Velocity vs. Lift

[Sox 42]

When I was playing high school + military it was always hit the ball HARD somewhere.  Then I read or heard Dewey Evans remark about a homer in Detroit (1-0 sox) that his homer would have been a single at Fenway.  Today we are all eat up about velocity off the bat.  That is great except hard grounders and line drives are often caught for outs.  It is my belief swings should be altered a bit so lift is encouraged.  Anthony especially might benefit.  Barrel contact is still essential but swing angle might result in more extra base hits instead of WOW velocity singles.

[Bellhorn04]

Launch angle is a big thing, isn't it?

As for Anthony, I would leave him alone, he seems to have a good idea what he's doing.

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Launch angle is a big thing, isn't it?

As for Anthony, I would leave him alone, he seems to have a good idea what he's doing.

Thats clearly who we are talking about and thats the next step in development

There are a couple schools of thought on this, none of which preach to sacrifice launch angle for velocity.  They are actually correlated.  You get both when you meet the ball out in front (pull) and this is the desired outcome....HOWEVER....A lot of coaches preach up the middle.  Its not because youd rather go up the middle than pull.  Its so if you are a little early you pull, a little late opposite field.

So up the middle approach gives you a little forgiveness.  This is why many players hit "mistake HRs", looking to go up the middle, but a bit too early can be great, jsut keep it fair.

When you pull (and connect) you get natural loft and velocity, the problem is if you are pulling then you are meeting the ball out in front and susceptible to late break and chaneups. Which is why the whiffs come along with the pull approach.  Also, you are probably more likely to skim the top of a sinker when out in front,  get jammed, trex arms...All of that......But your OPS on cleanly hit batted balls is higher when you pull.  BUt your cleanly hit batted ball rate is lower when you pull because if you stay back, you get more time to assess where the pitch is going.  But you wont get nearly as much loft or power.  So do you want to barrel more balls or send the ones that you do barrel farther?

Very few players have had a stay back approach.  Most oppo hitters are using an up the middle approach but erring on the side of contact over loft, so slapping balls oppo.  Theres a reason theres only been one king of this (Tony Gwynn).

[drewski6]

Of course, things like the count, the pitcher, the pitch, the park dimensions play a large role.  For example, if you are in a park with a deep OF and you try to pull an outside pitch , its gonna die unless you are in the top 3% in strength.

[mvp 78]

15 hours ago, Sox 42 said:

When I was playing high school + military it was always hit the ball HARD somewhere.  Then I read or heard Dewey Evans remark about a homer in Detroit (1-0 sox) that his homer would have been a single at Fenway.  Today we are all eat up about velocity off the bat.  That is great except hard grounders and line drives are often caught for outs.  It is my belief swings should be altered a bit so lift is encouraged.  Anthony especially might benefit.  Barrel contact is still essential but swing angle might result in more extra base hits instead of WOW velocity singles.

Isn't this just what Dewey is talking about? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOU9g3TULgg

I'm not sure Dewey is really talking about the Sox pushing exit velocity over launch angle. Give me hard line drives over a lazy fly ball any day.