Bat Speed vs. Exit Speed?

[Bobby Shirer]

I think we're getting into two different discussions here. Hitting for power, which can come down to pure physics, and hitting for average. The harder (faster) you want to hit a ball, the faster the swing needs to be. Sure, you also have to hit it perfectly on the bat. The person that has the best bat control, with the fastest swing, wins. From there you can branch out into 50 different things. Ok, maybe 500.

My DD has built her swing around pure power and contact. If she hits a scorching line drive, she's just as happy as if she hits a 260'+ bomb. She's hit pop ups that barely went over the fence, that she was upset about. Hard to believe someone coming off the field upset after hitting a HR. She's hit line drives that literally took the glove off the fielder trying to field it. That makes her happy. So, if you're batting over 400, and regularly inducing errors of balls hit so damn hard that fielders get scared when you come to bat, is it worse than the batter that hits 200 but gets 1 HR a weekend?

I still love one of the college coach's comments on a ball my DD hit. "Did that go through the fence or over it?!?!" Those are the comments she'll remember forever.

Do you think the two are mutually exclusive, hitting the ball hard vs. going yard? Your dd built her swing around pure power and contact. Some here promote the idea that hitting with power automatically comes at the expense of accuracy. I disagree. Especially because hitting the ball hard results not only in homers but also those screaming line drives and forced errors.

 

[Bobby Shirer]

Economics is about choices and decision making, not about money. Please don't confuse economics with finance.

Your argument is with Wikipedia et al.

 

[Bobby Shirer]

? Hmmm
Actually think the verbage in this first paragraph is the discussion at hand.

Disagree bat speed wins.
Because exit speed is more important

Impact force is relative.

The reason im chiming in is because simply saying bat speed
Can be like waving your arms around shoowing a fly away.
Does not mean IT has force or power behind it.
However i do understand you are refferencing getting to the ball "quickly".

Simply saying quick bat doesnt really say it all.

Isn't exit speed dependent on bat speed?
What exactly is a "quick" bat?
Does force have anything to do with "quickness?"
Impact force is relative..... to mass and speed.

 

[Bobby Shirer]

If


Time to contacts the true metric that matters.. context . And I use my eyes... what a concept.

Time to contact..... what's the distance? I can have nearly zero time to contact...... no bat speed necessary. .....bunt....... and then time to first base becomes important. (60ft.) And you can use your eyes but the umpire will make the call.

 

[Mudders Brudder]

I don't think the amount of time a hitter spends in the zone (slow bat speed), is as important as the amount of distance their barrel is able to travel in it (high bat speed with the correct barrel path)....

Top example could have a higher bat speed than the lower, but will remain in the hitting zone longer (length, and probably even time wise).

 

[radness]

Impact force is relative......

Bobby,
Not certain if you have read my few posts regarding how i commented how contact is made with the ball being important to driving force?
Perhaps you missed those other posts?

Really not in the camp to discuss bat speed as its own topic because there are other important factors that apply.

Also I recognize there are many different hitting styles and people like to do different things. Whether or not I think all those things are good or bad is irrelevant. People will do whatever they want to do for whatever reasons they think they're doing it.
What is important to me is that I know success. And I'm already familiar with how to crush the ball.

Hope you find what works best for you!

 

[Work=wins]

I don't think the amount of time a hitter spends in the zone (slow bat speed), is as important as the amount of distance their barrel is able to travel in it (high bat speed with the correct barrel path)....
View attachment 17796
Top example could have a higher bat speed than the lower, but will remain in the hitting zone longer (length, and probably even time wise).

Unless your getting eephus pitches that illustration of plane is wrong. Did you think about what you wrote?? You don’t care how much distance your barrel has to travel as long as it’s on plane and is fast ?ok TM ! IOW lets have a loop-a-palozza?? Do you understand that once the barrel gets below the hands, that’s committal?? Do you realize you just stated you want a long swing?? do you realize releasing early is long and early committal??

except for a couple of BP swings by Ted. Nobody swings it like that. Here’s a flatter guy not committing soon. barrel above hands, until committal. This matches the second illustration. Look at the pitch plane. A bit different eh?

 

[Mudders Brudder]

Unless your getting eephus pitches that illustration of plane is wrong.

No argument there, was going to mention that, but then thought most would understand what Ted was trying to convey with the illustration (plane matching), and not that it was technically correct (since baseball pitches don't come in like that). Sorry, not time I'll try to remember the complete audience, not just the ones with common sense. My bad.

Did you think about what you wrote?? You don’t care how much distance your barrel has to travel as long as it’s on plane and is fast ?ok TM ! IOW lets have a loop-a-palozza?? Do you understand that once the barrel gets below the hands, that’s committal?? Do you realize you just stated you want a long swing?? do you realize releasing early is long and early committal??

Did you think about what you wrote, and that you didn't realize that I was only talking about the barrel entering and exiting the hitting zone (as stated), and NOT how it got there? Do I really have to hold your hand, and step you through everything one word or concept at a time? Please try to read with the TM vitriol parked at the door....thanks.

except for a couple of BP swings by Ted. Nobody swings it like that. Here’s a flatter guy not committing soon. barrel above hands, until committal. This matches the second illustration. Look at the pitch plane. A bit different eh?

View attachment 17800

If that's your eye for analyzation that you believe that swing is flat into the ball, and not "slightly up"...well then it's no wonder you write what you do.

 

[BigSkyHi]

Bobby,
Not certain if you have read my few posts regarding how i commented how contact is made with the ball being important to driving force?
Perhaps you missed those other posts?

Really not in the camp to discuss bat speed as its own topic because there are other important factors that apply.

Also I recognize there are many different hitting styles and people like to do different things. Whether or not I think all those things are good or bad is irrelevant. People will do whatever they want to do for whatever reasons they think they're doing it.
What is important to me is that I know success. And I'm already familiar with how to crush the ball.

Hope you find what works best for you!

So on board with you on this RADcatcher.

Am I realizing that I am coaching various athletes with unique physical and mental characteristics.

For hitting, do I have the courage to look at hitting as an individual event that that has variables such as:

• 11 Different hitting models
• 2 Different hitting tempos
• 7 Different visual patterns
• Dominate eye

Or am I trying to mold all hitters into one?

 

[FP26]

It seems a little odd that the "down to" demonstration that King Albert describes has qualifiers attached to it (such as missing posture, etc.), yet the 'slightly up' swing plane that Teddy Baseball describes is taken so literally. Can someone send me a syllabus so I know which pros I'm actually supposed to pay attention to?