this tool any good?

[tominct]

http://www.hittingstore.com/proziptrainer.html

Anyone have any experience with this. My Middle School team just played against a team that had hitters up and down their lineup (not the norm in CT!) and the asst. coach told me they have four of these things, they use them in stations, he swore by them. Said they hit the top half of the ball...what would Teddy Ballgame say about that?
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/3d4life_1948_58517638
Anyway, feddback would help.

Thanks,

Tom

[Go Cardinals]

http://www.hittingstore.com/proziptrainer.html

Anyone have any experience with this. My Middle School team just played against a team that had hitters up and down their lineup (not the norm in CT!) and the asst. coach told me they have four of these things, they use them in stations, he swore by them. Said they hit the top half of the ball...what would Teddy Ballgame say about that?
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/3d4life_1948_58517638
Anyway, feddback would help.

Thanks,

Tom

you don't really want to hit the top half of the ball i thought.......

[J-MAC]

im haveing a hard time diegesting this idea. wouldn't hitting the top half of the ball induce top spin therefore driving the ball right into the ground. it would be ground ball after ground ball.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/instructo_manual.jpg the team im on uses this. the idea of this is to hit the bottom half of the ball with downward bat motion to induc backspin so u get the maimum carry of the ball. this might contraduct the equpiment that you were talking about, but after uses this one i can see the genious behind this idea.

[TAndrus89]

Back when I played for my middle school team we used something similar to this. What we had was a wire that was attached to two different fences. On the wire were wiffle balls that the "pitcher" would fling towards the hitter with a stick thing. The batter didn't use a bat. It was a fork looking thing that if you didn't hit it just right, it wouldn't hit it. You had to focus on getting the fork part on either side of the wire. It worked for me to get my vision working better and bringing my hands through properly.

I hope that's clear enough..

[Go Cardinals]

http://www.hittingstore.com/proziptrainer.html

Anyone have any experience with this. My Middle School team just played against a team that had hitters up and down their lineup (not the norm in CT!) and the asst. coach told me they have four of these things, they use them in stations, he swore by them. Said they hit the top half of the ball...what would Teddy Ballgame say about that?
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/3d4life_1948_58517638
Anyway, feddback would help.

Thanks,

Tom

when you played that team, how many of them hit the ball into the ground?

[Erik]

im haveing a hard time diegesting this idea. wouldn't hitting the top half of the ball induce top spin therefore driving the ball right into the ground. it would be ground ball after ground ball.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/instructo_manual.jpg the team im on uses this. the idea of this is to hit the bottom half of the ball with downward bat motion to induc backspin so u get the maimum carry of the ball. this might contraduct the equpiment that you were talking about, but after uses this one i can see the genious behind this idea.



This model has been discontinued. This is an older version that was designed to fit what was believed to be the correct path to the ball back in the early 90's. I made the adjustments to bring a better product out. The newer version is called the Instructo swing 5000. This version allows the swing path to be adjusted up, level, or down. Mike Epstein is one of the endorsers of this product now.





EL,

[J-MAC]

This model has been discontinued. This is an older version that was designed to fit what was believed to be the correct path to the ball back in the early 90's. I made the adjustments to bring a better product out. The newer version is called the Instructo swing 5000. This version allows the swing path to be adjusted up, level, or down. Mike Epstein is one of the endorsers of this product now.





EL,


u worked on this product? "bows down" i am not worhty:). but seriously what was ur main goal for the kids to get out of this product and for that matter the new product. did u have backspin in mind when u were creating it?

[Erik]

J-Mac,
I'm the inventor of the Instructo Swing products. I played at the professional level. The swing path that was taught was swing down and level out at contact. I did have backspin in mind when I designed the device. The uppercut was a no no. I know this isn't the way to produce the backspin that is needed. I understand backspin can be created two different ways and swinging down isn't the best. I was taught to work on hitting the top to middle part of the ball. This was to produce back spin if you got below middle. I never studied the swing path of great hitters through slow motion analysis software at that time. I don't think it was around. I created a product that at that time fit with what was being promoted. I later learned that the Instructo Swing wouldn't allow hitters to create the path to launch the ball. This at the time didn't bother me because of the positive feedback I was recieving from customers that were using the device. The stats showed that line drives and ground balls gave the younger players a better chance to get on base. My intention at that time was to stay away from the evil upward path that coaches and hitting Instructors talked about. I have worked very hard to become a better instructor. I have had to eat some crow but it was worth it. This has been my goal from the start help create better hitters. This has led me to develop a better swing training device that aids in the development of the high level swing pattern from the best. I'm also interested in learning the best info on this subject. The Instructo Swing 5000 is the out come of a better understanding of what it takes to develop a good swing. I thank everybody that has giving their 2 cents about this product. This product is for serious players that are committed to working and practicing smart. I have also developed new training drills that will be on the Instructo Swing website soon. Two time gold medalist Crystal Bustos will be on the website late next week with her thoughts on the product. I used to live in Guelph, Ontario. I played for Guelph Royals and started camps in T dot.




EL,

[Go Cardinals]

J-Mac,
I'm the inventor of the Instructo Swing products. I played at the professional level. The swing path that was taught was swing down and level out at contact. I did have backspin in mind when I designed the device. The uppercut was a no no. I know this isn't the way to produce the backspin that is needed. I understand backspin can be created two different ways and swinging down isn't the best. I was taught to work on hitting the top to middle part of the ball. This was to produce back spin if you got below middle. I never studied the swing path of great hitters through slow motion analysis software at that time. I don't think it was around. I created a product that at that time fit with what was being promoted. I later learned that the Instructo Swing wouldn't allow hitters to create the path to launch the ball. This at the time didn't bother me because of the positive feedback I was recieving from customers that were using the device. The stats showed that line drives and ground balls gave the younger players a better chance to get on base. My intention at that time was to stay away from the evil upward path that coaches and hitting Instructors talked about. I have worked very hard to become a better instructor. I have had to eat some crow but it was worth it. This has been my goal from the start help create better hitters. This has led me to develop a better swing training device that aids in the development of the high level swing pattern from the best. I'm also interested in learning the best info on this subject. The Instructo Swing 5000 is the out come of a better understanding of what it takes to develop a good swing. I thank everybody that has giving their 2 cents about this product. This product is for serious players that are committed to working and practicing smart. I have also developed new training drills that will be on the Instructo Swing website soon. Two time gold medalist Crystal Bustos will be on the website late next week with her thoughts on the product. I used to live in Guelph, Ontario. I played for Guelph Royals and started camps in T dot.




