Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Mon Dec 9 10:54:36 2002

I think we were having a discussion about these 2 during the WS and the distance that they hit the ball.Bonds hit a huge HR off percival .Salmon hit 2 that night just barely over the fence.The 1st for salmon was pulled right down the line and was well out over the plate his arms were well past the point of good connection[L].Also his upper body was bent out over front leg.The 2nd was pulled just over the power alley fence,again he was reaching well out front at contact.I also noticed that he did not load like most I could see his hands from the front view,with no scap loading.I assume that he is just so srong he can get away with flaws in the swing and still hit a hr.Bonds however on his drive was well connected but his hips were not quite 90 degrees,he also had a load that was more down to up instead of back,but hands would not be seen from pitcher.Both men hit similar pitches and speeds and would consider similar physical power but mechanics on these pitches were the big difference.

rql-

I like the way Bonds "loads".It is similar to the way you load when throwing the overhand/4 seamer.Ultimately we need to teach/learn feel.I would describe it as follows.You can see this in the USA Today clip,and I like some Gwynn's description too,although a lot of this needs to be interpreted cautiously.Furthermore,this feel often includes an awareness of how all four limbs are moving at once,analagous to how Dr. Bagonzi(pitchingprofessor.com) describes the "magic moment" in pitching.

Bonds:

Hands held fairly low(by todays standards).Bat fairly vertical.

Part of energy generation comes from flexing then arching the body.The body needs to do this in a rotational/spiral direction.The flex at the waist comes first as the hands drop.This is associated with the stride lift or small "click back step" in Bonds case.

The end of this phase is the "cocking" or "loading" of the hip.This is analagous to the end of the "windup" phase of the overhand throw.In the case of throwing,Jeff Hodge has identified an important "absolute"-Break the hands with internal rotation.In throwing,the "hip cock" or "hip loading" at the end of the windup phase includes awareness of both arms internally rotating at handbreak and both legs assuming a "knock knee"(also called anatomically internal rotation) configuration.

So,after Bonds flexes,he cocks the hip as the back arm internally rotates and the front knee turns in a little(weight should not get outside back foot-more knock knee feel.The hip cock then needs to be held until it is "uncocked" or "unloaded" to drive "launch".

Next comes the "stretching" or "coiling" phase.This should be done without much if any "backswing" as emphasized by Hank Aaron.Nyman has made a huge contribution here by describing how the big muscles are used to load the scapula(big muscles used to internally rotate back arm too) to accomplish this(stretch/load without big backswing/"counter rotation").This scap loading accompanies the stride foot going out and down to toe touch.If you watch the bat,the last bit of cock toward the pitcher is the back arm internal rotation associated with hip cock.The uncocking of the bat accompanies scap loading.The back is arching and the torso is loading.Hip cock is maintained.

The back elbow goes out and up with the internal rotation/hip cock.It then goes up and in,then down with scap loading/uncocking.The elbow comes down about the time the front toe touches.Front toe touch is an important bit of information for the body/timing.Lead arm continues to stretch across chest.

Heel drop is the "result"(not cause) of the hip "uncocking" to launch.The loaded big muscles are the initiators here.The later the heel drop,the more the upper body loading continues,setting up a wider handpath radius/"higher load" situation.Where the elbow gets "slotted" or what Jack describes as direction of THT at initiation is determined by this relative timing( hard to see/milliseconds here).Once the torso starts turning at launch,driven by the hip uncocking,the elbow stays in its slotted position.If the back arm pushes/back elbow drifts/leaks toward the belly button at this point,the "transfer mechanics" are ruined/disconnection occurs.

Try looking at a lot of Bonds clips with this in mind and you can see(almost)how he uses the big muscles to load,then try it yourself.

1-Cock the hip(big muscles to internally rotate back arm/front leg turn in)

2-load the scap(hands up and in via torso-scap muscles)

3-launch(uncock the hip(front thigh turned over,back foot turns over,front heel drops)

Simplicity on the other side of complexity.

How does it feel to you ?

Some of these moves are less evident on the players who hold the hands high.