Posted by: Teacherman () on Fri May 28 06:13:57 2004

Swing Plane,
> I agree with coach c. The swing plane depends a lot on where the ball is pitched. When at a coaching stand point I would have to say that I would say slightly downward. Reason for this is that the bat head will be in the zone longer and you have more a line drive, ground ball type swing witch is what you want to be a successful hitter. Also a downward plane toward the ball creates more backspin were as a slight uppercut causes more top spin. If you take your hands straight to the baseball you hands are moving slightly down at the ball. I feel this gives you more of a chance to be a successful hitter.
> (The great thing about the game of baseball is their are many dif. styles. If a person is hitting the baseball well is he wrong? Take edmonds for example...he has a upward path toward the ball, not a downward path like i suggested...i wouldnt dare say that he is wrong)
>
> The only place work comes before success, is in the dictionary
>
> Mr. Hustle
> I am looking for opinions.
> > > Should the swing plane be slightly down, level or slightly up???
> > >
> >
> > Just for clarification....it should be perpendicular with the spine.
> >
> > To your question...... on high pitches it will be more down to level and low pitches it will be slightly up. It depends on the height of the ball. Picture a ball coming at your chest.......would you swing up? If you are doing things correctly you would be swinging level to the ball or down even. If the ball is at your toes (not that you would swing at it, but if you did) you would be swinging slightly up. Thus swing plane is controlled by the degree of spine tilt.
> >
> > And to my original point....the swing plane is perpendicular to the spine. Great hitters......as a rule don't think about swinging up, down or level, but in fact they try to match the plane of the ball with the body. I believe the emphasis on the low strike in baseball and not the high strike has given people the illusion that we should swing slightly up on all pitches. This is not correct for all pitches. The MLB game is over-flowing today with great low ball hitters......ie....slightly up, but these swings would look different to you if they swung at a strike at the letters (they don't call that pitch for a strike though).
> >
> > Coach C

Please define downward path. Almost all swings start down (hands are at armpit and go to contact which is usually between the waist and knee; obviously lower than where they started) but they end up going up. How does that happen? No arm extension. Good rotation. Maintain the box.

99% of all mlb players have an upwards swing plane. Avoid down at all cost.