Bat Speed -- Baseball Hitting Forum

Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Mon Nov 4 10:07:39 2002

My son has a very level swing, probably too level. He hits all ground balls and line drives with little power. When he hits a ball in the air it always has a 'reverse' backspin and when it lands instead of it driving to the fence it just plops on the ground and dies. His line drives are the same way. He has very good eye hand coordination and nearly always hits the ball. I feel if he had the proper mechanics he would be driving the ball instead of hitting these soft line drives with a wierd backspin. I have never seen anything like this. Can you help me figure out what he is doing wrong? The difficult part about his swing is when you see him swing it is one of the most level swings a kid his age has (he is 12).
>
> >>backspin is what creates distance on m.l. homeruns if they have adequate batspeed and correct swing plane,my guess is he has poor batspeed from incorrect mechanics,and he may be taking a swing like a tennis player would to create a drop shot.

Spin on the baseball is similar to hitting pool(cue) balls or golf balls.It is primarily due to where the ball is struck.Below equator-backspin.Above equator-topspin.Inside-slice,outside-hook.The direction of the pool cue/golf club shaft is largely unimportant except for how it positions the striking surface(especially when the duration of contact is short).

The path of the bat tip in the rotational swing as viewed from the opposite batters box will look sort of like the Nike "swoosh".Poor mechanics/loose connection often result in a swingpath that descends excessively,either a loopy swing followed by uppercutting or just a delay before the uprising part of the swoosh starts.This means you hit he ball down too much or hit below the equator and get the weak fly with backspin.

With a good match of the plane of the swing as described by Epstein,for example,the contact area is increased and if you swing timing is a little late you get a (not so weak) fly ball with backspin.A little early and you gat a nasty low ball with top spin.A much preferred situation.

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> My son has a very level swing, probably too level.  He hits all ground balls and line drives with little power.  When he hits a ball in the air it always has a 'reverse' backspin and when it lands instead of it driving to the fence it just plops on the ground and dies.  His line drives are the same way.  He has very good eye hand coordination and nearly always hits the ball.  I feel if he had the proper mechanics he would be driving the ball instead of hitting these soft line drives with a wierd backspin.  I have never seen anything like this.  Can you help me figure out what he is doing wrong?  The difficult part about his swing is when you see him swing it is one of the most level swings a kid his age has (he is 12).
> > 
> > >>backspin is what creates distance on m.l. homeruns if they have adequate batspeed and correct swing plane,my guess is he has poor batspeed from       incorrect  mechanics,and he may be taking a swing like a tennis player would to create a drop shot.
> 
> Spin on the baseball is similar to hitting pool(cue) balls or golf balls.It is primarily due to where the ball is struck.Below equator-backspin.Above equator-topspin.Inside-slice,outside-hook.The direction of the pool cue/golf club shaft is largely unimportant except for how it positions the striking surface(especially when the duration of contact is short).
> 
> The path of the bat tip in the rotational swing as viewed from the opposite batters box will look sort of like the Nike "swoosh".Poor mechanics/loose connection  often result in a swingpath that descends excessively,either a loopy swing followed by uppercutting or just a delay before the uprising part of the swoosh starts.This means you hit he ball down too much or hit below the equator and get the weak fly with backspin.
> 
> With a good match of the plane of the swing as described by Epstein,for example,the contact area is increased and if you swing timing is a little late you get a (not so weak) fly ball with backspin.A little early and you gat a nasty low ball with top spin.A much preferred situation.

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