EL,

you realize that you are teaching a linear swing right?

go to this link, does it look like they are using a "your" swing or the real thing. pretty much you just lied to everybody, because you wanted to make $.


http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=6

[jbooth]

im haveing a hard time diegesting this idea. wouldn't hitting the top half of the ball induce top spin therefore driving the ball right into the ground. it would be ground ball after ground ball.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/instructo_manual.jpg the team im on uses this. the idea of this is to hit the bottom half of the ball with downward bat motion to induc backspin so u get the maimum carry of the ball. this might contraduct the equpiment that you were talking about, but after uses this one i can see the genious behind this idea.

I'd ALMOST be willing to bet $10,000 that it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a ball go over 350 feet when you hit the bottom half of the ball, with the bat moving in a downward direction at contact.

It defies the laws of physics. I have NEVER seen a HR hit by a MLB player where the bathead was going down at contact.

Backspin will make the ball carry, but getting backspin by contacting the ball on a downslope, will not direct enough force into the ball to turn it around. It will deflect the ball on a very high trajectory, and less than half of the kinetic energy needed to force the ball 350+ feet will go into the bat/ball collision.

In the HR derby contests they get backspin AND meet the ball almost head-on, or on an upslope.

[Go Cardinals]

I'd ALMOST be willing to bet $10,000 that it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a ball go over 350 feet when you hit the bottom half of the ball, with the bat moving in a downward direction at contact.

It defies the laws of physics. I have NEVER seen a HR hit by a MLB player where the bathead was going down at contact.

Backspin will make the ball carry, but getting backspin by contacting the ball on a downslope, will not direct enough force into the ball to turn it around. It will deflect the ball on a very high trajectory, and less than half of the kinetic energy needed to force the ball 350+ feet will go into the bat/ball collision.

In the HR derby contests they get backspin AND meet the ball almost head-on, or on an upslope.

jbooth, the product is fake and it doesn't work. read what he said. at first he basically admitted that he wasn't teaching the right thing, than at the end he said that they are for high level players. he is just trying to make $.

[jbooth]

you realize that you are teaching a linear swing right?

go to this link, does it look like they are using a "your" swing or the real thing. pretty much you just lied to everybody, because you wanted to make $.


http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=6

Did you actually READ his post? He admits that the device pictured was his first model, and that he now knows it is not correct. He SAID he has discontinued the product.

[Go Cardinals]

Did you actually READ his post? He admits that the device pictured was his first model, and that he now knows it is not correct. He SAID he has discontinued the product.

yeah but he hardly changed the product tho, look at it on his website. the only new difference is you can make it level, uppercut, or chop down on the ball.

[jbooth]

jbooth, the product is fake and it doesn't work. read what he said. at first he basically admitted that he wasn't teaching the right thing, than at the end he said that they are for high level players. he is just trying to make $.

Geez do you actually READ or just have emotional responses to what you think was said?

My repy was to J-Mac, who said he liked the device and thought that it created beneficial backspin. I'm telling him and YOU that backspin created from contacting the lower half of the ball on a downslope, will get you a foul ball, an infield pop-up and MAYBE a high fly ball that goes MAYBE 275 feet.

You don't have to tell ME the device is no good. I've known that for years. I'm talking about the subject of backspin. Backspin is a MINOR contributor to getting the ball out of the park. It DOES help, but it is possible to hit it out, without it. And, trying to swing to get backspin, will probably make you fail much more often, than it will give you the result you wanted.

[Go Cardinals]

Geez do you actually READ or just have emotional responses to what you think was said?

My repy was to J-Mac, who said he liked the device and thought that it created beneficial backspin. I'm telling him and YOU that backspin created from contacting the lower half of the ball on a downslope, will get you a foul ball, an infield pop-up and MAYBE a high fly ball that goes MAYBE 275 feet.

You don't have to tell ME the device is no good. I've known that for years. I'm talking about the subject of backspin. Backspin is a MINOR contributor to getting the ball out of the park. It DOES help, but it is possible to hit it out, without it. And, trying to swing to get backspin, will probably make you fail much more often, than it will give you the result you wanted.

oh, ok i am sorry, that is my fault. But, just for thw record you have to understand where i'm coming from, you quoted me, and you never said anything about j-mac. also, i am fully aware of the fact that backspin doesn't make the ball travel far. i am sorry about any missunderstanding, the bottom line, the product is a rip off, agreed?

[jbooth]

http://www.hittingstore.com/proziptrainer.html

Anyone have any experience with this. My Middle School team just played against a team that had hitters up and down their lineup (not the norm in CT!) and the asst. coach told me they have four of these things, they use them in stations, he swore by them. Said they hit the top half of the ball...what would Teddy Ballgame say about that?
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/3d4life_1948_58517638
Anyway, feddback would help.

Thanks,

Tom

I bought that thing, and set it up in my cage, tried it out to see how it worked, put it in the back of my equipment shed, and never used it.

All it does is make a plastic ball slide down a rope, just as the picture shows. If you can make good use of it, great. I couldn't think of any reason to use it.

[jbooth]

the bottom line, the product is a rip off, agreed?


It's not a ripoff anymore, because he changed it. Also, I wouldn't describe it as a ripoff, because there WERE, and still ARE, people who believe that that is the way to swing. There are even MLB players who THINK they swing like that.

I think we do agree that no successful MLB player ACTUALLY swings like that.

[Erik]

yeah but he hardly changed the product tho, look at it on his website. the only new difference is you can make it level, uppercut, or chop down on the ball.


The new version has a Top Tee and other features.





EL,

[Erik]

It's not a ripoff anymore, because he changed it. Also, I wouldn't describe it as a ripoff, because there WERE, and still ARE, people who believe that that is the way to swing. There are even MLB players who THINK they swing like that.

I think we do agree that no successful MLB player ACTUALLY swings like that.


Jim,
swings like what?


EL,

[jbooth]

Jim,
swings like what?


EL,

The ORIGINAL product.

[Go Cardinals]

Jim,
swings like what?


EL,

no mlb succesful player swings linear. They all do the roational hitting. but please, i like your old product, because it makes me that much better than other people because they don't have the real techniques. but also, erik, i am sorry for attacking your product, by the way.

