Squishing Bugs?

We've all heard this one before, "Squish that bug!" referring to pivoting your back foot when swinging. I'm not really sure where it came from, but it seems silly to me making all those unsightly holes in the field. Squishing the bug is an inefficient movement because of the following. First, it moves the center of gravity of the hitter lower and too far back, making it difficult to reach out in front of the plate for extension. Second, it's slow due to the the friction between cleats and ground providing resistance, and not allowing the hips to move as fast as they could. Three, and most importantly, it breaks the kinematic sequence. By squishing the bug, it is impossible to separate the rotation of the hips and shoulders. They instead rotate at the same time, making the hitter use their arms a lot more, resulting in slower batspeed. See what happens when you squish the bug versus kicking <here>. Squishing the bug causes the centre of gravity of the hitter to move backwards over the back foot. Kicking keeps the hitter's centre of gravity in one place, therefore being able to rotate about the hitter's spine. And since the bat head is supposed to move forward towards the pitcher, it is counter productive to have the centre of gravity to be going in the opposite direction towards the catcher. See how much farther the hitter can reach, relative to the tee in Figure 1 below, when the centre of gravity stays still (aka extension).

a)

b)

Figure 1: Differences in position of centre of gravity in squishing a), and kicking b). In a) the hitter's center of gravity is much farther back than in b), and her bat is therefore not able to reach forward as far relative to the tee. Click to enlarge images.

To overcome friction between cleats and ground, we can avoid it all together by having our back foot in the air! No contact, means no friction, means quicker movement. By "kicking" your back foot forward, it keeps the rotation of your hips tighter aka quicker. Also, by kicking forward, you are driving against your front leg for more power, much like throwing a ball, or pitching.

As mentioned before, it's impossible to separate the rotation of your shoulders and hips when you squish the bug. But why? From the kinematic sequence we know that it starts from the feet, moves to the hips, then shoulders then hands. Squishing the bug is a movement initiated by the hips, in the middle of the sequence. Try wringing a towel out by holding the top still and wringing out the bottom. See how the towels twists gradually starting from the bottom moving up, like a nice kinematic sequence. Now hold the top and bottom still and have someone grab the middle of the towel and start twisting. See how the towel twists above and below the initial rotation at the same time, just like squishing the bug.

Note #1: Even though we're using our hips for power, we're not actually "using" them in the sense that we are using those muscles. We must make sure the kicking action initiates the hip rotation, not the hip rotation causing the kicking. Since the hip muscles are bigger, they cannot move as fast as the foot and knee. By using the hip muscles to kick the foot creates a slower, more sweeping movement with the hips.

Note #2: There is an intermediate movement to kicking the foot and hip rotation called "the elvis." It's when the hips shift forward towards the pitcher before starting to rotate, creating a tilt with the upper body, it's also the start of loading the hands. As the hips shift forward, it makes it easier and almost automatic for the back foot to kick forward. Figure 2 below shows first a hitter's load and then elvis.

a)

b)

Figure 2: Hitter first loads hands a), then shifts her hips forward b). This shift is called the elvis, and creates a good angle from the front hip to the head. Click to enlarge images

Making Adjustments cont

Continuing with the adjustments theme, if we create a swing which can make adjustments efficiently, it will yield better results. From the previous post we learned that loading your hands back away from the pitcher creates a more gentle slope downwards, thus making it easier to bring them back up as an adjustment. Loading also lets the back elbow be in the right position close to the body when the hips and shoulders rotate around, called "slotting the elbow." This position lets your hands stay still relative to the body for as long as possible. This is an efficient movement because your body can replicate it for every swing no matter where the pitch is, rather than "throwing your hands" at any different pitch in the strike zone, which has a much larger margin for error.

So how do we hit pitches in different locations? We do this by adjusting shoulder and torso angles. Changing the angle of your torso and/or shoulders by a few degrees translates into a much larger change in the angle of your bat as shown in Figure 1. By changing the angle of your torso, your hands don't have to move as far up and down to hit pitches at different heights.


a)


b)

Figure 1: Adjustment of shoulder and torso angle to low a) and high b) pitches. Note how the hitter's back elbow is slotted, close but not touching the body, and pointing to the pitcher, not over the plate. Click to enlarge images.

Figure 1 a) and b) shows how much of range you can get with your bat just with changing the angle of your torso and shoulders. This angle is first initiated in the hitter's stance, and refers to the line from the belly button to the head leaning in towards the plate as shown in Figure 2. More lean is better for dropballs, less lean is better for riseballs. Referring back to the 5 questions, we know that pitch height is one of the first questions we can answer. Approximately within the first 10 feet the ball has traveled, we can already tell where the ball will end up. At this point, the brain has already decided how much lean the torso needs, and from here adjustments are made by the arms.

a)


b)

Figure 2: Differences in angle of torso in a hitter's stance. More lean a) is better for dropball pithcers, less lean b) is better for riseball pitchers. Click to enlarge images

Note #1: To make life easier, it's a good idea to start with a lean in your stance like in Figure 2 a), giving you less of a distance to go as the pitch is coming. Trying to lean in and rotate at the same time causes the batter to have too much weight on their toes and fall over. Having a lean in your stance also helps in getting your elbow slotted.

