Again, this is in response to an article written by Alex Speier in the Boston Globe on March 27th, entitled; “A New Launching Point.” The thick of the article talks about three different concepts: 1) Matching the plane of the pitch 2) The degree or angle of the ball coming off the bat and 3) Exit velocity
The
article in general is very interesting and sheds some light on the dysfunctional
history of learning how to hit along with where we are within it today. It does not do a real good job
separating the concepts mentioned above or explaining their relationship and I
think I can help.
I
do think there is something to be learned for all hitters from the mental
picture you get when you hear the term launch angle. But, we need to be clear as to what it is and how
it is created.
Matching
the Plane of the Pitch
One
main reason for the success you are seeing today is that the hitters are doing
a better job getting the bat within the “average plane” of the pitch.
This is not an exact plane or angle, nor will it ever be. I mean, is the pitch high or low in the zone? How tall is the pitcher? How tall is the batter? Where is the pitcher’s release point? All these factors create the exact pitch angle or plane on any given pitch.
I
believe the best swing for all hitters is a slight up swing, on an average, somewhere
between 4-8 degrees from ground level.
Both
batting instructors, Tim Hyers and Craig Wallenbrock are
both quoted in the article as proponents of this basic concept and it is
refreshing to finally hear it as this is a major element of the Ted Williams
Hitting Theory. Here is a link where Ted
and I explain it together.
While
this basic idea of meeting the plane of the pitch with a slight up swing is
fairly easy to follow when the pitch is a fast ball, it is not so easy to
understand or digest when the pitch is not within the equal and opposite plane.
When the pitch is a curve or slider, for
example, the hitter must create the line drive angle and hopefully
the line drive by intersecting the pitch’s plane with a slightly up
line drive swing. Very different idea,
are you with me?
I
watched Andrew Benintendi and JD Martinez do a
great job of it today against Baltimore both on curve balls. This action, (which is equally as important as
matching or getting on the plane with the fastball) is much more abstract. It
does not come up in the article at all and needs to be said.
In
this instance, the hitter hopes to create a line drive, by intersecting
a pitch that may be dropping down and away from him at a 45 degree angle. He attempts to create a line drive with
a slightly up, line drive producing swing.
While
we are on the swing plane, the article
also mentions the Charlie Lau / Walt Hriniak approach to hitting, claiming that
this approach went down to the ball and then up in a “check mark” type of pattern.
This
claim sounds even more ridiculous now, than it used to back then. If that theory had any sort of an upswing objective,
it was top secret - classified! On an average, it did
not have that effect or result at all, but rather, had every playing level of baseball
on its front foot, with restricted hips, swinging down in relation to the pitch
plane.
The
article talks about current hitters and coaches describing their hitting
upbringings with tips like: “Straight to the Ball”, “Stay on Top of the Ball”,
”Swing Down”’ and “Hammer Down.” “When I
was a player, you were taught to hit down on the ball to create backspin,” said
Phillies batting coach John Malle. “To actually create backspin, you had to
undercut the center of the ball.”
These
comments above all came as a result of the Lau Theory. I feel bad for the professional players that lessened
or surrendered their careers to such nonsense and still cringe for the leagues below
that were looking up.
It
always reminded me of hitting that may take place in a coed pickup game put
together by Christopher Robins after a picnic. You can make a check mark beside this
theory in the column that reads; out of the game.
Launch
Angle
The
launch angle is the degree or angle that the ball is coming off the bat at
contact. The article displays an example of two different hitters both hitting
the ball equally as hard measured by their exit velocity. Exit velocity is the
speed of the ball coming off the bat.
In
this example, one hitter (JD Martinez) is swinging up and the other (Xander Bogearts) is swinging down. On similar pitch
locations, Xander swinging down, grounds out and JD swinging up, launches a
home run. The example and article suggests
that the up swinger will have a better launch angle and therefore a better result.
This is
not necessarily true! The truth is, on
the very next pitch, Xander swinging down may hit one off the wall and JD swinging
up may hit a grounder with the same exit velocity. Did I surprise you?
Also
in the article, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington basically warns that
he has seen hitters struggle while trying to incorporate the upward swing
plane. I agree with Neal Huntington as
well. Surprise you again?
Remember
Mad Magazine when they wanted to swear it looked like this @#$%^%&.
Well that is how most feel when they try to make sense of hitting. It is so complicated and overwhelming that
most just walk away with whatever pieces of it they feel comfortable in believing.
Ted
Williams said; “Hitting a baseball is the hardest single act in all of sports.”
If you are going to hang... you have to be able to do what is hard. He also said: “Steve Ferroli can give
you my answer to a question about hitting”.
Once while 1500 miles apart we
were each asked the same question about Red Sox slugger, Jim Rice and answered
it almost identically.
I guess
Alex’s Speier's Launch Angle article motivated me to create this blog because the article does a great job putting
decades of frustration, question and truth all on the same table at a good time in baseball history to
discuss it.
OK
then here we go!
The problem is that the plane of the swing is far from the
only determining factor in launch angle and it is a mistake to look at it that
way. Do I think the slight up swing is
the best swing in baseball and will in fact, on an average, yield the best
results for all types of hitters? You
better believe I do. But you need to
understand how to execute the slight up swing and here is where the problem lies.
Hitting
is not in a cage or in batting practice it is in “live at bats” with different
pitchers and pitches. Real
good pitchers and pitches... Every
night you can watch guys on both teams struggle miserably to get their bat on
the ball period. There are still plenty of
swings and misses and there always will be.
To execute and maintain a slight up swing the hitter will require; a decent full body swing, proper thinking at the plate, the timing of his balance, an understanding of lighting effect, an understanding of strike zone depth and a professionals level of awareness in regard to the sweet spot of his bat.
Unfortunately,
I only see about half these requirements on TV.
You can’t fool me. On an average, I would only give MLB
hitters a 5 on a 1-10 in the execution of Ted’s theory.
I
think launch angle is a subject to be considered after a controlled slight up
swing is in place. We are just not
there yet. (This is what Neal Huntington is talking about.)
For example: If Hanley Ramirez and Brock Holt are confident in a well controlled and
applied slight up swing, then it is time to begin thinking about different
launch angles. I used these two hitters for example because they are very different types of hitters with different
objectives within the team’s offense.
In
closing, I really enjoyed the part of this article where JD Martinez was talking about
fighting through the changes in his swing.
Especially when he became a professional with another swing, he deserves
a lot of credit for that.
I
loved how he weighed and measured his talent and technique against other
hitters in the league. There is a lesson
there for any athlete. I’m sure Altuve and
Mookie got some players talking to themselves in the mirror.
For
some perspective and simple baseball fun, let’s go back to the Martinez and Bogaerts
comparison but let’s shift the comparison to what I call “Talent vs Technique”. Click Here to Watch
On a 1-10, I would give JD’s baseball talent a 7.5 and his hitting
technique a 5.5. I would give Xanders’ baseball talent a 9 and his hitting technique
a 3.5.
The fun is to think about what
happens when Bogaerts' technique becomes is a 5.5?
See
you next time, when I bring Toronto, Blue Jay's, Josh Donaldson to the black board to help us solve a
another hitting problem...
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