Are there really absolutes in hitting?

quote:

I wonder to what extent the change in pitching has altered the K/inning ratio. In earler times, a pitcher may have started 45 games during the season, and completed 41 of them. Today, a starter is asked to go 6 innings and give way to a fresh arm. Batters face fresher arms today, and I'm guessing those arms have a better arsenal of pitches.

Wayback, I believe pitching may have had an impact but to what extent we'll never really know. On the other side of the coin an argument could be made that many of todays big time power hitters have compiled most of those numbers against middle inning relief pitchers.

NYdad, Merry Christmas!

Here are the pitchers Barry Bonds hit homeruns off of last year. Sorry, I couldn't find statistics for his whole career, though I'm sure that xists somewhere.

Date Vrs Number Pitcher Inning Distance and where hit

Apr 22, 2006 @ COL 1 Aaron Cook 1 373 ft. to L
Apr 25, 2006 NYM 2 Steve Trachsel 2 400 ft. to L
Apr 26, 2006 NYM 3 Billy Wagner 9 410 ft. to LC
May 02, 2006 SD 4 Scott Linebrink 8 440 ft. to C
May 07, 2006 @ PHI 5 Jon Lieber 6 450 ft. to RC
May 20, 2006 @ OAK 6 Brad Halsey 2 390 ft. to RC
May 28, 2006 COL 7 Byung-Hyun Kim 4 445 ft. to RC
Jun 05, 2006 FLA 8 Brian Moehler 5 415 ft. to C
Jun 14, 2006 @ ARI 9 Jose Valverde 9 370 ft. to R
Jun 16, 2006 @ SEA 10 Felix Hernandez 2 462 ft. to RC
Jun 24, 2006 OAK 11 Dan Haren 1 425 ft. to RC
Jul 07, 2006 @ LAD 12 Chad Billingsley 3 420 ft. to RC
Jul 16, 2006 PHI 13 Brett Myers 6 395 ft. to LC
Jul 20, 2006 SD 14 Brian Sweeney 8 420 ft. to C
Aug 04, 2006 COL 15 Jeff Francis 7 410 ft. to C
Aug 16, 2006 @ SD 16 Chan Ho Park 2 401 ft. to RC
Aug 21, 2006 ARI 17 Livan Hernandez 4 410 ft. to R
Aug 29, 2006 @ ATL 18 Tim Hudson 1 410 ft. to C
Aug 29, 2006 @ ATL 19 Tim Hudson 6 410 ft. to C
Sep 02, 2006 @ CHC 20 Sean Marshall 4 360 ft. to R
Sep 03, 2006 @ CHC 21 Les Walrond 8 376 ft. to LC
Sep 04, 2006 @ CIN 22 Aaron Harang 8 375 ft. to RC
Sep 09, 2006 SD 23 David Wells 1 430 ft. to RC
Sep 13, 2006 COL 24 Brian Fuentes 9 390 ft. to LC
Sep 22, 2006 @ MIL 25 Chris Spurling 6 410 ft. to C
Sep 23, 2006 @ MIL 26 Chris Capuano 3 390 ft. to RC

Not a very impressive list

A couple of thoughts:

I recently listened while a person commented on the use of video for personal instruction. The comments were very valid to this thread given the context of the swing. First, most people can't tell you what they did in an athletic event or why they did it accurately. It has to do with the mind's ablity to function based upon the multiple demands upon the human brain. Thus, video. Most people are shocked that at what really transpired in an athetic event versus what their brain says. (Nothing new) but a necessary statement for his thread. Use then of video must rely not only on the viewing of such event but must also rely on "the whole" of the presentation. In other words, a simple clip of 3 seconds can't tell the story. This is why I just purchased a RVP program. HOWEVER, that doesn't go much further in telling the "whole story." 'Bluedog, Shep, et. al. produce a multitude of video for us all. It is much appreciated. Teacherman et. al. then use programs such as RVP to analyse said video. The point made in the presentation I went to warned against any of this citing that no two brains are alike, no two muscle structures are a like... He further stated that no two piches are alike and only similar. When the brain reacts in factors quicker than tenths of a second, similar simply isn't good enough.

Bored yet?

Well, simply put, this presentor, and I'm really struggling with his name but he ISN'T A BASEBALL PERSON, states that there are absolutes. Those absolutes are unique to each individual. However, those absolutes are necessary to the success of that individual. Well then how do you help that person? Take a "base" (which I've always believe in) and use this as a starting point. However, "cookie cutter" won't work and so you must allow for changes off of that "base." You should then be able to discern a couple of (Perhaps no more than 2 given points of reference) segments in the swing that would measure (I didn't understand how) favorably with successful hitters. Note, he didn't say MLB hitters.

One further observation was added. The agenda of the person interpreting the video will always "skew" the results. Now, I have to say I busted out laughting at that one. Reference so many arguments on this site and others. Instead, when referencing video find commonalities (which I interpret to be base) and move from there if you want to help hitters and or pitchers.

He used a basketball analogy to wrap up the presentation. (A little disappointing but accurate.) The examples he used were Andrew Toney of the Philadelphia 76s and Jamal Wilkes of the Los Angles Lakers who both played in the 70s. He cited their shooting abilities as measured on what the perception of a "good shooter" was.

Just a little food for thought for all of us.

I think I threw the brochure away. If I find it, I'll cite some "stats" from it. I didn't understand them but some of you might.

Coach, beginning to sound like there are absolutes, however, there are not absolutes........

Alot like a stock market analyst saying the market will go up, of course, unless it goes down.....

Used to watch Andrew Toney play at U of L, knee brace and all.....

Lou Gehrig's Voice in live audio of farewell speech with pics>click