Posted by: Roy Kirksey (rkirksey_sdp@yahoo.com) on Wed Feb 5 21:49:39 2003

>>>I am really enjoying your insight & your website. I just have one quick question:
> What part does bat weight play in your rotational mechanics model? - given the hightech, lightweight bats available today, allowing greater batspeed without sacrificing bat wall strength, etc...., do you have bat a weight preference (ie. lighter,heavier) that you feel will help to achieve maximum batspeed through rotational mechanics. Or, is it simply an issue of individual strength, comfort, preference, etc. <<<
>
> Hi David
>
> With the rotational swing, forces that accelerate the bat-head are constantly being applied from initiation to contact. The efficiency of this model allows a batter to swing a heavier bat while maintaining good bat speed. --- The weight-shift model accelerates the bat more lengthwise (knob first) during much of the swing and relies on an explosive action near the end to bring the bat around. This is a less efficient swing and requires a lighter bat to obtain the same bat speed. -- For a given bat speed, the heavier the bat the harder a ball is hit.
>
> I would suggest working with an average weight wood bat and develope good mechanics for increasing bat speed - not a lighter and lighter bat to coverup poor mechanics.
>
> Jack Mankin
>
>I enjoy this forum. When someone contradicts Ted Williams' teachings on bat weight (see the subchapter "Light is Right" in The Science of Hitting), I am very curious as to what other Tedisms are contrary or different to yours. Many people who disagree with what Ted Williams said about hitting feel that his views were those of a superior performer, and therefore largely invalid with respect to the average player. In 27 years of coaching AAU, high school, and college players--practicing almost exclusively with "woodies" on my watch--I cannot recall a single instance where a player has chosen a bat that was clearly too LIGHT for him, but many, many times we see kids swinging bats that are too damn heavy. I can't imagine that anyone who coaches kids on a daily basis would disagree; lighten the bat, and the kid is helped immediately because he can actually get the bat's center of percussion to the center of the speeding baseball ON TIME. A too-heavy bat leads to poor mechanics: the kid swinging one can't get his top hand STRAIGHT to the ball!

Watch Barry Bonds in "frame advance" mode on your VCR. He is using a HARD PUSH with his TOP HAND (capitals Ted's) to go STRAIGHT (capitals Tony Gwynn's) to the ball. Pure rotational mechanics' applications are limited in hitting, but not as limited as those of vectoral mechanics. The proper model is not a duality of either/or, but rather is a unity of both/and: HELICAL MECHANICS.

HELICAL MECHANICS IN BASEBALL: Physical systems govern the motion of physical objects. We use whichever system is most efficient.

VECTORAL MECHANICS: Newtonian vectoral mechanics is almost never the most efficient system.

ROTATIONAL MECHANICS are essential for rhythm, but are inefficient used alone.

HELICAL MECHANICS can assume different configurations, subsume the other systems, and therefore constitute the superior system.

C-Copyright 2003 Roy W.W. Kirksey