The bat does accelerate and decelerate at different times, and flex as a result, but because of the way the camera’s shutter works it is accentuated.

It is interesting to see the bat curl forward due to the whip effect.

Quick hands mostly means that your swing is short and not arm-y.

That means that your hands travel in the shortest path to the target, which paradoxically is a curved path rather than a straight line. Basically, your hands stay connected to and rotate with your back shoulder. They do get pulled out into extension, but after the POC.

The problem that many people have is called casting, which means that their hands get away from their back shoulder and take a longer, loopier path to the ball. To use a track analogy, you want your hands to follow a path that corresponds to the inside lane and not one of the outside lanes.

The weight shift is more about generating power. You could have a great weight shift but lose all of the power benefits with a long, loopy hand path.

In a good swing, what the wrists do is mostly the effect of the swing, not the cause. The momentum transfer causes them to un-hinge at the right time. By trying to improve this by popping your wrists, you are more likely to screw things up (due to creating tension in the wrists) than you are to make them better.

Your prototypical Type I guy is going to have lots of HRs and a high SLG but a BA more in the .280 range.

Duncan’s not as smart of a hitter as some of the more prominent Type I’s. He was also more Type I in 2006 and 2007.

Lately he’s just been a hitter with a crappy eye and approach but good power if the pitcher makes a mistake.

Which is something Chris mentioned above. Albert has a swing that takes place in an extremely short period of time, even though the bat itself isn’t moving at as fast a pace as some others, because there’s so little wasted motion.

For a good example of the difference between batspeed and a ‘fast’ swing, go look at some video of the Cardinals’ fourth round draft pick from ‘07, Kyle Russell. Russell is capable of hitting the ball an absolute mile, and I’m sure generating tons of batspeed, but watch how long his actual swing is. I was disappointed the Cardinals didn’t sign him at the time, because I thought with proper coaching, that swing could be improved and his aggressive nature in swinging could be retained, but judging by his minor league numbers, that hasn’t happened.

I linked to the article above, but it was kind of subtle…

- Article about article about Albert’s swing

Babe Ruth actually swung slower than Pujols…

In terms of sheer batting speed, Pujols swung his preferred 31.5-ounce bat at a speed of 86.99 miles per hour. Ruth, on the other hand, using a 54-ounce bat, swung at an estimated speed of 75 miles an hour.

…but he swung a heavier bat and, as a result of F=MA, ended up with similar, if not superior distance.

I started thinking about this when I read some articles about Bryce Harper and how far he hit the ball. I thought it was interesting that his bat speed was so much higher than Pujols’.

I linked to the article above, but it was kind of subtle…

- Article about article about Albert’s swing

Babe Ruth actually swung slower than Pujols…

In terms of sheer batting speed, Pujols swung his preferred 31.5-ounce bat at a speed of 86.99 miles per hour. Ruth, on the other hand, using a 54-ounce bat, swung at an estimated speed of 75 miles an hour.

…but he swung a heavier bat and, as a result of F=MA, ended up with similar, if not superior distance.

I started thinking about this when I read some articles about Bryce Harper and how far he hit the ball. I thought it was interesting that his bat speed was so much higher than Pujols’.

…is that the naked eye is too slow to see the things that really matter. All it can see are the things that are really prominent and that stretch out over 5 or more frames. That includes squishing the bug and extension.

I have some interesting video of Pujols hitting a HR to RF that implies that he does let outside pitches travel as deep as some people think good hitters do. Instead, he hits everything in pretty much the same place, given or take maybe an inch or two (rather than a foot or two).

I’d love to go over some video with McCarver for an hour.

I bet It’d blow his mind.

…then perhaps the ratings are either being over-rated or even misinterpreted entirely.

My sense is that you want enough bat speed, but not too much.

IOW, if you see a guy being touted for his best in class bat speed, that might not be a good thing (and might even be a bad thing).

a friend of mine that he wanted a “quick bat.” So he drilled a hole in the barrel end of a bat, put in a dowel, and swung the bat trying to snap the dowel. When it did snap, Rice would replace the dowel. He was creating “whip” by trying to rapidly decelerate his hands at impact and transfer the energy of his swing to the bat head.

Just like a golfer, Rice found an exercise to learn the kinematic sequence of the swing.

The wrists just act as a hinge. If you try to fire the wrists, you are more likely to slow down the swing than speed it up due to tension.

The brightest areas would be the muscles that extend the front knee and the muscles of the core. You would also see lots of activity in the muscles of the Biceps since they maintain connection.

Because of his arm bar, Griffey has a hole in his swing that covers the inner 1/3 of the plate. He can pull this pitch foul, but not hit it fair. That is why he can hit for power but not for average.

I broke down Griffey’s swing for the Cincinnati Enquirer a year ago…

- Griffey Swing Analysis

seconded

Maybe it was just the fact he couldn’t hit a breaking ball down and away.

Thanks if someone let him know about my article (and to all for the rec’s).

Cardinals Nation ascendant! Who wants more pie???

Awesome job!

That commercial freaks me out. The scorpion contraption on Rivera’s face is incredibly creepy.

http://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/2009/08/21/mlbtv_6208615_1m.mp4