The Plane of the Bat

[Ken Krause]

Please explain

Maybe....but that isn't the REAL issue.

If your hands are the center of the bats rotation you have the short compact mlb type swing.

If your spine is the center of the bats rotation you have a long swing. Definitely not mlb. And you won't reach your potential.

How do you figure? If your body turns while the hands remain close to the back shoulder, you have a very short path to the ball once you decide to launch. If you make the hands the focus, you are much more capable of casting or taking a long swing.

 

[jofus13]

Who said cast? YOU did.

Why....because when I say 'hands' you're hearing 'arms'. ONLY the arms can cast the hands/bat. They can't cast themselves. They pivot the barrel while relatively stationery in the rear armpit location.

I said the axis of the barrel's rotation HAS to be the hands not the spine.

If it's an axis that means something is rotating about it.

That doesn't mean anything is being moved forward, outward, upward, downward.

Therefore, what I've described doesn't lead to your casting conclusion.

IF the hands are the axis of the barrel's rotation you have the smallest, shortest, most compact swing you can have. There is no axis smaller, shorter, more compact, than the hands.

What?

I assume you mean "at contact", because I would like to see the swing that had the hands as the "axis of the barrel's rotation" throughout the entire swing....

 

[jofus13]

Wait a minute....this sounds like whichever of those guys that advocate top hand torque at launch....isn't that Tom's buddy, or am I confused again?


I wish they would make a law requiring people to use the same user name on any message board they use, it would make it easier to keep up with who is who

 

[ArmWhip]

I think that we are really talking about a swing within the swing. The hands have to rotate around the spine until the point where the bat starts to rotate around the hands. I am not talking about wrist roll or anything like that. With 'flat palms' there is about 45 degrees or so of wrist action available. This where the angle between the bat and the forearm goes from 90 degrees to about 130 degrees. Last year toward the end of the season I was watching the Yankees on one of the major TV networks and they were showing off some their new high speed camera technology. They replayed in slo-mo a Derek Jeter swing in which he blasted a double into right center field. It was a closeup shot and you got a good look at his hand action. I have never been a believer in bottom hand torque but there it was right in front of me. As his hands came into the contact zone you could see the top hand more or less set up and he pulled back on the bottom hand causing the angle between the bat and the forearm to extend. The bat rotated on an axis that existed in the hands. I have played around this with and find it very difficult to execute. If you look at the picture of Manny that I posted you can see that he no longer has the 90 degree angle between his forearm and the bat.

 

[tom.guerry]

arm whip said:

The hands have to rotate around the spine until the point where the bat starts to rotate around the hands.

That will force "drag"/slowness if executed sequentially. Hands start bat turning which keeps shoulders back and increses coil/load/overlap/quickness of unloading.

Mankin is the handle torque guy in hitting,see batspeed.com.

The golf model is by Jorgensen:

Design Notes - Golf Physics p1

Williams knew what he was talikng about in regard to plane and matching plane to pitch always with the same swing pattern -the "slight upswing"- which can maximize read time and be adjusted late.

 

[Executioner]

confused

Look at David Wright. David Ortiz. Albert Pujols. Barry Bonds.

The new phenom Longoria.

The bat is being throw/pivoted about their hands at launch.

Can you explain "pivoted" please?

Thx!

 

[Executioner]

which is resisting being pulled out of the zone by the movement of the lead shoulder........

Can you please explain this "lead shoulder" movement?

 

[MountieSB]

Manny Ramirez Palm Up Palm down after contact

Here is a photo of Manny Ramirez after contact. The wrists haven't rolled. He's palm up and palm down.

 

[Executioner]

I found these on another site called baseball fever. I thought they were pretty cool showing what the knob and plane of the bat are doing. I don't see any pivoting of the bat till very late into contact. I hope they show up?

Also, magic, could you explain what you Z axis is here?

 

[Executioner]

I just used the little picture thingy to put 2 pics next to each other.

OK, i understand the hands help square the bat to contact. But I also can't help but notice that in BOTH pics the bat lines up with the shoulders BEFORE any pivoting happens.