Max Kepler Looks To Bonds For Hitting Inspiration

[Bark's Lounge]

I can't fault a guy like Kepler to seek out advice or tutelage from a guy like Barry Bonds.

 

Baggage and controversy put aside, Bond's was by far the best hitter I have every seen play the game. The fear of Bonds coming to the plate changed games in ways I never thought were imaginable.

 

Saying that, Barry Bonds is BARRY BONDS, and Max Kepler is well, um, Max Kepler.

 

That's not a shot at Kepler, he is a very talented man, but Bonds did things that many super talented ball players couldn't do. If it works for Kepler great, if not, keep an open mind kid.

[mickeymental]

ich bin ein berliner.

[jimbo92107]

I'll trust Kepler's judgement for a very simple reason: He's a dedicated student of the game, and he has gotten better each year. The technique Kepler is attempting to perfect is a mental model that either will help him, or not. Regardless how Kepler translates or mis-translates this meme through his verbal description, the results will be revealed in how well he hits in games. The only important interpretation is between Kepler's head and his hands. If he's onto a good technique, then he'll be mashing screaming line drives with backspin. If he winds up pounding weak grounders to the second baseman, then it'll be time to tinker with his grand theory. 

[GP830]

Maybe by referring to him as Berlin Bonds we can will him into actually becoming Berlin Bonds.

[old nurse]

Sweet spot on the bat meets ball.  Flat or uppercut doesn't matter if there is not the proper contact.  When there becomes enough Statcast data the good professor Nathan will have the variables bat speed, swing plane, exit velocity and launch angles optimized.

 

[Willihammer]

 

Kepler (and those interested) should read this:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/j-d-martinez-debunks-conventional-wisdom-thinks-a-tipping-point-is-near/

 

It freaking quotes this thread....nice job TD!

And the follow up today:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-cure-for-the-home-run-era/

[Willihammer]

If JD Martinez is right, then pitchers are starting to counter the uppercut swing with high four seemers. A level swing should do better against those than an uppercut.

[Ghost_Of_Sid_Hartman]

 

Look at the uppercut on this kid.

 

http://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/40/68/1081434051-1395768241000-Batter-Up-Charlie-Brown-cov.jpg

That Charlie Brown kid reminds me of a young Joe Shlabotnik. I remember when he played for the Saints, then the Millers, and finally the old St. Cloud Rox...Let me tell you, no one knew anything about launch angles in those days. Back then it was "see the ball, hit the ball", that's what's wrong with the game today.

[Brock Beauchamp]

And the follow up today:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-cure-for-the-home-run-era/

Somewhere out there, Scott Baker is crying that his career was cut short by injury.

[Parker Hageman]

 

If JD Martinez is right, then pitchers are starting to counter the uppercut swing with high four seemers. A level swing should do better against those than an uppercut.

 

This has been the argument for several years since the Oakland A's began trying to accumulate fly ball oriented hitters to combat the sinker. I've pointed this out on Twitter but because hitters have started to gear their swings for sinkers and two-seamers, pitchers have had greater success sneaking fastballs up in and above the zone:

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/780958325676445696

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

Go to the conclusions:

 

- pine tar (coefficient of friction) doesn't help

- wrist rotation at point of impact doesn't help

- backspin is absolutely necessary for distance (what they mean by drag crisis occurs), but they find it generated by where on the ball the bat strikes (1 inch low is optimal), not by swing angle (i.e. not by chopping wood)

- speaking of swing angle, slight uppercut is optimal, but matters less than striking below the center of the ball

 

Not sure whether the 2011 study someone else referenced contradicts any of this.

Excellent summation.

I remember reading an interview with Justin Morneau where he was talking about rolling his wrists when hitting the ball to gain 'lift'. Vavra (hitting coach at the time) is old school. You don't need to be a physics professor to read that part above in bold and say, "Well, yeah".

[nicksaviking]

 

This has been the argument for several years since the Oakland A's began trying to accumulate fly ball oriented hitters to combat the sinker. I've pointed this out on Twitter but because hitters have started to gear their swings for sinkers and two-seamers, pitchers have had greater success sneaking fastballs up in and above the zone:

 

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/780958325676445696

 

And now that the strikezone is being raised this year there might be a greater emphasis to pitch up in the zone regardless of upper-cut swings.

[Willihammer]

 

And now that the strikezone is being raised this year there might be a greater emphasis to pitch up in the zone regardless of upper-cut swings.

Not this year, the player didn't approve that proposal.

[HJLAZNI]

Not a good article. I am an engineer/inventer and have studied hitting for a number of years.

Kepler needs to look at the film of his actual stroke and more simply the picture above.

Good hitters actually swing flat, meaning they swing perpendicular to their spine. The swing plane is actually on a slight upward angle relative to the ground because, as you can see from the Kepler swing picture above, the spine is at a backwards angle.

The pitched ball is normally released from the pitchers hand at a higher elevation than the elevation of the bat above the ground as the bat travels through the hit zone.

Therefore, an optimum swing tends to occur within the same plane as the pitched ball path increasing the time the bat travels on the same path as the pitched ball.

Watching Harmon Killebrew's and Brian Dozier's swings exactly follow the path as I have described here.

Attempting to swing on a path that is not similar to the path of the pitched ball as it passes through the hitting zone gives you a lesser chance of contacting the ball.

 

[Parker Hageman]

Not a good article. I am an engineer/inventer and have studied hitting for a number of years.

 

 

[Twodogs]

I learned how to hit when I played that video game of the Polar Bear hitting the fish that shoot up out of the hole in the ice.  I always noticed that if I got too far on top of the fish, it hit the ground and only slid about 50 feet.  When I got too far under the fish it would go really really high but only go about 100 feet.  When I hit it just right, it would would go a long ways, and if I did that enough times I'd get a gold fish to hit!!!

[Twinsbar107]

 

I learned how to hit when I played that video game of the Polar Bear hitting the fish that shoot up out of the hole in the ice.  I always noticed that if I got too far on top of the fish, it hit the ground and only slid about 50 feet.  When I got too far under the fish it would go really really high but only go about 100 feet.  When I hit it just right, it would would go a long ways, and if I did that enough times I'd get a gold fish to hit!!!

It seems as if you may not have seen many gold fish?

[GP830]

 

I learned how to hit when I played that video game of the Polar Bear hitting the fish that shoot up out of the hole in the ice.  I always noticed that if I got too far on top of the fish, it hit the ground and only slid about 50 feet.  When I got too far under the fish it would go really really high but only go about 100 feet.  When I hit it just right, it would would go a long ways, and if I did that enough times I'd get a gold fish to hit!!!

That's the same video game that Mike Trout is based off of...

[nicksaviking]

That's the same video game that Mike Trout is based off of...

I think you mean Tim Salmon.

[GP830]

I think you mean Tim Salmon.

That was the "Beta" version. ;-) Edited March 10, 2017 by GP830

[The Wise One]

 

Go to the conclusions:

 

- pine tar (coefficient of friction) doesn't help

- wrist rotation at point of impact doesn't help

- backspin is absolutely necessary for distance (what they mean by drag crisis occurs), but they find it generated by where on the ball the bat strikes (1 inch low is optimal), not by swing angle (i.e. not by chopping wood)

- speaking of swing angle, slight uppercut is optimal, but matters less than striking below the center of the ball

 

Not sure whether the 2011 study someone else referenced contradicts any of this.

There would be a relationship between launch angle, backspin, exit velocity, and the spot on the ball contact is made