A-Rod's Mechanics

[Comm]

Is he Linear or Rotational?

[jalbert]

I think he is Rotinear

when will this debate end?

on second thought, maybe he is lineational

[swingbuster]

linear with a great upper body loading pattern and lots of hand torque and leverage

[Comm]

linear with a great upper body loading pattern and lots of hand torque and leverage

Linear? What about in this pic?

http://i.cnn.net/si/2003/baseball/mlb/12/17/arod.contract.ap/p1_arod_ap.jpg

How could he Generate Enough power using Linear Mechanics?

[swingbuster]

A still doesn't show his head over belt buckle stride length...his back side release...he has a strong linear move

we all know he rotates to ....

that still doesn't show what his hands do either prior to contact

[hellborn]

Is he Linear or Rotational?

I think that these terms roughly correspond to "front foot" and "back foot" hitters...and I would definitely call ARod a front foot hitter. There are plenty of tremendous power hitters who have used this style, such as Gehrig, Foxx, Juan Gone, and Big Hurt. These guys tend to bring their upper bodies over the front leg as they swing, as opposed to pushing back off the front leg during the stride and having a more stationary upper body, like Ruth, Hack Wilson, Williams, Bagwell, etc. If you have access to a copy of "Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball", there are some good photos of Ruth and Gehrig that illustrate the distinction well. Clearly, both types of hitter are using their legs and trunk to bring the bat around with authority, just in slightly different ways.
I know that the real hitting experts here can probably tear my simpleton statements apart in detail, but this is how I understand things. I have heard some experts suggest that the "linear" or "front foot" style might tend to develop at an early age from kids using adult bats that are very heavy for them, as they need to throw their whole bodies forward to get the bat going, as opposed to whipping a lighter bat around.

[Chris O'Leary]

L/R Judgement Varies From Pitch To Pitch

When judging whether someone is linear or rotational, you have to look at the pitch. Their mechanics will change slightly depending on whether they get fooled by the pitch. You also have to know if a picture is pre or post-contact.

In other words, a guy who is rotational on fastballs can look linear if he gets fooled by a change-up. Of course, that is the point of off-speed pitches; to screw up hitters and take them out of their comfort zone.

To turn a rotational hitter into a linear (arm-y, ground ball) hitter.

I try to evaluate guys based on the same pitch in the same general location.

[GFK]

Jeff, what about curvelinear (sp)?

[Mark H]

Front foot back foot linear rotational. And I've been steering others to this board as the best hitting discussion on the net. :noidea


How about you guys pick out some clips that illustrate what you are trying to use these terms to mean? And do a search on here for those terms as well.

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/pro

http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/swings.html

[Chris O'Leary]

I think that these terms roughly correspond to "front foot" and "back foot" hitters...and I would definitely call ARod a front foot hitter.

Wouldn't a pure rotational hitter look like a front foot hitter if he got fooled by the pitch? Wouldn't his mechanics break down?

[Mark H]

All of you. Stop it. Just stop it. Quit mucking things up and confusing newbies with baffling bs and pointless picky boring questions and go back and read everything on here, on setpro and get Englishbey's DVD's.

[Chris O'Leary]

How about you guys pick out some clips that illustrate what you are trying to use these terms to mean? And do a search on here for those terms as well.

I think this clip of Aaron illustrates what some could describe as a front foot (or even a linear) swing...



The main difference seems to be that, while his front leg is stiffening, his torso is relatively more upright than the other clips on those pages. He's also more arm-y than most.

However, I believe that this could be due to the pitch being a change-up rather than a fundamental characteristic of his swing. I have seen lots of photos of Albert Pujols and while he generally looks really good, if he gets fooled by a pitch his swing starts to resemble my standard swing. ;-)

I would have to see more clips to get a sense of anyone's general tendency.

[Mark H]

"Wouldn't a pure rotational hitter look like a front foot hitter if he got fooled by the pitch? Wouldn't his mechanics break down?"


Aaarrgghh. Maybe I need to take a vacation from these discussions. I'm out of patience and even Scott is beginning to fray. The anwer to your question is maybe but so what. Front foot back foot are bs marketing terms Lau came up with to sell his stuff.

[Mark H]

I think this clip of Aaron illustrates what some could describe as a front foot (or even a linear) swing...



The main difference seems to be that, while his front leg is stiffening, his torso is relatively more upright than the other clips on those pages. He's also more arm-y than most.

However, I believe that this could be due to the pitch being a change-up rather than a fundamental characteristic of his swing. I have seen lots of photos of Albert Pujols and why he generally looks really good, if he gets fooled by a pitch his swing starts to resemble my standard swing. ;-)

I would have to see more clips to get a sense of his general tendency.

OK, good effort. You posted while I was posting the preceding. I feel much better now. Now, how about a MLB clip where a hitter doesn't unweight the back foot.

[Chris O'Leary]

Now, how about a MLB clip where a hitter doesn't unweight the back foot.

I've never seen one (in a pro), which goes to your point that the idea of front foot hitters and back foot hitters is a largely meaningless distinction.