coachtrev writes "There are three different approaches
to teaching hitting in youth baseball
- Linear
Hitting
- Extension
Hitting
- Rotational
Hitting
From what i have seen, Linear Hitting is what most youth baseball players are taught -- Extension Hitting
is what I was taught -- and Rotational Hitting is what
most major league hitters actually do.
While many people disagree about exactly what Linear Hitting
is, when I think of Linear Hitting, I think of an
approach to
hitting that is focused on getting power from the arms,
hands,
and in particular the wrists. The idea
is to swing with the arms, hands, and wrists in order to
maximize the time the head of the
bat spends in the contact zone.
Some telltales of the
Linear Hitting approach are the use of (problematic) cues
like...
- Throw your hands at the ball.
- A straight line is the shortest distance between
two
points. - Snap your wrists at the Point Of Contact.
The clip below is an example
of what proponents of Linear Hitting
want their students to do. Notice how the batter pushes his hands to
the ball in a linear fashion, and largely
independently of his shoulders, and then pops his wrists through
the Point Of Contact.
Hands To The Ball
The general idea behind Linear Hitting is to
just make contact with the ball and hope it gets through
the
infield.
The problem I have with Linear Hitting is
that
while Linear Hitting sometimes works at the lower
levels of youth baseball but it
doesn't scale. In general, Linear Hitting, and
just
trying to make contact and put the ball in play, only works until
maybe 4th
or 5th
grade or so, at which point infielders can make most routine
plays. Yes, it worked to a degree in the big leagues in the 70s
and 80s when infields were covered with slick Astroturf
surfaces, but it does not work on contemporary grass or dirt
infields, which is why no more than one or two major league
baseball players (e.g. Ichiro Suzuki) swing in a way that even
resembles what Linear Hitting instructors advocate. It's hard to believe
in teaching kids a swing that they
will have to abandon at some point as they get older, and
that is why
I am not a fan of Linear Hitting.
Finally, let me address a point of much confusion.
When I think about Linear Hitting, I think
about the hand path and nothing else. The reason is
that if you study the
swings of good, rotational hitters, then you will usually see a
linear, back to front component to their weight shifts. In other
words, just
because a hitter strides and/or shifts their weight from back to
front, it
doesn't make them a Linear hitter.
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The defining cue of the philosophy of
Extension Hitting, which is a big favorite of baseball
television
color commentators, is that you should extend and make
the "Power V" at the point
of contact. That's what I was taught,
and that is the cue that ruined
my swing.
I'm not exactly sure where this idea first started, but
I think it grew out of the pictures (if not the words) in Charley
Lau Sr.'s book
The Art of Hitting .300.
George Brett Demonstrating Extension and
the Power V at
the Point Of Contact
Scattered throughout Charley Lau Sr.'s book are a number of
pictures, like
the one above, of George Brett demonstrating extension and the Power
V at the point of contact. While some argue that
Charley Lau Sr. didn't actually intend for people to look like
this at the POC, this is how his book has generally
been interpreted and is one reason why so many television color
commentators harp on the concept of extension. The problem is that this
isn't what most major league
hitters, including
George Brett, actually look like at the Point Of
Contact
(POC) in their
best swings.
Rotational Hitting is an approach to hitting that
was
first
described by Ted Williams and
then popularized by
Mike
Epstein.
Rotational Hitting is generally about learning to power
the swing
with the entire body -- and in particular the large
muscles of the core
-- rather than just the arms, wrists, and hands. While
teaching a hitter Rotational Hitting will sometimes result in
increased power and Home Runs, in general the idea
is to just try to hit the ball hard since a hard-hit ball
-- even if it is hit on the ground -- is harder to make a
play on
simply because it's moving faster.
What a Rotational baseball Swing Looks Like
Rotational Hitting describes the swings of most major league
baseball hitters, including Albert Pujols.
Albert Pujols'
Home Run Swing
In the clip above, notice how Albert Pujols' hips
rotate ahead
of his hands (and shoulders), how his hands rotate with
his back shoulder and form the Power L position at the Point Of
Contact, and how his arms only extend into the Power V position after
the Point Of Contact.
Exceptions to the Rule
A few major league hitters do not
always swing in accordance with the principles of
rotational
hitting. Ichiro Suzuki tends to try to slap outside
pitches
into the ground and beat out the throw. Yadier Molina
generally
looks for an outside pitch that he can poke into right field.
Vladimir Guerrero
will swing at any pitch, regardless of its location, but
his
home run swings tend to be fairly rotational. However, the
vast majority of
major league hitters (e.g. 95+ percent) swing in a way
that is
consistent with the principles of Rotational Hitting.
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.