[Go Cardinals]

oh and what are the "other features" that you talk about?

[Erik]

you realize that you are teaching a linear swing right?

go to this link, does it look like they are using a "your" swing or the real thing. pretty much you just lied to everybody, because you wanted to make $.


http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=6


I used this product and I had batting titles. I'm not taliking about high school
here. I understand the swing path pretty well. I have over 40,000 swing clips that have helped me to understand this subject stop hateing.



EL,

[Go Cardinals]

I used this product and I had batting titles. I'm not taliking about high school
here. I understand the swing path pretty well. I have over 40,000 swing clips that have helped me to understand this subject stop hateing.



EL,

yeah i know, i said that about the old product sorry... that is my fault. where'd you get ur olsd titles? college? yeah sorry i was a little harsh. i guess i was still upset when a similar product screwed me, but that's a different product, and its a long story how.

[Go Cardinals]

erik i have a question for you. i broke the tube on my batting tee, do you know where i could get another tube?

[Mark H]

Erik,

I applaud your willingness and courage to change when you figured out something better.

[Erik]

oh and what are the "other features" that you talk about?


GO Cardinals,
look don't buy the product. This product wouldn't help you. I think you have all the answers you need. Like I said this is for players that really want to excell.



EL,

[Go Cardinals]

GO Cardinals,
look don't buy the product. This product wouldn't help you. I think you have all the answers you need. Like I said this is for players that really want to excell.



EL,

erik, i told you i messed up. i was talking about the origional, i only saw that. i thought that the origional (which you admitted was wrong) was the new one. sorry. and, erik i am interested in the product.........

[Erik]

I think he means like your old device mandated.

I applaud your willingness and courage to change when you figured out something better.


Mark H,
I think I'm taking responsibility by bringing out a better product. I stilll have customers that like the old version. I think the wants and needs are very important . This is why a better product is availble.



EL,

[Go Cardinals]

Mark H,
I think I'm taking responsibility by bringing out a better product. I stilll have customers that like the old version. I think the wants and needs are very important . This is why a better product is availble.



EL,

i would agree that it was responsibal of you. you could of easily lied and sid it was fine. good job.

[Erik]

i would agree that it was responsibal of you. you could of easily lied and sid it was fine. good job.


Thank you!




EL,

[Erik]

yeah i know, i said that about the old product sorry... that is my fault. where'd you get ur olsd titles? college? yeah sorry i was a little harsh. i guess i was still upset when a similar product screwed me, but that's a different product, and its a long story how.


I understand and except your apology.





EL,

[Erik]

I'd ALMOST be willing to bet $10,000 that it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a ball go over 350 feet when you hit the bottom half of the ball, with the bat moving in a downward direction at contact.

It defies the laws of physics. I have NEVER seen a HR hit by a MLB player where the bathead was going down at contact.

Backspin will make the ball carry, but getting backspin by contacting the ball on a downslope, will not direct enough force into the ball to turn it around. It will deflect the ball on a very high trajectory, and less than half of the kinetic energy needed to force the ball 350+ feet will go into the bat/ball collision.

In the HR derby contests they get backspin AND meet the ball almost head-on, or on an upslope.



Jim,
this is correct!



EL,

[Erik]

The ORIGINAL product.



Agreed!


EL,

[Erik]

erik i have a question for you. i broke the tube on my batting tee, do you know where i could get another tube?


For a regular batting tee?



EL,

[Go Cardinals]

yes, a franklin one... the rubber tube one. or do you know of a good batting tee? not the ones with the bars, but the old fashion tee? did you design any? Because i proly would buy...

oh and soryy i took so long to respond i was outside hitting.

and you've never answered my question, what were you in when you won the batting titles?

[TG Coach]

http://www.hittingstore.com/proziptrainer.html

Anyone have any experience with this. My Middle School team just played against a team that had hitters up and down their lineup (not the norm in CT!) and the asst. coach told me they have four of these things, they use them in stations, he swore by them. Said they hit the top half of the ball...what would Teddy Ballgame say about that?
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/3d4life_1948_58517638
Anyway, feddback would help.

Thanks,

Tom

I think it's one of the worst pieces of junk ever invented. It forces the hitter to swing down on the ball. Derek Jeter should be ashamed he's using his name to endorse this product for a few bucks.

[Jake Patterson]

http://www.hittingstore.com/proziptrainer.html

Anyone have any experience with this. My Middle School team just played against a team that had hitters up and down their lineup (not the norm in CT!) and the asst. coach told me they have four of these things, they use them in stations, he swore by them. Said they hit the top half of the ball...what would Teddy Ballgame say about that?
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/3d4life_1948_58517638
Anyway, feddback would help.

Thanks,

Tom

I am not certain what value it has especially when comparing the ball flight against what actually happens. The other part of the device I dont like is the string in the middle of the ball - again match this against what should happen

[Centerfielder2]

http://www.hittingstore.com/proziptrainer.html

Anyone have any experience with this. My Middle School team just played against a team that had hitters up and down their lineup (not the norm in CT!) and the asst. coach told me they have four of these things, they use them in stations, he swore by them. Said they hit the top half of the ball...what would Teddy Ballgame say about that?
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/3d4life_1948_58517638
Anyway, feddback would help.

Thanks,

Tom


This doesnt work
some ppl may be able to crush this but not hit a lick

my summer coach ( dumb as a rock) has us hit with one of these beforeevery game n it doesnt workk
we are one of the worst teams in the league n this just maakes up work it seesm that all we do is ground out

dont buy this

sry about the misspellings

rudy#2

[Erik]

yes, a franklin one... the rubber tube one. or do you know of a good batting tee? not the ones with the bars, but the old fashion tee? did you design any? Because i proly would buy...

oh and soryy i took so long to respond i was outside hitting.

and you've never answered my question, what were you in when you won the batting titles?

In college I led the nation hitting 506. In Canada I led the leauge 3 times. when I was with Boston I led the Instructional leauge etc. I don't really use a stadard tee at this time. I don't think they give the feedback the Instructo Swing gives on bad swings. I like knowing when a player hits one of the bars they realize they dropped the barrell or disconnected. "This is the Hitters Silent Coach".




