Jose Bautista hitting article.

[_MIA_]

Ultimately I was pointed to a thread at BBF (Baseball Fever) that helped me tremendously. I have included a link to that thread below. Be warned... It is an incredibly LONG thread with a lot of the same bickering you see on here and BBD. But there are some really good posts from Tewks mixed in.

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About a third of the way through that thread on BBD. Good read but man every time Tewks said "different physics equations apply" to HL swings a small piece of me died..No idea why he had to bring physics into the argument because he clearly was a bit out of his element.

Edit: My point is, at the macroscale (eg ignoring quantum effects), the behavior of any system which is assumed to be a continuum (don't ask what that means) is described by Balance of Linear Momentum (3 equations),Balance of Angular Momentum (3 equations), Conservation of Mass (1 equation), Conservation of Energy (1 equation) and the second law of thermodynamics (1 inequality)...doesn't make a difference if we are talking about an airplane flying or a hitter, the equations are the same. The problem data, e.g. things we input to the equations in order to try and solve them to get the behavior will be different(boundary conditions, initial system configuration, etc) but not the equations themselves. You also need a set of equations which are system dependent (e.g. they would be different for a human vs. an airplane) which give enough equations to solve for all of the unknowns but for the human body those would be the same for every person (but extremely difficult, if not impossible, to model accurately).

 

[FP26]

About a third of the way through that thread on BBD. Good read but man every time Tewks said "different physics equations apply" to HL swings a small piece of me died..No idea why he had to bring physics into the argument because he clearly was a bit out of his element.

Edit: My point is, at the macroscale (eg ignoring quantum effects), the behavior of any system which is assumed to be a continuum (don't ask what that means) is described by Balance of Linear Momentum (3 equations),Balance of Angular Momentum (3 equations), Conservation of Mass (1 equation), Conservation of Energy (1 equation) and the second law of thermodynamics (1 inequality)...doesn't make a difference if we are talking about an airplane flying or a hitter, the equations are the same. The problem data, e.g. things we input to the equations in order to try and solve them to get the behavior will be different(boundary conditions, initial system configuration, etc) but not the equations themselves. You also need a set of equations which are system dependent (e.g. they would be different for a human vs. an airplane) which give enough equations to solve for all of the unknowns but for the human body those would be the same for every person (but extremely difficult, if not impossible, to model accurately).

I am not a physics expert but I agree that hitting is nearly impossible to model accurately by the equations needed. However, the point that made sense to me is that "the 7 year old down the street and Barry Bonds both use the same equations but they use them differently." I'm not sure how accurate that statement is but it makes sense to me.

Over 200 pages in that thread and you could really break it down to 3 or 4 pages max...

 

[_MIA_]

I am not a physics expert but I agree that hitting is nearly impossible to model accurately by the equations needed. However, the point that made sense to me is that "the 7 year old down the street and Barry Bonds both use the same equations but they use them differently." I'm not sure how accurate that statement is but it makes sense to me.

Over 200 pages in that thread and you could really break it down to 3 or 4 pages max...

That quote is fine and accurate enough. The problem really boils to an optimization problem..an extremely difficult one. Find the evolution in time of the whole system (body + bat) that results in maximum velocity of point on the bat (the best point e.g. the barrel) given a series known points (points of contact..e.g. you would have to consider various points of contact). This wouldn't even consider that no two people have the same body (e.g. those equations which I say above are system dependent) but if you want to consider that there is one optimal pattern (not arguing that, just going with Tewk's assumption here) you would assume everybody is the same.

 

[FP26]

That quote is fine and accurate enough. The problem really boils to an optimization problem..an extremely difficult one. Find the evolution in time of the whole system (body + bat) that results in maximum velocity of point on the bat (the best point e.g. the barrel) given a series known points (points of contact..e.g. you would have to consider various points of contact). This wouldn't even consider that no two people have the same body (e.g. those equations which I say above are system dependent) but if you want to consider that there is one optimal pattern (not arguing that, just going with Tewk's assumption here) you would assume everybody is the same.

I find it to be a fascinating discussion. I was debating a similar point with someone on one of these forums a few years back. My daughter is a pitcher, but has a smaller stride than most of the "experts" would consider acceptable. However, physically she has a longer torso and shorter legs than most girls her height (5'6"). How exactly do those measurements impact her stride length? I don't know, but I would assume that they do have an impact... What was this thread about??

 

[_MIA_]

What was this thread about??

You know as well as I do that after 48 pages it is about a whole lot of things..

 

[jryan15]

What it all comes down to is if "rotating your hips" is something that you are doing to swing, you cannot be hitting in the high level pattern. I'm not saying you can't have success even at a D1 level by doing it. I'm saying that if you are rotating your hips, you will not reach your true swing potential.

In the high level pattern, the hips GET ROTATED. Hip rotation at the highest level is an interaction of a coiled rear leg and the glutes extending a coiled rear hip. When this happens, your hip is bio-mechanically forced to rotate the rear leg. Since you are coiled when the rear leg rotates, there is no slop in the hip to allow the leg to IR freely in the joint so as the leg IR's it turns the hip and thus the whole upper torso into the zone. This has the amazing side effect of making hip rotation automatic and effectively a no-teach. They will just work, always and on-time...

So you SHOULD resist hip rotation and IF you are coiled and IF your glutes fire, the more you resist, the harder your hip will snap you around and into the hitting zone.

 

[rdbass]

I'm saying that if you are rotating your hips, you will not reach your true swing potential.

In the high level pattern, the hips GET ROTATED

Sorry no words saying what he 'THINKS' he is doing(feel -vs-real).