The Baseball Observer - May/ June 2016
Want to Hit? - Stop Swinging Down!
You do not swing down or “chop down” on the ball. This technique was popular in the 90’s. There are coaches and "hitting instruction" web sites that still teach this method of hitting. It's wrong - Why?
Here are three simple facts about a pitched baseball:
• The pitching rubber is 10 inches above the ground therefore the
pitcher is elevated/ above the batter so to throw to the strike zone
he has to throw down.
• Once the ball leaves the pitchers hand gravity starts pulling the ball
down along with the effects of air pressure, humidity, wind, etc.
• Once the ball leaves the pitchers hand it is at its peak velocity. As it
travels toward the plate it begins to decelerate at approximately
1 mph for each 7 feet of travel from the pitchers hand (“The Physics
of Baseball" by Robert K. Adair, Sterling Professor of Physics, Yale
University). As it decelerates – it drops.
By the time the ball crosses the plate it’s actually traveling diagonally down at about -10 degrees.
" The ideal swing is not level and is not down..." The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams & John Underwood.
Since the ball is traveling at a downward angle of at least 10 degrees when it crosses the plate does it really make sense to also swing down to make solid contact? Well, NO - and high speed video confirms it. Take a look at a snippet from ESPN’s Sports Science video “The Physics of Hitting a Baseball” with Nomar Garciaparra - the video confirms that major league hitters have a slight upward swing angle at contact.
by The Baseball Observer
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