EL,

[Jake Patterson]

In college I led the nation hitting 506. In Canada I led the leauge 3 times. when I was with Boston I led the Instructional leauge etc. I don't really use a stadard tee at this time. I don't think they give the feedback the Instructo Swing gives on bad swings. I like knowing when a player hits one of the bars they realize they dropped the barrell or disconnected. "This is the Hitters Silent Coach".

EL,

Erik can you PM me your site address?

[J-MAC]

well i just got back from practice where i spent 3 hours hittin off the orgional intructo swing. for all u known belivers out there and talk trash, try it. then you can talk all your bs. im telling you guys that this product works and i don't care what you say. i was hitting 200 before i started to use that product and now im hittin 400. that kinda change just doesn't happen. i know this may sound like an infomercial, but in all seriousness i have notthing but high praise for the product. and jbooth, at the age of 16 and im average weight 160 5'10 i need all the held i can get with knock the piss out of a ball. now when i look at home runs by major league hitters *most* of them have a downward path to the ball and have emence back spin.

[Go Cardinals]

well i just got back from practice where i spent 3 hours hittin off the orgional intructo swing. for all u known belivers out there and talk trash, try it. then you can talk all your bs. im telling you guys that this product works and i don't care what you say. i was hitting 200 before i started to use that product and now im hittin 400. that kinda change just doesn't happen. i know this may sound like an infomercial, but in all seriousness i have notthing but high praise for the product. and jbooth, at the age of 16 and im average weight 160 5'10 i need all the held i can get with knock the piss out of a ball. now when i look at home runs by major league hitters *most* of them have a downward path to the ball and have emence back spin.

WRONG, the inventor of the product even admitted that that doesn't happen. tell me if any of theese guys hit down on the ball till they make contact.

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=6

but, think what you want...

[J-MAC]

WRONG, the inventor of the product even admitted that that doesn't happen. tell me if any of theese guys hit down on the ball till they make contact.

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=6

but, think what you want...

took to long to load. as i sit here on my comp watching sunday night in baseball and i see alot of people swinging down to the ball. i want to ask u a question.. what do you think is the proper way to swing a bat

[Jake Patterson]

i want to ask u a question.. what do you think is the proper way to swing a bat
This has been discussed on this board ad nauseum. I would suggets you search for old hitting threads. Try PCR first and work from there.
Jake

[Erik]

I came across this site and thought it was interesting.



Biomechanics


September 21, 2005
A Fly in the Curveball

As the 103rd Major League baseball season opens,
physicists have now shown that a well-hit curveball
trumps a well-hit fastball. Pitchers must be so scared.

By Adam Summers ~ Illustrations by Patricia J. Wynne
There is a morbid fascination in watching a Little League pitcher who develops a good curveball at a tender age; more than one talented young fastball hitter has switched to basketball after facing that aerodynamic phenomenon, which can turn the most powerful swing into physical comedy. Some youngsters find the rhythm of this evasive pitch and learn to hit it with the same authority as they do a fastball. But for most batters (even at the highest levels of competition) the curve is a devil to hit-not quite as bad as trying to swat a flying mosquito with a toothpick, but almost.

Conventional baseball wisdom has long held that even if the bat does meet the curveball, the batter is still at a disadvantage; many observers maintain that even if a batter manages to crush both curveball and fastball with equal force on the sweet spot of the bat, the curveball won't sail as far as the fastball. But that clubhouse conviction has now fallen victim to a careful analysis of the physics of pitched baseballs. It turns out that good wood on a slow curve will carry the ball deeper into the cheap seats than it will Roger Clemens's best fastball.

As a boy I never got beyond the "keep your eye on the ball" stage of hitting, which led to a pretty abbreviated career in organized baseball. But now that engineers Gregory S. Sawicki of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mont Hubbard of the University of California, Davis, and William J. Stronge of the University of Cambridge have shown what it takes to accomplish the task, I don't feel so bad about my early retirement. To get the job done in the batter's box, they show, "all" the batter has to do is integrate at least fifteen variables and constants that define several physical characteristics of the bat, the ball, the atmosphere, and the world at large.

Hubbard and his colleagues have built a computerized model that gives a fascinating account of the dynamic between pitcher and batter. Standing just sixty feet, six inches away from home plate, the pitcher delivers a ball that may move at more than ninety miles an hour and spin at more than 1,900 revolutions per minute.

Of course, different pitches arrive at wildly different speeds and spins. A fastball can cross the plate in excess of a hundred miles an hour; expert pitchers can throw one with a backspin that exceeds 1,800 revolutions per minute. (In backspin, the top of the ball spins away from the direction the ball is traveling.) The curveball, by contrast, travels toward the batter at a far more sedate seventy miles an hour, but it can have topspin (the reverse of backspin) that exceeds 1,900 revolutions per minute.

The reason a curveball curves is that its spin drags a layer of air across one surface of the ball faster than it does across the opposite surface. Where air moves faster, its density is lower, and the difference in the density of the air surrounding the spinning ball pushes, or "lifts," the ball toward the lower-density air. Thus the backspin on a fastball causes the air on top of the ball to move faster and the air on the bottom to move slower; the net effect is to push the ball up. The topspin on a curveball pushes the ball down.



Physics of an optimally batted ball shows that the longest home runs should come off curveball pitches. Click drawing to view full size (65 Kb).


Of course, the faster a ball moves, the greater its kinetic energy: a fast fastball brings more energy to the collision between bat and ball than a slower fastball does, and so the well-hit fast fastball travels farther. A swing that sends a fifty-five-mile-an-hour fastball 410 feet would smack an eighty-five-mile-an-hour burner an extra thirty feet. Similarly, higher bat speed yields better distance. An extra mile an hour in bat speed translates to an extra seven and a half feet on the ground.

But the usual difference in speed between fastball and curveball pitches still doesn't mean that batters should hit fastballs farther than curveballs. The real keys to distance are two related variables: the spin of the hit ball and the undercut of the bat. When the bat hits the ball, the spin of the ball changes dramatically. Its final spin velocity depends on its initial speed and spin, the speed of the bat, and the undercut, which is the vertical distance between the centers of mass of the bat and the ball.

Undercut has a big effect on the ball's spin, and thus on the distance the batted ball travels. With a level swing, a ninety-four-mile-an-hour fastball hit with a half-inch undercut scarcely spins at all, and travels only about 160 feet. Increasing the undercut to roughly an inch, though, increases the spin to 1,800 revolutions per minute and sends the ball 390 feet. Curiously, swing angle has a much smaller effect on flight distance than undercut distance has. If the undercut is correct, even swinging slightly down on the ball will send it 390 feet. That's often long enough for a home run.

