The shame of it all:

In lieu of trying to make a post without an agenda, I'd like to post this clip. Note, if you come with personal attack from any "camp" I'll delete the response. We're going to have an honest discusssion without that ****. I'll tell you what I see after some have had a chance.

Knowing we all see video differently, what do you see. Observations on any one aspect will do. That would allow this video to be broken down in several discussions. BTW, if you have one you want to submit, do so.

Hey Coach. Nothing wrong with a constructive and learned discussion. I never understand the nasties and I stay off the board more often than not lately.
I am a proponent of a closed foot, but it should and will roll over naturally. If the foot is open too soon, the hips and shoulders could be open too soon. Pujols is a hitting god.

Coach,

I see his front knee turning in and his shoulder dipping in slightly as his trigger/negative move. I then see a scap load/arm load, and slight bat tip forward. Then I see him striding opening his hips (very dynamic move, IMO) notice his front knee points away then snaps back to Pitcher. From that point is where I'm not sure what he is doing to make it happen, but he untips the bat slightly, then moves the bat head rearward. He is doing this as his hips are opening. This is just my observation or opinion, but I think when he moves the bat head rearward is what keeps his stretch and keeps his shoulders from flying off the ball. When he commits to his swing, the rubberband unwinds with extreme use of the core and the seperation of upper and lower big muscles. I think he points the knob at the expected location of the pitch and keeps that wrist angle as long as possible and then uses his hands, arms and body to adjust for any initial miscalculations of final location. The back knee will or should, IMO, stop pointing in the direction of the drive. This might be what Steve E. calls "coming off the merry go round", it kind of fits to me as far as the direction you want the energy released in. Look at it this way, if you started Pujols' swing and didn't direct it to a specific contact point and were to lift you back foot high enough, you would spin all the way around until you lost momentum.

I'm sure there are points I left out, but that's kind of close to what I see. You know...Pujols' swing has changed quite a bit since he's been in the League? I would like to see some video of his earlier swings to compare. How about that library you were talking about, LOL.

Fastball set up outside. Missed middle of the plate. Crushed to dead center.

Pujols had less of a crouch and had a higher back elbow when he came into the league.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say he lowered his elbow because of his torn UCL.

I see a great hitter hitting the **** out of a ball.

Great use of the hips,coil and rotation.Getting all his momentum moving into the ball and loading the front side.

His hands are alive and ready to attack.


I also see him staying inside the ball and keeping the front foot closed as long as possible.

He is getting to that 45 deg angle in this clip as was discussed in the other thread.


Notice the front knee just at/after contact,no way that can be good.(to the knee)

quote:

Originally posted by XV:
Fastball set up outside. Missed middle of the plate. Crushed to dead center.

Pujols had less of a crouch and had a higher back elbow when he came into the league.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say he lowered his elbow because of his torn UCL.

He also had his bat laying backwards in his pre-swing, ala Cal Ripkin during his "playing the violin" phase except that he didn't actually have the bat laying on his arm.

It's not a bad thing to experiment and make changes if they are for the better. Ted Williams did it! Remember his "Chicken flap" phase? It's all good if it gets you to your destination regularly and on time.

Notice:

• The Shoulders do not rotate backwards.
• I agree with a limited scap load. The hands do not rotate backwards and come into connection early BUT in timing with the load of the core by the front knee action. By the way, do you see Pujos showing the pitcher his front heel? This is how my daughter loads.
• Notice that a part of the load is that Pujos takes his "tilt" and tilts some more into load. This is a type or sense of putting his nose over the plate. Something that I've had on my hitting stuff for years.
• Notice that the front knee is bent, comes straight, and then goes "soft" again.
• Notice that if you put your cursor on his head, it remains there for a long time in the swing process. Also, from the front view, (Left) put your cursor on his head. Now, as he swings, notice the angle of the body but that head remains locked in place. The "tilt" is ever present.

Well, when I started this subject, this is some of the stuff I wanted to point out. However, I got busy. Powertoallfields, I hope this post is taken in the context of how it is intended without an agenda and to let you see "stuff" that I see. This would be the same "stuff" I get our hitters to do.

quote:

I was reading one of the threads and the discussion had turned down several paths. However, at one point, the conversation was on the front foot and the concept of "closed."

To me, the key question on the front foot lies not with putting a caliper to it to measure degrees of openness, or even in trying to define whether it IS open or closed. Someone looks at a 45 degree angle and sees "open," someone else looks at the same angle and sees "closed." Not real insightful.


What I think is REALLY important is what CAUSES the foot to open. And it is hard to tell in video, because you can't see what is under the covers.

But my BELIEF is that if you COULD somehow measure it, you would find that with elite hitters, the body's core muscles and the hips beginning their rotation CAUSE the front foot to open. In the case of a really great hitter like Pujols, the hips begin to rotate while his stride foot is still in the air (at least on those swings where he TAKES a stride - principle is the same on the no-stride swing though). Proving - to me at least - that the center of his body is driving / causing rotation. Not a push off of his back foot. The push might create some forward momentum. I don't see how it is going to create rotational momentum.


Regardless, it seems to me that Pujols's front foot opens when / because his hips / core are CASUING it to.

Contrast that to a less skilled hitter - the rest of the planet - who may simply stride to a position where the foot is open. Pretty typical for young hitters. The norm, basically. No power in the move, and in all probability, the core is not involved in causing it.

Meaning the openening of the front foot actually PULLS the hips slightly open, which is a lot different than the core powerfully rotating and the front foot opening because of that precipitate and causal action.


In other words, the average hitter will often stride to a position where the front foot is open, the hips have begun to open (BECAUSE the foot has), a certain percentage of the degrees of hip rotation available will have been "used up," and no real force will have been created. Wasted opportunity.


That is DECIDEDLY different than what happens for Pujols.

My $.02, anyway.

Best regards,

Scott