Note #2: By having a stance like this we are somewhat sacrificing not being able to hit the riseball very well. But since the strike zone is from the bottom of the sternum to the knees, we need to be able to hit more low pitches than high. Leaning over in your stance makes hitting dropballs easier because your hands don't have to drop as much to hit the ball. However, to hit a riseball, your hands and elbow must extend upwards faster in order to straighten your shoulders out and get the bat more level with the ground. So, if you're facing a riseball pitcher it would be a good idea to start more upright, making it easier for your hands to get above the ball.

The horizontal plane is much more simple. The only difference in hitting an outside to an inside pitch is how far you let your shoulders rotate before snapping your wrists. Again, see how much range the bat head has just by rotating your shoulders and not moving your hands <here>.

Making Adjustments

The order in which a batter reacts to a pitch is this: the eyes see the ball released, sends a message to the brain telling it where the ball is going, the brain tells the body to swing, then the body swings in the way it was taught, after all those long hours of batting practice of course. But, from the point of release our eyes only have an idea of where the ball is going to be. Only as the ball gets closer can we pinpoint where the ball is actually going to be. Therefore, as the brain processes the information from the eyes (answering the 5 questions) it has to give the body corrections or adjustments from it's original messages. And given a 65mph fastball takes .420sec to get to the plate, this relay of signals often doesn't happen fast enough in order to hit the ball square.

However, if we are able to watch the ball come in, and delay moving our hands, the ball will be easier to hit. Due to inertia, our hands (and the bat) want to keep going in the direction in which they started on, so once our hands start to move forward, it will be harder to change their direction. Those who have ever been fooled by a change up know that once your swing has started coming through it's really hard to slow down to hit the ball. So contrary to popular belief of "throwing your hands at the ball," it's far more efficient to load your hands, keep them still as long as possible, and bring them to the same position every time. Loading your hands, also creates separation between the lower and upper body, aka the X Factor Stretch and more power.

See the difference between loading and not loading your hands <here>. Since the hands, and thus bat head, must drop to hit the ball, not loading your hands creates a sharper angle downwards as shown in Figure 1 below. And what we know from inertia, once your hands start moving down, they're going to want to keep moving down, therefore making it harder to bring them back up fast enough. But, if we create a less steep angle downwards, making the adjustment to bring them back up for a rise ball will be easier.

Figure 1: Flowchart of hands during swing, with and without loading. The blue lines create a less steep angle between each other than the red lines, therefore making it easier to make the adjustment to the higher pitch.

A Hitter's Golden Rules (to date)

These are a hitter's golden rules, these rules are incontrovertible at all times. All mechanics aside, these are concepts based on biomechanics and physics. Can't really argue with those two.

1) The lower and farther outside the ball is, the farther back you must hit it in your stance. Your arms can only reach so far, don't make them reach out front as well as outside unless you want to ground out all day.

2) The faster the ball is going, the less it drops. Therefore, you must swing higher than you think you should to hit faster pitching.

Rule 1 confirms why change ups are most effective when thrown outside and low. Not only must the hitter wait because it's traveling slower, but wait because a low outside change can only be hit hard when hit to the opposite field, or farther back in the hitter's stance. Saying this, the odd change up thrown on the inside part of the plate is not a bad thing either. Often hitter's with circular swings won't be able to keep an inside change in fair territory.

Faster pitchers use these rules to their advantage, as they are more effective in the vertical plane. Such that, a drop ball will be thrown with more velocity because of the combination of gravity and spin [down spin+gravity=drop]. Whereas a riseball won't be thrown with as much velocity because it is fighting gravity. It will still appear to be faster though because it drops less [rise spin+gravity=0]. Therefore a hitter must hit a riseball more out in front (opposite of rule 1), giving less time to react.

So how can slower pitchers be effective? Well, since the ball is moving slower, hitters will tend to be ahead in their timing. In doing so, the bat is already through the "good" contact zone and coming around the body aka rolling over. Rolling over (your wrists) results in hitting the top of the ball and grounding out. Also, slower pitching tends to make hitters lunge at the ball. This lunging action lowers the center of gravity, and in turn, the hands. So, if the bat was going down already, it will go even lower, causing you to be under the ball and pop up. Another thing a slower pitcher can do is make the ball move more. Since the ball is moving slower, gravity has more time to act on it. So, with the combination of spin and gravity, a pitcher can really make that drop ball "fall off the table".

