Head/toe angle at contact

Has anyone seen numbers of the typical body angle of a batter from head to front foot when bat meets ball?

I don't know if it's even important, but sometimes I think DD gets more upright than most at times, leading to fewer balls being elevated. Hers is about 27-28 degrees.

Thoughts? Not on DD necessarily, but the subject in general. Is this largely a style issue, or do elite hitters tend to be pretty consistent about this?

I am not sure what angle you are talking about. Can you explain it by using these gifs?

I meant side angle, like the bottom hitter, from his head to his right foot at contact.

And I said my DD was 17-18 degrees. I meant to say 27-28 degrees. I edited it.

CoogansBluff said:

I meant side angle, like the bottom hitter, from his head to his right foot at contact.

And I said my DD was 17-18 degrees. I meant to say 27-28 degrees. I edited it.

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FP26 said:

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Pujols at contact ....

Pujols .....

Points made, FFS. It's not usually a straight line through the hip joint.

So let's make it from front foot to front hip. Is that angle significant? Do you have some hitters that you think get too straight up and lose leverage, or who cannot have a slightly upward swing path because they are to upright?

Not seeing your DD's swing I would be looking at the rear leg. Seems most hitters posted on DFP have the rear leg to straight. I think it comes from 'dragging' and 'pointing' their 'toes to china'. Most hitters posted don't have any bend in their rear knee. Their COG doesn't lower or there is no 'sat' in the bodies. Again JMHO.

CoogansBluff said:

Points made, FFS. It's not usually a straight line through the hip joint.

So let's make it from front foot to front hip. Is that angle significant? Do you have some hitters that you think get too straight up and lose leverage, or who cannot have a slightly upward swing path because they are to upright?

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It is rarely a straight line, at impact, from the head-to-front_foot.

The resistance from the front side is important.

I had a hitter in the cages last night that kept bending her knee into impact. I stopped her and told her she was simply trying to hit and not trying to throw the barrel.

We continued ... and she didn't get what I meant, as she kept bending her knee into impact. I stopped her again. Gave her a some tee-ball bats that I had hanging around the cages and asked her to throw them down the length of the cage from her normal batting position. She threw the first barrel ... and viola, the front leg resisted to support her throw.

She didn't understand how come all of a sudden she was using her front side. I told her not to worry about it ... but to continue to think of throwing the barrel downstream. She continued to throw barrel after barrel ... and without thinking of her front side, she used it.

We then resumed live hitting. Her swings were noticeably improved. Every time she would continue to hit with a bending-in front knee I would bark ... "throw the barrel" ... and she would use that cue to recover on her very next swing.

The resistance from the front side is essential. It provides a sense of urgency to throw/release the barrel.

Often, I find that the front-side resistance can be improved without directly working on the front-side resistance ... and by instead throwing barrels.

Now, if you follow Doc Yeager, then you'll hear him speak of the angle from head-to-front_foot ... and use the cue of "more tilt, less turn". IMO he's attempting to encourage the throwing of the barrel. What I do is simply cut to the chase and have the ladies throw barrels ... and often you get pretty close to what you are after.