Perhaps the most counterintuitive result of the engineers' model is that an optimally hit seventy-eight-mile-an-hour curveball travels about 455 feet. In contrast, the same hit off a ninety-four-mile-an-hour fastball carries 442 feet, thirteen feet less. Spin makes all the difference. The initial backspin of the fastball is abruptly reversed by the undercut of the bat, whereas the initial topspin of the curveball is augmented by the bat. The net result is that the batted curveball spins some 800 revolutions per minute faster than the batted fastball, and that extra spin provides a bit more lift as the curveball sails out of the park.

So even if some precocious master of the curveball manages to make most of his opponents look bad, he'd better be careful. A pitcher never knows when the next player with the great eyes of Ted Williams will show up to demonstrate what a curveball hitter can really do.

Adam Summers (asummers@uci.edu) is an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine.






EL,

[J-MAC]

thank you for sharring this. i never would of thought a curveball was better to hit than a fatsball. i espiccialy like the part that says "even swinging slightly down on the ball will send it 390 feet. That's often long enough for a home run."

and "Spin makes all the difference. The initial backspin of the fastball is abruptly reversed by the undercut of the bat, whereas the initial topspin of the curveball is augmented by the bat. The net result is that the batted curveball spins some 800 revolutions per minute faster than the batted fastball, and that extra spin provides a bit more lift as the curveball sails out of the park."

[jbooth]

and jbooth, at the age of 16 and im average weight 160 5'10 i need all the help i can get with knock the piss out of a ball. now when i look at home runs by major league hitters *most* of them have a downward path to the ball and have emence back spin.

Show me one. And define what you mean by down.

Yeah, they start down, but when the bathead contacts the ball, the bathead is on an upward path, except when they make a bad swing at a pitch and hit a ground ball.

Post some video of YOUR swing, from the sideview, that you think goes down, and let's see how your bathead moves through the ball.

If you define "down" as starting like this;

http://firstpickclub.com/images/bonds approach_ap.jpg

Heck, of course, everybody starts the handle down.

But, it quickly goes to this;

http://firstpickclub.com/images/bonds_approach2.jpg

and the bathead arcs down below the ball, and comes up into it.

Like this;

http://firstpickclub.com/images/bonds_approach.jpg

[Erik]

I like this site below I think it's helpful.


http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/scientificslugger.html





EL,

[Jake Patterson]

I like this site below I think it's helpful.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/scientificslugger.html

EL,

Fun site .

[J-MAC]

sorry but i have no videos of me. but ill try to describe it. i follow the downward path and make contact on the bottom half of the ball to gnerate backspin. at the moment of impact my bad head is slightly below a horizontal plain..


http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/-1.jpg
trust me i looks nothing like this,

[Jake Patterson]

sorry but i have no videos of me. but ill try to describe it. i follow the downward path and make contact on the bottom half of the ball to gnerate backspin. at the moment of impact my bad head is slightly below a horizontal plain..


http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/-1.jpg
trust me i looks nothing like this,

Few do .

[jbooth]

I came across this site and thought it was interesting.



Biomechanics


September 21, 2005
A Fly in the Curveball

As the 103rd Major League baseball season opens,
physicists have now shown that a well-hit curveball
trumps a well-hit fastball. Pitchers must be so scared.

By Adam Summers ~ Illustrations by Patricia J. Wynne
There is a morbid fascination in watching a Little League pitcher who develops a good curveball at a tender age; more than one talented young fastball hitter has switched to basketball after facing that aerodynamic phenomenon, which can turn the most powerful swing into physical comedy. Some youngsters find the rhythm of this evasive pitch and learn to hit it with the same authority as they do a fastball. But for most batters (even at the highest levels of competition) the curve is a devil to hit-not quite as bad as trying to swat a flying mosquito with a toothpick, but almost.

Conventional baseball wisdom has long held that even if the bat does meet the curveball, the batter is still at a disadvantage; many observers maintain that even if a batter manages to crush both curveball and fastball with equal force on the sweet spot of the bat, the curveball won't sail as far as the fastball. But that clubhouse conviction has now fallen victim to a careful analysis of the physics of pitched baseballs. It turns out that good wood on a slow curve will carry the ball deeper into the cheap seats than it will Roger Clemens's best fastball.

As a boy I never got beyond the "keep your eye on the ball" stage of hitting, which led to a pretty abbreviated career in organized baseball. But now that engineers Gregory S. Sawicki of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mont Hubbard of the University of California, Davis, and William J. Stronge of the University of Cambridge have shown what it takes to accomplish the task, I don't feel so bad about my early retirement. To get the job done in the batter's box, they show, "all" the batter has to do is integrate at least fifteen variables and constants that define several physical characteristics of the bat, the ball, the atmosphere, and the world at large.

Hubbard and his colleagues have built a computerized model that gives a fascinating account of the dynamic between pitcher and batter. Standing just sixty feet, six inches away from home plate, the pitcher delivers a ball that may move at more than ninety miles an hour and spin at more than 1,900 revolutions per minute.

Of course, different pitches arrive at wildly different speeds and spins. A fastball can cross the plate in excess of a hundred miles an hour; expert pitchers can throw one with a backspin that exceeds 1,800 revolutions per minute. (In backspin, the top of the ball spins away from the direction the ball is traveling.) The curveball, by contrast, travels toward the batter at a far more sedate seventy miles an hour, but it can have topspin (the reverse of backspin) that exceeds 1,900 revolutions per minute.

The reason a curveball curves is that its spin drags a layer of air across one surface of the ball faster than it does across the opposite surface. Where air moves faster, its density is lower, and the difference in the density of the air surrounding the spinning ball pushes, or "lifts," the ball toward the lower-density air. Thus the backspin on a fastball causes the air on top of the ball to move faster and the air on the bottom to move slower; the net effect is to push the ball up. The topspin on a curveball pushes the ball down.



Physics of an optimally batted ball shows that the longest home runs should come off curveball pitches. Click drawing to view full size (65 Kb).


