Will "The Thrill" Clark!!!

Flip,

My college coach was at MSU while Will and Raffy were there. I was fortunate to talk hitting with Will on several occasions.

He talked about pulling batting practice type FBs foul early in the game so he would get them late in the game.

I loved watching him hit.

I agree he was a lot of fun to watch.

Maybe the most linear hitter I've seen make the big leagues.

Poor hip rotation.

Hip slide/weight shift only.

Swing path out of shoulder plane.

Downward swing arc.

Linear hand path.

But, had a very good career.

I hate you redbird!!!!

Jason

Coach Peavy would call that full transfer hitting. It looked like it went a long way too

Thanks for what you do for the sites Jason....you too Sandman. We all benefit from your guys I.T. knowledge that you share willingly

Will Clark was one of the most amazingly consistent hitters in baseball for a long time. Watching the clips sure does reveal some interesting things. I didn't remember him staying that closed.

He starts closed and strides more closed ..hits the ball out front. His hands are hidden all the time . G Brett like with more upright

quote:

Originally posted by Linear:
Maybe the most linear hitter I've seen make the big leagues.

Poor hip rotation.

Hip slide/weight shift only.

Swing path out of shoulder plane.

Downward swing arc.

Linear hand path.

But, had a very good career.

OK, nobody would bite.

So, I'll get something started.

The .gif that is playing shows almost completely different mechanics than the links.

The .gif is very linear. Long stride to a more open foot. Linear hand path, swing plane does not match shoulder turn plane, linear weight shift poor hip rotation. etc etc.

But, the links show him striding to a closed front foot, much more rotational, swing plane matches shoulder turn plane. Better front leg involvement.

.gif is dated 1989. He's almost upright in this swing. With no bend at the waist the only place he can be rotational is on a pitch at the letters. So, he's upright, pitch is low, without posture adjustments he has to disconnnect.

Other dates vary from 1987 - 1989. Much more bend at the waist.

Intersting. Much better/different posture in the links.

I'll nibble. In the gif in the original post, there is a lot of forward head movement, but in the side view 1987 HR, the head hardly moves at all (postion your cursor on his head in both clips, and you'll see what I mean). Amazing he was able to track a pitch with that much head movement.

I don't see the same thing. Watch his head in relation to the crowd. Moves a good distance in both clips.

You are being fooled by the camera movement. Watch the left side of the picture and see how much the camera moves. At the end you see alot more of the dugout than you could at the beginning.

Always was a long strider.

quote:

without posture adjustments he has to disconnnect.

where do you see disconnect? splain

In the animated gif, the swing plane and the shoulder turn plane are not the same or parallel. This is one form of disconnection.

The bat is not getting the full benefit of energy created by the shoulder rotation because the arms are taking the bat in a different direction than what the shoulders are turning.

They are working against each other instead of with each other.

With a bend at the waist posture, he can make the swing plane and the shoulder turn plane the same.

Small adjustments in the tilt of your spine (inch or so) makes large adjustments in the bat.

So, to get to the various pitch heights and locations make a spinal tilt adjustment versus an arm adjustment.

With his upright posture in the .gif, he can only hit a letter high pitch and keep his swing and shoulders in the same plane.

Maybe he just made one hell of an adjustment with his arms on this swing. The others indicate he has better posture.

My question is why did he lose so much of his bend this time and not all the others.

Shoulder turn plane = \ (this is too steep but it's all my keyboard can do; change it to approx a 45 degree angle. This represents the edge of a disk that is perpendicular to the spine. The top of this, >, is closer to the proper angle of his shoulder turn plane.

Swing plane = / (again, a little too steep but not much). This represents the edge of his swing plane. Maybe the top of this, <, is closer to his swing plane.

Both should be \\.

He starts the swing off pretty good, but when those arms extend he changes the swing plane. Linear arm movement and it disconnects them from the power source. Shoulders going one way, arms another.

If he'd have tilted over more, he could have gotten to this ball and kept his arms in the same plane as the power supply.

quote:

He starts the swing off pretty good, but when those arms extend he changes the swing plane. Linear arm movement and it disconnects them from the power source. Shoulders going one way, arms another

I understand the swing plane being perp to spine. I did not notice his arms going long. But now that you pointed it out I see it. I did not know that was a form of disconnect

I do notice at practice when I say "posture " the ball goes much harder.

About my typos and missing words... its an ADD symptom. I don't balance my check book either.

My school teachers didn't like it either

Thanks

Thanks for posting these - always loved to watch the thrill...

BTW - yes that is his first career home run in the first clip - off of Nolan Ryan no less...

All the analysis in the world, whether you like his swing plane, stance, where his head goes, his rotation or the asjustments he made with his hands doesn't change the fact that he hit 303 in a long MLB career. He had TALENT, which supercedes any mechanical "flaw" you might point out.

quote:

Originally posted by Baseballdad1228:
All the analysis in the world, whether you like his swing plane, stance, where his head goes, his rotation or the asjustments he made with his hands doesn't change the fact that he hit 303 in a long MLB career. He had TALENT, which supercedes any mechanical "flaw" you might point out.

Obvious..... The point of the analysis is to understand this swing, not denegrate Clark.

It also makes someone who has no clue feel better about having no clue.

No clue - everyone's got an opinion. That's ok.

I was making a point that talent overcomes flaws.

Now go back and buzz phrase away.

Baseballdad1228, this is a discussion on mechanics, not a critique of the hitter. No one is implying that Will Clark was not a great hitter, just discussing the way he swings the bat.

My two cents are that you don't see weight-shifters like him any more (maybe Sean Casey?), and it's for the better. For every Will Clark, there were hundreds of guys who were held back trying to "shift into their firm front side" and all the other Lau stuff taught in the 80's and early 90's. That move makes it harder to swing the bat and does not supply more power.

The easiest way is to keep the center of gravity in place and rotate, not shift it forward.