I know you want to connect the dots here W, but JD always educates, always gets into the details. IMO, JD's comments had 0 to do with whatever Judge said or anybody else said.
Dante Bichette
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Not AJ. Bb and JD
Yeah, BG and BB...lol
- Nov 16, 2017
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I get what you are saying. And you have a bit of the "well the good players kinda just figure this out" in you.
However, kids just don't play ball all day and all night forever and ever. The days of the sandlot are gone for most, unless you live in the DR.
So we need to be very accurate in teaching. Do you teach a kid to plane the bat behind or does the bat get planed out front as a result of the turn, not before the turn.
Where do you see TTB planing as Tewks, Donaldson describe it? I see it planing behind. I see planing of the hands and then lag is achieved by the turn.
In down to I see plane and lag happening simultaneously as a result of the turn out front and not behind.
Down to: Lag and plane out front
TTB: plane behind and then turn.
In the TTB to plane there is a clear intent to plane with the hands. Down to approach planes with the turn.
It is clear distinction of intent. And it is completely possible that the TTB planing from behind will work better for some players. The human mind is way too complex to say otherwise. However, If you go back and watch the Donaldson video with DeRosa the way he demos down to is once again an isolated bat path. Which lacks understanding.
What Donaldson is doing is pretty clever. He is over doing a misunderstanding to make sense of what he doesn't understand. It is like missing a basketball shot to the right every time. What do you do? You start shooting to the left, even though you think straight is correct you adjust and do something you believe to be wrong and shoot "off" to the left and then you start making them. This correction works but it doesn't make you a great shooter. A great shooter will shoot straight and make it almost every time.
So TTB the Donaldson way, and in the videos we have seen is in essence a cheat. A cleaver way to gain some success. It does work but it also has a big down side. Adjustability. Once in the turn, after you have planed your hands, you are locked in. Sure you may hit the ball a mile, because the bat never get more than 6" from your body, but a change of speed unexpected location, and you are in a world of hurt.
There is one big exception to the TTB not being optimal. And that is nipple high pitches. If strikes are going to be called that high then TTB is a great way to hit that pitch. Trout has even said with his down to approach that is difficult for him to handle.
To me the ultimate is to be able to TTB IE: Donaldson on a high pitch and to Trout anything below the diaphragm.
That is the end of my manifesto haha.
- Jun 8, 2016
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Kudos for admitting it
Thoughtful post James. I’ll just say intent plays a big role on how players move and how the barrel will turn. Set up matters as well. Your approach shapes your movements.
- Jul 29, 2013
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If you compare the first movements in all 3 swing types, aren't all of the bats moving downward? In the case of the "down to" guys, their demo swings don't match their game swings but the focus is on getting the barrel down. That means getting the barrel down with speed, behind the ball and that happens to match what they do in games.
So in a way, all 3 swings are the same, but the guys swinging the bats get there using different mental paths.
Only one of the camps gets fyb and leveraged into both legs before the "down to" occurs. No need to force ttb..
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- Jul 29, 2013
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When he lifts that back leg, what's the leverage as in how's the leg being used as a lever, fulcrum, or the force on the lever??Only one of the camps gets fyb and leveraged into both legs before the "down to" occurs. No need to force ttb..
Also, the video is so cut up and jerky that you can't see his down to and behind the ball movement but I can see him TTB just by looking at how the knob is pointing at the ceiling and wall behind him at contact. The barrel is definitely swinging around his hands too.
Where's the "lag" position?