Of course, the faster a ball moves, the greater its kinetic energy: a fast fastball brings more energy to the collision between bat and ball than a slower fastball does, and so the well-hit fast fastball travels farther. A swing that sends a fifty-five-mile-an-hour fastball 410 feet would smack an eighty-five-mile-an-hour burner an extra thirty feet. Similarly, higher bat speed yields better distance. An extra mile an hour in bat speed translates to an extra seven and a half feet on the ground.

But the usual difference in speed between fastball and curveball pitches still doesn't mean that batters should hit fastballs farther than curveballs. The real keys to distance are two related variables: the spin of the hit ball and the undercut of the bat. When the bat hits the ball, the spin of the ball changes dramatically. Its final spin velocity depends on its initial speed and spin, the speed of the bat, and the undercut, which is the vertical distance between the centers of mass of the bat and the ball.

Undercut has a big effect on the ball's spin, and thus on the distance the batted ball travels. With a level swing, a ninety-four-mile-an-hour fastball hit with a half-inch undercut scarcely spins at all, and travels only about 160 feet. Increasing the undercut to roughly an inch, though, increases the spin to 1,800 revolutions per minute and sends the ball 390 feet. Curiously, swing angle has a much smaller effect on flight distance than undercut distance has. If the undercut is correct, even swinging slightly down on the ball will send it 390 feet. That's often long enough for a home run.

Perhaps the most counterintuitive result of the engineers' model is that an optimally hit seventy-eight-mile-an-hour curveball travels about 455 feet. In contrast, the same hit off a ninety-four-mile-an-hour fastball carries 442 feet, thirteen feet less. Spin makes all the difference. The initial backspin of the fastball is abruptly reversed by the undercut of the bat, whereas the initial topspin of the curveball is augmented by the bat. The net result is that the batted curveball spins some 800 revolutions per minute faster than the batted fastball, and that extra spin provides a bit more lift as the curveball sails out of the park.

So even if some precocious master of the curveball manages to make most of his opponents look bad, he'd better be careful. A pitcher never knows when the next player with the great eyes of Ted Williams will show up to demonstrate what a curveball hitter can really do.

Adam Summers (asummers@uci.edu) is an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine.

EL,

Some key points here.

Hubbard and his colleagues have built a computerized model that gives a fascinating account of the dynamic between pitcher and batter.

They used a computer model. Other researchers have used actual ball/bat collision test and came up with different results.

Physics of an optimally batted ball shows that the longest home runs should come off curveball pitches.

They say this and then say this;

Of course, the faster a ball moves, the greater its kinetic energy: a fast fastball brings more energy to the collision between bat and ball than a slower fastball does, and so the well-hit fast fastball travels farther. A swing that sends a fifty-five-mile-an-hour fastball 410 feet would smack an eighty-five-mile-an-hour burner an extra thirty feet. Similarly, higher bat speed yields better distance. An extra mile an hour in bat speed translates to an extra seven and a half feet on the ground.

So, an 85mph fastball goes 440 feet. Then they say that 94mph ball will only go 390 feet if you undercut it. Huh?

This article is full of errors, and nonsense. Dr. Robert Adair, and Dr. Alan Nathan have done better research and Nathan used a lab with REAL bat ball collisions.

I want somebody to show me a HR in an MLB park done where the bat slices down through the ball path.

Put a ball on a tee, and video it and swing down through the ball, ensuring that the bat continues down after contact, and see how far the ball goes.

I think I'll do it tomorrow.

[jbooth]

sorry but i have no videos of me. but ill try to describe it. i follow the downward path and make contact on the bottom half of the ball to gnerate backspin. at the moment of impact my bad head is slightly below a horizontal plain..

I believe you, that you THINK that is what is happening, but I'll bet the bathead is coming up into the ball on hits that you hit on a line, or deep flies.

Lance Berkman said he swings down through the ball, as you say, to do what you say, to get maximum backspin, but here he is, hitting a HR with what he THINKS is swinging down through the ball.

http://firstpickclub.com/video/berkman1.gif

[Go Cardinals]

took to long to load. as i sit here on my comp watching sunday night in baseball and i see alot of people swinging down to the ball. i want to ask u a question.. what do you think is the proper way to swing a bat

Here's the right way... Watch theese. All succesful mlb hitters do this, and 95% of hall of fame hitters hit this way. No offense to Erik, but he was never a hall of fame hitter now was he?

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=6

[J-MAC]

Yes, i see what you are trying to say. Obvouisly a pitch that is elevated in the strike zone th harder it is to swing down to through the ball. Look at the frame in between the second and third and u will see his bat is tilted downward. For a split second u can see him go down and explode through the ball.

[Jake Patterson]

here's the right way... watch theese. all succesful mlb hitters do this, and 95% of hall of fame hitters hit this way. no offense to erik, but he was never a hall of fame hitter now was he?

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=6

Card check your PM's - upper right hand corner.
Jake

[Go Cardinals]

Yes, i see what you are trying to say. Obvouisly a pitch that is elevated in the strike zone th harder it is to swing down to through the ball. Look at the frame in between the second and third and u will see his bat is tilted downward. For a split second u can see him go down and explode through the ball.

Yeah well obviously you have to hit it where it is pitched, but if D. Lee was hitting down on the ball, he would follow through down and not up. He is going down to get the ball, but he is still hitting it relatively flat.

[jbooth]

Yes, i see what you are trying to say. Obvouisly a pitch that is elevated in the strike zone th harder it is to swing down to through the ball. Look at the frame in between the second and third and u will see his bat is tilted downward. For a split second u can see him go down and explode through the ball.

Elevated? The Bonds stills are pitches at the belt, and so is Berkman's.

As to another post you made where you stated your size. I have a student who is 5' 5" and weighs 125, and he can hit a BP pitch 350 feet with his metal bat, and I never taught him to swing down or try to get backspin, and he doesn't. He swings with the Ted Williams, slight uppercut method, that I taught him. In a wood bat tournament, he hit one 330 feet with his wood bat, and not with a downswing.

Are any of these HR's being hit going DOWN, through the ball?

http://firstpickclub.com/images/mlb9.jpg

How about this?

http://firstpickclub.com/images/griffypathsmarked.jpg

[Go Cardinals]

Elevated? The Bonds stills are pitches at the belt, and so is Berkman's.

As to another post you made where you stated your size. I have a student who is 5' 5" and weighs 125, and he can hit a BP pitch 350 feet with his metal bat, and I never taught him to swing down or try to get backspin, and he doesn't. He swings with the Ted Williams, slight uppercut method, that I taught him. In a wood bat tournament, he hit one 330 feet with his wood bat, and not with a downswing.

