What Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton's Big Losses of Swing Speed Tell Us—and Don't Tell Us

[D.C Twins]

12 hours ago, Mark G said:

Is anybody else's head spinning?  😳

with maximum angular acceleration.... 

[Heiny]

Some simple observations.

1. 1 mile/hour (mph) = 1.466 666 666 7 foot/second

2. The longest HR in MLB history is considered to be Babe Ruth's 575 ft. in 1921.

3. 1 light year is approximately 5.88 trillion miles.

4. Ted Williams didn't cosider physics while swinging his bat?

5. Now could someone please use these observations to determine how much chocolate I should put on my ice cream?

[Jocko87]

12 minutes ago, Heiny said:

5. Now could someone please use these observations to determine how much chocolate I should put on my ice cream?

None. That's gross. 🍚

[Linus]

I think this topic is more complicated than who can generate the fastest swing speed.  Who can generate the fastest swing speed while maintaining the proper mechanics of their swing is the real winner.  Kind of like the old saying “he’s swinging out of his shoes” would indicate the first priority it to be able to barrel the ball.

[Linus]

21 minutes ago, Linus said:

I think this topic is more complicated than who can generate the fastest swing speed.  Who can generate the fastest swing speed while maintaining the proper mechanics of their swing is the real winner.  Kind of like the old saying “he’s swinging out of his shoes” would indicate the first priority it to be able to barrel the ball.

I believe this is the essence of the old Casey Stengel saying about how to swing a bat “not too fast, not too slow, just butcher boy”.  Whatever that means.

[Cris E]

Butcher boy meant hitting down on the ball to get grounders (specifically to fake a bunt and then hit.) Back in Stengel's day the infields were terrible and bad hops were easily available to anyone who could hit a hard three hopper and run fast. He was also known for decrying pop ups with a frustrated "There's no bad hops up there."

[TopGunn#22]

The Bat Boys video was fascinating.  That guy Sandoval has a GREAT swing.  It's pretty difficult to go from bat to bat and be able to dial your swing in as well as he did.

Buxton's slightly slower swing allowed him to hit for a higher BA than he had in previous seasons.  His slugging percentage was still over .500 even if his HR's were down a bit.  Lewis didn't seem to be strong in his lower half and core as he slumped, and that is also probably why he just jogged to 1B when he hit ground balls last year (Puckett would have had a one-on-one "meeting" had they been teammates).

It sounds like the team is entering spring training in relatively good health.  Especially the 3 most important hitters on the team:  Correa, Lewis and Buxton.  Swing speed is no good unless you are barreling the ball up.  But if you ARE barreling it, and your swing speed is optimal, you ARE going to hit HR's.  The question becomes, how does your body, from your shoulders all the way down to your feet hold up with that consistently optimal "torque?"  

This was a great article, especially with the video.

 

 

[Linus]

I e always felt that Buck is limiting himself as a hitter when he starts with his hands so high.  The bat travels a long way to get to the hitting zone which means he is going to punish some pitches but have difficulty making adjustments on other pitches.

[KBJ1]

Analytics can be helpful to diagnose hard to see problems,but I do feel there is too much coaching towards analytics.

That said, watching Lewis swing recently, he seems to have his back to straight and rigid, like a golf swing setup. He is not able to get his hips and torso turning through with explosive impact. As the hios turn, his upper half falls behind and throws him off balance. I think a bit more crouch is needed. Also, his hands are too high, .making a big looping swing that thows the timing of everything off.

I think he & the coaches need to look at video from when he was going well and compare to now.