Accordingly, as a hitter it's always a good idea to stand in the back of the box in order to see the ball travel and spin as long as possible. For slower pitchers, to take away the element of waiting, try crowding the plate instead of automatically moving up in the box. While moving up in the box makes the pitcher seem faster, giving you less time to react, crowding the plate lets you hit the ball more out in front of the plate. And since slower pitchers are less likely to throw inside to hitters, getting jammed is a lesser factor to take into account.

Also, as a side note to rule 2, if you succeed in getting your hands high enough on a riseball pitcher and hit a line drive or grounder, that pitcher will be less likely to throw you another riseball, taking away her best pitch. Because if you are able to get your bat over top of the rise, then you're sure able to match it and hit it a long ways.

So we've learned that low outside pitches need to be hit farther back in our stance, and in order to hit faster pitching you must swing higher than you think you need to. So for all you pitchers out there, work batters in sequences of low outside and high inside pitches since those two have the most discrepancy in timing. Whereas low inside pitches and high outside pitches have roughly the same timing.

5 Questions

As the ball is released from the pitcher's hand, before we hit the ball the brain has to process some information in order to react correctly and get the bat in the right position to hit. There are 5 questions the brain answers automatically in this order:

1) How fast is it going?
Is it a change up or fastball? We must see the difference between the two, either from the release seeing the back of the hand, or a change in the pitchers motion in order to not be fooled and transfering our weight too far on the front foot. The quicker one can pick up the change up, the easier he can stop his body and wait (keeping the front heel off the ground).

2) Where is it going?
Is it a high or low pitch? This is the next thing you are able to see, because of the way the ball is (usually) projected. High pitches are easier to see than low pitches from release.

3) How is it going to get there?
Seen from differentiating between spins. Although an artform that requires practice, the skill of seeing spin is one that is most valuable that separates good hitters from great hitters.

4) Where is it going?
Is it an inside or outside pitch? This question is answered last because spin often doesn't dictate location on the plate, and since the plate is only 18 inches wide it's harder to distinguish exactly where the ball is going.

5) Where is the ball going to end up when I am able to contact it?
Finally, after all the other questions are answered you have a pretty good idea where the ball is going to be and whether it is a good pitch to hit. And if it is a good pitch to hit, how to position your body in a way to hit it.

Those who can answer these questions the fastest, or have some of them answered before the pitch occurs (having a pick) are obviously at an advantage. Conversely, the pitcher is at an advantage if she can hide her pitches, keeping her body and arm motions similar, and starting pitches on the same plane, having the spin take the ball in different directions.

So how do we do this? Well personally I like having a pick on the pitcher before I even start (more on how to do that later). If I have the change picked for example, it eliminates the surprise of a slower pitch, and all I have to do is react to location. It also eliminates 1 out of a pitcher's 4 pitches, I like a 1 in 3 chance of guessing what a pitch is instead of a 1 in 4 chance.

Seeing the pitcher's hand at release is also important in gathering information about a pitch. Focus in on the hip at release and differentiate between a rise, drop and change. Catchers should be good at this, and those obsessive batters who stand in on their own pitchers all the time.

Finally, by having a good scouting report on a pitcher or figuring out some tendencies throughout the game can give you some answers to these questions. After all, pitchers are predictable, and will throw what is comfortable to them.

Newton Had It Right

All initial body positions or movements in a swing will affect subsequent movements later in that swing. A swing is like a flow chart as shown in Figure 1, there are many ways to get to the end (contact), but those who stay along the most efficient path will have to make fewer adjustments mid swing, and therefore have a better success rate of solid contact. As Newton said, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every movement creates another in the opposite direction to keep the hitter in balance.


Figure 1: Flowchart which represents what occurs during a swing. The path made by the green arrows is the most efficient path, while the red path is a less efficient path. The first movement of striding outwards caused the hitter to stray away from the efficient path and therefore caused him to make the subsequent inefficient movements. Click to enlarge image

The flow chart in Figure 1 is only a particular situation, there are many ways in which a hitter can stray away from the most efficient path to contact. This chart shows that because the hitter steps away from the plate, each successive movement is to compensate for the imbalance. The hips follow the feet away from the plate, and in turn the arms have to straighten out in the opposite direction towards the plate to get back to contact. This chart also shows that because the red path isn't straight, it intersects the contact zone at one point. Much like the circular and elliptical swing concept, the more efficient green path travels through the whole contact zone while the red path only intersects it once, yielding a lower rate of success. The contact zone being the batter's ability to time the pitch, and the longer that the bat and ball are on the same path the better chance the bat will contact the ball.

So next time you're trying to diagnose a swing, work "backward". Or in other words, see the result that is the problem, and work from the beginning. Too often coaches try to make adjustments to the hands and upper body while ignoring the lower body. Trying to make sense of the flow chart from the end is not always easy to do. It all starts with the feet, trace the series of events from start to finish, and often you'll see there is an underlying reason for a hitter's troubles.