to deflect up at around 35 degrees (angle that produces maximum ball flight).

If your son is continuously hitting high pop-ups, he is obviously striking the ball an inch or so too low. I would need to see his swing to see if it is a mechanical problem.

Jack Mankin