Ichiro

[shake-n-bake]

Well, ho-hum, Ichiro got his 200th hit again this season - 8 in a row now. His swing looks so unorthodox. Where most hitters are keeping their weight back and rotating their hips, it looks like he's got his weight and hands coming forward together. Looks like he's returning a serve in tennis. Take away the infield hits which his swing and being a LH hitter and his speed combine to make him great at that, and he's still gets so many hits where he (pardon me for saying this again) looks like he's returning the ball to wherever he wants to put it.

GetYourBestSwing described in the thread about the Mental Part of Hitting how he instructs players to just get the bat on the ball in 0-2 counts no mattter what the swing looks like. Seems like Ichiro is doing this but with such bat control that he's able to do what he wants with a particular pitch. Its really amazing.

Has anyone given any thought to trying to teach a young player to hit like this?

Granted, you can't teach speed and he does get a lot of IF hits, but those seem to be decreasing for him especially since Lou Pinella has left. You don't see Ichiro bunting near as much as he did when he first came into the league. I've heard that if he wanted to, he could hit a lot of HRs and often puts on a show in BP. Does anyone know if his power swing is dramatically different? The HRs I've seen him hit have looked swing-wise basically the same as when he lobs one over the SS except he turns on the pitch and lines it over the RF fence.

[Chris O'Leary]

Well, ho-hum, Ichiro got his 200th hit again this season - 8 in a row now. His swing looks so unorthodox. Where most hitters are keeping their weight back and rotating their hips, it looks like he's got his weight and hands coming forward together. Looks like he's returning a serve in tennis. Take away the infield hits which his swing and being a LH hitter and his speed combine to make him great at that, and he's still gets so many hits where he (pardon me for saying this again) looks like he's returning the ball to wherever he wants to put it...Has anyone given any thought to trying to teach a young player to hit like this...Granted, you can't teach speed and he does get a lot of IF hits, but those seem to be decreasing for him especially since Lou Pinella has left. You don't see Ichiro bunting near as much as he did when he first came into the league. I've heard that if he wanted to, he could hit a lot of HRs and often puts on a show in BP. Does anyone know if his power swing is dramatically different? The HRs I've seen him hit have looked swing-wise basically the same as when he lobs one over the SS except he turns on the pitch and lines it over the RF fence.

Some thoughts on Ichiro...

1. He can hit for power, and does so every 10 hits or so. That keeps the defenses and pitchers honest.

2. He tends to slap the ball outside. He will pull inside pitches for power.

3. His slap is basically a bunt. His power swing is pretty much classic rotational.

4. It's not as easy as it looks. I am working with a minor leaguer whose coaches want to turn into an Ichiro (he can hit from the left and has great speed). However, copying Ichiro is harder than it looks, even for a highly skilled player.

[hellborn]

I think that Ichiro's slap swing looks so funky because it's geared to get him down the line as fast as possible...he's basically starting to run while he's swinging. He's adapting his mechanics to accentuate his great weapon of speed, kind of like how Rickey learned to hit with deep bend at the waist to maximize his chance of drawing a walk and than using his speed to steal a base.
A lot of Japanese players have exaggerated strides and tend to lunge at the ball...I watched baseball on TV there for many hours during a long business trip, and it was clear that was the swing style of choice there. The gaijin players would stand out with their relatively compact mechanics. Watch Fukudome, especially when presented by a breaking ball...his body seems to move forward a couple of feet, sometimes.
I wonder if there is some effort to copy Sadaharu Oh there...he had a prominent stride, but certainly did not lunge (his stance was extraordinarily compact due to standing on one leg, and he looked pretty "normal" at launch).

[korp]

Hes a slap hitter ... occasionally will hit to the gaps but he uses his unbelievable speed to do his job. Seems like his style is the asian style that most from that region do .... involving balance on one leg at the beginning. Even though its a slap hit swing its very complicated since he is basically jumping at the ball ... requires very fast reflex's and many other things. In my opinion there isn't enough reward for the work needed to perfect ... maybe if you have 6.4 60 time or whatever he runs.

[Quiz]

http://www.rightviewpro.com/how-rvp-works/concept/mantle

[Chris O'Leary]

http://www.rightviewpro.com/how-rvp-works/concept/mantle

This is true of Ichiro's power swing, but not of his slap swing.

[FiveFrameSwing]

http://groundup.hittingillustrated.com/hitting/Videos/Ichiro2.gif

[Chris O'Leary]

http://groundup.hittingillustrated.com/hitting/Videos/Ichiro2.gif

That looks like Ichiro's power swing, which is similar to, and I assume inspired by, Sadaharu Oh's swing.

http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Hitting/Videos/Video_Hitting_SadaharaOh_CF_SSMO_001.gif

http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Hitting/Videos/Video_Hitting_SadaharaOh_1B_001.gif

P.S. One difference to note is that, while Oh tips the barrel of the bat toward the pitcher, Ichiro doesn't.

[hellborn]

At least in the swings shown, Ichiro really flings his whole body forward, but Oh does not. Ichiro vaguely reminds me of some of Ruth's swings!
I read that Oh would spend hours balancing on his back leg watching himself in a mirror, usually wielding a sword instead of a bat. He'd take breaks, of course, not really hours just on the one leg, but he felt it was an essential part of his hitting work.

[Infinite]

Most players swing like this in Japan....