Are any of these HR's being hit going DOWN, through the ball?

http://firstpickclub.com/images/mlb9.jpg

How about this?

http://firstpickclub.com/images/griffypathsmarked.jpg

Nicely put... and a nice post.

[Erik]

Jim,
is this what you were talking about.


http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob/AJP-Nov03.pdf





EL,

[J-MAC]

Yeah well obviously you have to hit it where it is pitched, but if D. Lee was hitting down on the ball, he would follow through down and not up. He is going down to get the ball, but he is still hitting it relatively flat.

D.Lee has about 100 pounds on me and does not need the backspin because he is strong enough to hit the ball out of the park without it. I swing down to the ball because of 4 reasons as explained to me by my coach.

1. Backspin
2. Wrists tunrover over better on finish to give the ball an extra jump of the bat
3. Best way to run the ball to the allies
4. Better for opposit field hitting

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/beefjb.jpg

This is my coach, he will eat you if u argue with him. He is the best coach i know and he knows the game inside and and back around again. I belive in his philsophy of the game and will continue to.

[Go Cardinals]

Lets be logicall. You hit down on the ball the it going 90 mph. It is impossible to hit the ball on the bottom half, but if you hack down on it, it is going to spin way too much. It is quite loggical...

[jbooth]

Jim,
is this what you were talking about.

http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob/AJP-Nov03.pdf

EL,

Slice it down to the "conclusions" section;

(5) There is an optimal strategy for achieving maximum range. For a typical fastball the batter should undercut the ball by 2.65 cm and swing upward at an angle 0.1594 rad
(6) The optimally hit curve ball will travel farther than both the fastball and knuckleball, because of beneficial topspin on the pitched curve ball that is enhanced during impact with the bat.
(7) Range is most sensitive to bat speed, which suggests that a batter ought to work on bat speed before anything else to increase the range of his/her hits.
(8) Range is not very sensitive to wrist roll. Attempts to roll the wrists on impact do not increase range enough for it to be a useful and advantageous strategy. Wrist roll may actually limit bat speed, which is clearly more important.
(9) For a given pitch type, range increases with pitch speed.


So, it doesn't say anything about swinging DOWN. It says to undercut the ball with good batspeed on an upward swing angle.

[Go Cardinals]

D.Lee has about 100 pounds on me and does not need the backspin because he is strong enough to hit the ball out of the park without it. I swing down to the ball because of 4 reasons as explained to me by my coach.

1. Backspin
2. Wrists tunrover over better on finish to give the ball an extra jump of the bat
3. Best way to run the ball to the allies
4. Better for opposit field hitting

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/beefjb.jpg

This is my coach, he will eat you if u argue with him. He is the best coach i know and he knows the game inside and and back around again. I belive in his philsophy of the game and will continue to.

Well guess what, your coach is wrong. I learned this from Tony Gwynn, so what are you going to do now, trust your *wrong* coach or Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn?

http://mikeepsteinhitting.com/baseballclips.htm

http://img.search.com/f/f8/Tony_Gwynn_3000.jpg

*in this one look where the ball is going*
http://www.baseball-articles.com/products/instructotee.jpg

[Go Cardinals]

who's swing is better, Albert Pujols, or some kid who is swinging using a product that the inventor admitted wasn't good, so he changed it? Your choice. Just look where the kid is hitting the ball. And just for the record Albert Pujols does the best swing that he can to make contact and hit the ball out of the park. If this Linear/ swinging down on the ball swing was so good, why doesn't he do it?
Oh and does it look like Albert Pujols is hitting down on the ball?

[jbooth]

D.Lee has about 100 pounds on me and does not need the backspin because he is strong enough to hit the ball out of the park without it. I swing down to the ball because of 4 reasons as explained to me by my coach.

1. Backspin
2. Wrists tunrover over better on finish to give the ball an extra jump of the bat
3. Best way to run the ball to the allies
4. Better for opposit field hitting

This is my coach, he will eat you if u argue with him. He is the best coach i know and he knows the game inside and and back around again. I belive in his philsophy of the game and will continue to.

Well, I'm glad you like him, and I wish you success, but he doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Go Cardinals]

D.Lee has about 100 pounds on me and does not need the backspin because he is strong enough to hit the ball out of the park without it. I swing down to the ball because of 4 reasons as explained to me by my coach.

1. Backspin
2. Wrists tunrover over better on finish to give the ball an extra jump of the bat
3. Best way to run the ball to the allies
4. Better for opposit field hitting

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb72/jmac121212/beefjb.jpg

This is my coach, he will eat you if u argue with him. He is the best coach i know and he knows the game inside and and back around again. I belive in his philsophy of the game and will continue to.

So if your coach's philosophy is so good, how come he isn't in the Hall of Fame or something?

[Go Cardinals]

Well, I'm glad you like him, and I wish you success, but he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I 100% agree with you. anyways, what makes your coach so special?

[jbooth]

D.Lee has about 100 pounds on me and does not need the backspin because he is strong enough to hit the ball out of the park without it. I swing down to the ball because of 4 reasons as explained to me by my coach.

1. Backspin
2. Wrists tunrover over better on finish to give the ball an extra jump of the bat
3. Best way to run the ball to the allies
4. Better for opposit field hitting



Are either of these guys swinging down through the ball?

http://firstpickclub.com/video/kent3.gif

http://firstpickclub.com/video/mannyswingplane.gif

[Kevin G]

So, an 85mph fastball goes 440 feet. Then they say that 94mph ball will only go 390 feet if you undercut it. Huh?

This article is full of errors, and nonsense. Dr. Robert Adair, and Dr. Alan Nathan have done better research and Nathan used a lab with REAL bat ball collisions.

I want somebody to show me a HR in an MLB park done where the bat slices down through the ball path.

Put a ball on a tee, and video it and swing down through the ball, ensuring that the bat continues down after contact, and see how far the ball goes.

I think I'll do it tomorrow.


I have just finished my computer model of a bullet being fired from a rifle at a wall two feet away.

The results will change the way you look at firearms.

The bullet leaves the barrel and is x distance from the wall.
Distance x is represented by a real number.
Every real number is divisible by 2, yielding a real number.
Therefore, each distance, no matter how close to the wall, can be cut in halve.
This goes on to infinity.
Therefore, this clearly proves that the bullet can never actually reach the
wall.
We will publish our results soon in the appropriate journals.

