The latest guru on Twitter

[FiveFrameSwing]

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

 

[Mudders Brudder]

In my opinion, "launch angle" is another red herring created by gurus and then picked up by sports casters who continue it. It has always been prominent in the game. Ted Williams described it in The Science of Hitting. The discussions have always been whether hitters actually swing down on the ball. Are they able to hit one specific part of a 90+ mph baseball to impart spin on purpose? Do they match a swing plane exactly? What are the role of the hands in the swing? Suddenly, you have analysis on the MLB station breaking this stuff down and suggesting that this concept is new. Break down Bond's swing and you'll see it. Do the same with Pujols. Remember when Manny Rameriz's swing was the soup de jour? Take a look at his game swings. Do the same with all of the great hitters in the past including the Babe. Watch the shoulder action and see that the shoulders have never been level in the HL swing. Even on the pitch up, the shoulders are not level. Note the various launch angles below and notice the avatar of my kid.

Ding, ding, ding....we have our winner...thank you all for playing...time to move on now to..."direction", before TTB or no?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

My .02 . For both sports .

https://youtu.be/xJw_mtuDySo

Miguel Cabrera pretty much states that working on 'launch angle' is foolish.

Folks should truly understand his cue of "palm-up to the ball" ... applied correctly they will understand the 'out from' action.

 

[_MIA_]

...time to move on now to..."direction", before TTB or no?

[video]

[/video]

 

[Mudders Brudder]

When I say level swing.. I don't mean it has to be so level that you can balance a marble on a plane from back shoulder to front shoulder. It's a cue I use for my DD that helps her from swinging under a pitch. Her swing is still slightly uphill. IMO, in the pic you posted below the green line exhibits a level swing.

View attachment 13225

julray, just curious, but instead of instructing your DD to have a "level swing"...why not just instruct her to get the barrel "behind" the ball...which doesn't worry about up, down, level, or whatnot...it simply gets (attempts to get) the barrel "behind and through" the ball regardless of where it's pitched. Wouldn't that also automatically cover your "adjustability" criteria that "level" won't always do on certain pitches? Just sayin'....

 

[julray]

My .02 . For both sports .

https://youtu.be/xJw_mtuDySo

Agree.. it's a great video

 

[Mudders Brudder]

Julray, I think your level first approach has merit at the top of the zone.. Thinking vertical path first to match all pitches in the zone doesn't work. There needs to be multiple paths of get the barrel behind the ball.

Agreed. Not sure where the "vertical path" was ever derived from, but that's not what I ever read or understood TTB to mean...that could have just been me though. [shrugs]

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

julray, just curious, but instead of instructing your DD to have a "level swing"...why not just instruct her to get the barrel "behind" the ball...which doesn't worry about up, down, level, or whatnot...it simply gets (attempts to get) the barrel "behind and through" the ball regardless of where it's pitched. Wouldn't that also automatically cover your "adjustability" criteria that "level" won't always do on certain pitches? Just sayin'....

Just a hunch ... but based on Julray's posts I am guessing that he doesn't yet appreciate the timing element and feels the need to start the swing somewhere and then adapt mid-swing.

 

[julray]

julray, just curious, but instead of instructing your DD to have a "level swing"...why not just instruct her to get the barrel "behind" the ball...which doesn't worry about up, down, level, or whatnot...it simply gets (attempts to get) the barrel "behind and through" the ball regardless of where it's pitched. Wouldn't that also automatically cover your "adjustability" criteria that "level" won't always do on certain pitches? Just sayin'....

I'm not teaching her to have a level swing, she doesn't have a level swing. Like I said many times in this thread, it's a cue I use to help her stay on top when she's getting under. And yes many times we have talked about getting behind and through. With her thinking level helps her get behind most pitches in Fastpitch, rise and drop.

How do you teach your students to get behind the ball? can a hitter who has .4 seconds to react determine the break on a ball out off the pitchers hands? I think not. Maybe at the lower levels. So with my DD thinking level (not doing, thinking) helps her get to all balls, drop and rise.