With the improvement and easy access to video the swing is beginning to change. However, the new issue I am seeing with video breakdowns and all the different color circles and lines "hitting experts" draw to show all the different angles, path, trajectory etc etc is they are making the swing more difficult then it actually is. Who said hitting is hard? Why? At the big league level hitting 300 is impressive but why is that still good at the amateur level? Hitting is hard because hitters make it hard on themselves. I have spent years trying to take what great baseball minds write/say about the swing and simplifying down to a feel that the amateur hitter can understand.
The greatest hitter to ever live was Barry Bonds. The witch hunt that ended his career and left him out of baseball until this year says that because he may/may not have used performance enhancing drugs we shouldn't talk about how great he actually was. Everyone (or most) were taking something and Bonds became the bad guy but what he took is completely irrelevant to the fact that he was the toughest out in baseball for over a decade and statistically put up the most impressive overall offensive numbers the game will ever see. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsba01.shtml
Bonds had the most efficient "short to the ball" swing of all time. The last picture is one I see all the time talking about the proper contact position. That's great but how do I do that? The sexy videos right now are of Josh Donaldson and Bryce Harper. I love watching those dudes hit but I can't do that. Trust me I've tried. I have no idea how Donaldson adjust his timing with his lower half and alters his stride and foot strike based on approach and pitch execution. I have no idea how Harper literally strides from one end of the box to the other and swings as hard as he can and hits it on the barrel more times than not. My guess is both of them have internal cues similar to this, "I'm the greatest hitter on the planet, everyone came here to watch me hit. This pitcher stinks, if he throws it over the plate I'm going to ruin his day." Why can't you have that mental self talk? No one has to know what you are thinking. Back to Bonds. He used a 34 inch bat but he choked up on it a 32.5 but it had the barrel length of a 34 inch bat. I think more than anything Bonds understood how long he could wait to swing if he stayed relaxed and confident and just tried to be accurate with his barrel. If you didn't throw bonds something he could hit on the barrel he just walked. I also think he understood that the pitcher's job is to throw the ball to the catcher not to home plate so you very rarely saw bonds chase in the dirt because as he says he was just trying to play catch with his barrel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfoXaNZQce4 He says, "the barrel has to become an extension of your arm and you have to keep your hands up. I think he says that because the closer you get your your top fist to your shoulder the quicker the shoulder can turn the barrel.
The action of turning the barrel is very similar to a boxer. Boxer's do not punch with their hands they punch with their shoulders. The shoulders are the joints that control your arms and your eyes can be accurate with these limbs if the brain gives direction to shoulders for accuracy. Watch tyson punch:
Thats the same exact shoulder turn a RHH would use to hit a low curveball. Bonds had power to all fields because he let the pitcher throw the ball to him. Even with a 32.5 inch bat if you make the pitcher throw the ball to the catcher thats plenty of bat to cover the strike zone. If you think like Bonds does about just catch the ball with your barrel it will relax your body when you go to hit and if you can't catch the ball with your barrel don't swing its not a good pitch to hit.
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