[Erik]

who's swing is better, Albert Pujols, or some kid who is swinging using a product that the inventor admitted wasn't good, so he changed it? Your choice. Just look where the kid is hitting the ball. And just for the record Albert Pujols does the best swing that he can to make contact and hit the ball out of the park. If this Linear/ swinging down on the ball swing was so good, why doesn't he do it?
Oh and does it look like Albert Pujols is hitting down on the ball?


What I said is the product wasn't good for uppercutting the ball. The older version was for hitting top to middle. This older version does help a hitter that wants to develop a line drive hard ground ball swing. The bottom bar at that time was to detect an uppercut. This was the belief by many back then. If you want to get on base line drive or hard ground balls were the choice. The upward path back then was for the stronger players. The understanding of the swing has evolved since then. Thanks to discussion boards and motion analysis products we have learned a lot.





EL,

[jbooth]

So if your coach's philosophy is so good, how come he isn't in the Hall of Fame or something?

That isn't a fair statement. Many of the best coaches in all sports, are people who were NOT great players. Most of the great players who tried to coach have been terrible. Doing something well, and being able to understand it, and teach it, are two different things.

[Go Cardinals]

That isn't a fair statement. Many of the best coaches in all sports, are people who were NOT great players. Most of the great players who tried to coach have been terrible. Doing something well, and being able to understand it, and teach it, are two different things.

i know....

[Go Cardinals]

What I said is the product wasn't good for uppercutting the ball. The older version was for hitting top to middle. This older version does help a hitter that wants to develop a line drive hard ground ball swing. The bottom bar at that time was to detect an uppercut. This was the belief by many back then. If you want to get on base line drive or hard ground balls were the choice. The upward path back then was for the stronger players. The understanding of the swing has evolved since then. Thanks to discussion boards and motion analysis products we have learned a lot.





EL,

and yes, i fully understand the hitting down method, its the way i origionally learned to hit... but i changed it by myself.

[jima]

Jbooth, I totally agree that at impact you don't swing down anymore than you should teach a kid to uppercut...but re: your $10K bet, I seem to remember seeing some clips of Cal Ripken where he is hitting down on the ball, or as they used to say, "dropping the head of the bat on the ball" and it sailing out of Memorial Park. The trajectory of the bat in relationship to the ground, was going down...not chopping, but going down. Now I wouldn't want anyone to try to hit like Ripken (who changed his style on a daily basis), but I don't think your statement that "you cannot hit mlb fastball for a homerun, hitting down" is factual. jima

[jbooth]

Jbooth, I totally agree that at impact you don't swing down anymore than you should teach a kid to uppercut...but re: your $10K bet, I seem to remember seeing some clips of Cal Ripken where he is hitting down on the ball, or as they used to say, "dropping the head of the bat on the ball" and it sailing out of Memorial Park. The trajectory of the bat in relationship to the ground, was going down...not chopping, but going down. Now I wouldn't want anyone to try to hit like Ripken (who changed his style on a daily basis), but I don't think your statement that "you cannot hit mlb fastball for a homerun, hitting down" is factual. jima

Dropping the head on the ball, usually still contacts the ball on an upward path. I'd like to see a slo-mo of the hit you mentioned. I don't have proof, but I am pretty darn sure, you can't hit the ball very far, with an undercut and a downward path.

[jima]

jbooth, I agree with you. I don't have a clip but there was a slow motion replay at the time...which to my eyes (and the local announcers, probably Chuck Thompson and Brooks Robinson) had the bat looking as thought it was going down. Ripken was an amazing athlete...if anyone could do it, he could. Anyway, your clips speak for themselves. jima

[Go Cardinals]

Yes, i see what you are trying to say. Obvouisly a pitch that is elevated in the strike zone th harder it is to swing down to through the ball. Look at the frame in between the second and third and u will see his bat is tilted downward. For a split second u can see him go down and explode through the ball.

First of all, they don't do that *swinfinf down through the ball*. Secondly, it is harder to uppercut the high pitches, and you want to be relatively on top of the ball. Well you should try, but then you'll get it on the sweet spot.

[Go Cardinals]

jbooth, I agree with you. I don't have a clip but there was a slow motion replay at the time...which to my eyes (and the local announcers, probably Chuck Thompson and Brooks Robinson) had the bat looking as thought it was going down. Ripken was an amazing athlete...if anyone could do it, he could. Anyway, your clips speak for themselves. jima

Jima, if th pitch is down, then you have to go down to get it...

[Erik]

Jima, if th pitch is down, then you have to go down to get it...


The tilt and turn works to get the low pitch.




EL,

[opie]

I'd ALMOST be willing to bet $10,000 that it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a ball go over 350 feet when you hit the bottom half of the ball, with the bat moving in a downward direction at contact.

It defies the laws of physics. I have NEVER seen a HR hit by a MLB player where the bathead was going down at contact.

Backspin will make the ball carry, but getting backspin by contacting the ball on a downslope, will not direct enough force into the ball to turn it around. It will deflect the ball on a very high trajectory, and less than half of the kinetic energy needed to force the ball 350+ feet will go into the bat/ball collision.

In the HR derby contests they get backspin AND meet the ball almost head-on, or on an upslope.

What about when a hitter is late? It is hit on the downswing creating backspin to opposite field.

[jbooth]

What about when a hitter is late? It is hit on the downswing creating backspin to opposite field.

You can be late and still hit the ball with the bathead going on an upswing. And, if you DO hit it while the bathead is going down, I still maintain that you can't hit it out of most parks.

I'm beginning to think that almost nobody understands bat/ball collisions and how the bat moves. :dismay:

[Jake Patterson]

The tilt and turn works to get the low pitch.

EL,

Low in, low out, low middle, middle low, middle out, middle middle... Sounds like about 66% of the strike zone to me.

[Erik]

Low in, low out, low middle, middle low, middle out, middle middle... Sounds like about 66% of the strike zone to me.


Jake,
:thumbsup: :think:



EL,

[Lobo47]

wat i do and wat out high school coach makes us do is goin back to the good old days of tee ball tees really help in bringing back the mechanics also wat is another thing that would help is doing soft toss these 2 things help me a lot espesically playin down here in houston texas