Morgan Ensberg

quote:

I've got my foot down right now.

Is that early enough?

Oh yea!!....you're in good shape....LOL

My foot is still down. I've lost my load. Couldn't hold it that long.

Will the ball ever get here?

Oh well, Shep tried to paint a picture.
Need LHH facing toward pitcher...

Who cares what his post season numbers were? His regular season numbers were a major reason why the Astros got to the post season.

Seams my earlier response has touched a few nerves. Sorry, it was not my intent.

Ensberg more than likely earns his keep in the MLB. This particular swing, IMHO, is suboptimum. His wrists are rolled or rolling over at contact and the ball is hit into the ground.

Low337, when you say "foot down early" what do you mean? What does getting the foot down early do for a hitter? If the player needs to get his foot down early, then pause, then swing, then why even move the foot? I am not trying to make this an emotional debate. I am on the learning curve trying to figure things out.

When the phrase "get your foot down early" is used, is its intent meant to be "get your foot down on time?"

Because, it seems like from my experience anyway, that when hitters have problems in this area, it stems from getting the foot down late (which many times is a result of not starting the load on time or "in time" with the pitcher). This problem of not "in time/on time" also seems to create other mechanical breakdowns as well (not just getting the foot down late).

Since I don't consider myself an expert, I am just posing some questions.

Does saying, "Get your foot down early" really mean "early" in relationship with timing/velocity of pitcher or is it just a "cue" used by some to aid in "getting it down on time"?

Or, does "getting it down early" really mean just that? If so, what is the advantage?

Any cue about the timing of the lead foot is bad.

The foot goes down on its own in a good swing. It is not a two step process. You don't set your foot, then swing.

You just swing, and the foot does what it needs to do.

True whether you stride or no-stride.

Those who talk foot have no clue what carrying your mass foward means. Which far better describes what happens during what most call a "stride".

Gentlemen, please don't use the terminology to your players, "get your foot down early." Get ready early is much better. If you are thinking about anything other than the ball, you are in trouble. Just get them in the good habit of getting ready early. It is better to be early than late.

Batting average is the most overrated stat in all of sports. That swing is in the top OPS in the world. He "cheats" the backside rotation by turning his back foot in at set-up. He has significant linear head movement because of his stride. Go back and look at his head move in relation to the fans in the background. He then recoils and the head goes back to where it started. At contact his back leg is in a line under his head. He strides open 45 degrees to get his hips through (& boy does he). That swing is one of the most productive swings in the world. Every year I run a regression on BA, OB, Slugging and OPS to see the r2 of each and every year OPS is much better to look at than BA. I love his swing. His inconsistency is from normal statistical variations over the year and often he stays open and doesn't close the front side down. He did that in the playoffs.

quote:

Originally posted by baseballpapa:...That swing is one of the most productive swings in the world...

Not that swing, pal.

That swing was 15th OPS in the major leagues. OPS explains plating runs more than any other stat and twice as much as BA. Would you change him and make him better? With 30 teams I believe that qualifies as a pretty productive swing. The only problem is the "experts" teach differently. "Don't move your head." "Don's stride." I have found that I could tell someone their wife is ugly and they would laugh, if I say they don't really understand baseball hitting they want to take it to the parking lot.

quote:

Any cue about the timing of the lead foot is bad.

The foot goes down on its own in a good swing. It is not a two step process. You don't set your foot, then swing.

You just swing, and the foot does what it needs to do.

True whether you stride or no-stride.

Those who talk foot have no clue what carrying your mass foward means. Which far better describes what happens during what most call a "stride".

Coiling of the hips as you stride to hit.

-----------------------------------------------
"You just swing, and the foot does what it needs to do."

That is descriptive.....






zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz broken record

Not that swing, pal.

Which swing was it that went 15th OPS? He looked pretty much like that all year to me. His two keys seemed to be (1) closing too late, or (2) not closing enough. When he closed late he couldn't hit inside, when he didn't close, outside couldn't be reached. I just think it humerous that the posts are highly critical of a very productive hitter. The scary thing is he may get better.

quote:

Originally posted by baseballpapa:
...to me.

This may be the problem.