How would you define a High Level Swing

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May 17, 2012
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Someone in a post last week (that I can't find) had an excellent definition of a High Level Swing. It's wasn't how to perform a high level swing but it what was the purpose of a high level swing.

It was something along the lines of getting a running start by transferring potential energy from the feet through the legs....I can't remember the rest.

Another definition I found was, "The ultimate goal of the sing is the creation of kinetic energy produced by the "torquing" or separation of the upper and lower torsos."

I am just curious if someone had a better or alternate definition.

Cheers.
 
Jun 18, 2010
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Every great swing is the right combination of weight shift and rotation that stores elastic energy and suddenly releases it. -- Donny Buster
 

redhotcoach

Out on good behavior
May 8, 2009
4,706
38
A swing should be as efficient as possible and as adjustable as possible.
It is sudden.
A release.
Adjustable.
Powerfully effienct.

Ever critique of hitters you make should be because something they are doing is affecting these points negatively.

IE: I could muster up mechanics to hit a long haul bombers slowpitch 450ft homerun...but are those mechanics going to allow me to square up a 95mph fastball, hold and release on a 70 mph change up, and check swing on a 85mph ball that curves out of the zone?
 
Last edited:
Jun 18, 2010
2,624
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It's wasn't how to perform a high level swing but it what was the purpose of a high level swing.
The "purpose" of a high level swing is to arm the hitter with the proper mechanics in order to reach their maximum potential. Any swing pattern other than a high level swing pattern lowers a hitter's capacity to achieve their highest level possible.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
That is a great question. I have always said that my dd did not have a MLB swing. I never presented her as such. Though a MLB swing is what our goal was, I have often said that her swing approached a high level swing. To this day, I don't know that this (HLS) has been achieved. FFS and others have seen her swing. There are some strengths and weaknesses that exist in her swing. For the various levels of play in her career, she has had success. Some of the qualities might be:

  • Ability to never be beaten with the fastball.
  • The ability to adjust is key.
  • Confidence in driving both inside and outside pitches.
  • A high level swing, imo, produces line drives.
  • A HLS uses the kinetic chain effectively from toe touch to extension after the ball leaves the bat.

I think that if we looked at some video of any hitter, you pick, we'd see certain traits we really like and some we question. Then, there would be those one or two things we disagree on. I think of the swing in terms that maybe FFS, Straightleg, RHC, ... or someone else does not. Our terminology might not match. Yet, if we coached the same player for 1 lesson, I'm betting that the player would walk out of the lesson with similar information.
 
Last edited:
May 29, 2013
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It is a gathering and efficient release of energy through a properly executed kinetic chain of movements with a bat to hit a ball.
 

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