Rotational Hitting 101
11/13/2007
As a kid, I loved the game of
baseball but was never a great player.
While some of my problems were admittedly due to a lack
of talent -- and my not wanting to wear my glasses --
many were due to poor instruction.
I was never taught to do
what great hitters do.
Now that I have kids of my own, I have resolved to
teach them better than I was taught. That means teaching them the
Major League Swing.
Linear Hitting vs. Rotational Hitting
In studying hitting, I have come to find that there are two
fairly distinct schools of thought or philosophies:
Linear Hitting and Rotational Hitting.
In my experience, Linear Hitting is what most people are
taught -- it's what I was taught -- and Rotational Hitting is what
most major league hitters actually do. In other words,
Rotational Hitting best
describes the Major League Swing.
I explain the differences between the two schools of
thought in detail in an essay entitled
Rotational Hitting vs. Linear Hitting: What's The Key
Difference? However, let me touch upon those difference
briefly here.
Linear Hitting
While many people disagree about exactly what Linear Hitting
is, when I think of Linear Hitting I think of an approach to
hitting that is focused on generating power with the arms, wrists,
and hands. The idea
is to swing with the arms and hands to maximize the time the head of the
bat spends in the contact zone.
One defining cue of the philosophy of
Linear Hitting is that you should make
the "Power V" at the point
of contact. That's what I was taught,
and that is the cue that ruined
my swing. Other defining characteristics of
Linear Hitting are cues like...
- Throw the hands at
the ball
- Bring the knob of the bat to the ball
- Extend
through the point of contact
- Swing down on the ball
The hips of Linear hitters also tend
to keep moving (aka sliding) forward toward the pitcher after the front heel
drops.
The clip below is an example
of what proponents of Linear Hitting
want their students to do. Notice how the batter is taking
his hands to the ball in a linear fashion.
Hands To The Ball
The general idea behind Linear Hitting is to
just make contact with the ball and hope it gets through the
infield. The problem that I have with Linear Hitting is that, in
my experience while it sometimes works, it
doesn't scale. In general, it only works until
maybe 4th grade or so when
infielders can make most routine plays. Yes, it worked to a degree in
the big leagues in the 70s and 80s when infields were covered with
slick Astroturf surfaces, but it does not work on grass or dirt
infields.
I do not believe in teaching kids a swing that they
will have to abandon at some point as they get older, which is why
I am not a fan of Linear Hitting.
Rotational Hitting
In contrast, Rotational Hitting is about learning to power
the swing
with the entire body rather than just the arms and hands.
The idea is to use the large
muscles of the legs and lower torso to drive the head
of the bat and thus the ball. While a
Rotational swing will sometimes result in Home Runs, the idea is
to just hit the ball solidly and hard, since a hard-hit ball
-- even if it is hit on the ground -- is harder to make a play on. The
leading advocates of the Rotational Hitting approach, and the
Major League Swing, are
Steve Englishbey,
Jack Mankin, and
Mike Epstein. Rotational Hitting describes the swings of most major league
hitters, including Albert Pujols.
 Albert Pujols'
Swing
A few major league hitters do not
always swing in accordance with the principles of rotational
hitting. For example, Ichiro Suzuki tends to try to slap the ball
into the ground and tries to beat out the throw. Vladimir Guerrero
will swing at anything, regardless of its location. However his
home run swings tend to be fairly rotational. The vast majority of
major league hitters (e.g. 95+ percent) swing in a way that could
be described as Rotational Hitting.
First Principles Of Rotational Hitting
In order to understand Rotational Hitting, you have to
understand the first principles that serve as its foundation.
These first principles are...
- Posture
- Connection
- Rotation
The way to remember these principles is with the abbreviation PCR.
Posture
The idea behind the principle of Posture is that a hitter
must assume an athletic stance before swinging because this enables
them to swing with their entire body and not just their arms. In
general, an athletic stance means...
- Feet apart
- Knees bent
- Tilting forward at the waist
(e.g. butt out slightly)
- Hands back by the back shoulder
The photo below of Albert Pujols is a good example of proper
Posture.
Albert Pujols at Setup
It is almost impossible to swing
with your entire body, and not just your arms, if you are standing
erect with your feet close together and your knees pretty much locked.
Connection
The principle of Connection is probably the one that most
clearly differentiates Rotational Hitting from Linear Hitting. The
idea behind the principle of Connection is that the ideal
swing is compact, rather than arm-y, at the point of
contact because this maximizes the rate at which the shoulders can
rotate. In a well-connected swing, at the point of contact the
hands are turning with the shoulders rather than flying away
from the body toward the ball and the pitcher or dragging behind
the shoulders as happens in a swing afflicted with
bat drag.
You can see the principle of connection at work in the
swings of power hitters like Ryan Howard.
Ryan Howard Demonstrating Connection
Notice how Ryan Howard's hands are are connected to, and
turning with, his back shoulder. Also, his back elbow is relatively close to his
side.
You can also see the principle of connection at work in
the better swings of contact hitters like David Eckstein.
David Eckstein Demonstrating Connection
Again, notice how David Eckstein's hands are turning with his
back shoulder at the point of contact and his back elbow is relatively
close to his side.
Rotation
The idea behind the principle of Rotation is that the swing
is powered by the rotation of the body -- and in particular the
hips and torso -- not by the movement of the arms, wrists, or hands.
While the arms, wrists, and hands are important, their job
is to help funnel, direct, and manage the force that is generated
by the body rather than to create much force.
Albert Pujols Demonstrating Rotation
The photo above of Albert Pujols is a great example of what good
Rotation looks like. Notice that his hips have stopped moving
forward and have rotated 90 degrees,
due in part to the stiffening of his front leg. Notice how
the rapid rotation of Albert Pujols' torso has pulled him up onto the
toe of his back foot. In some cases Albert Pujols' back toe is
completely off the ground at the Point Of Contact. Also, notice
how Albert Pujols' back knee is bent 90 degrees at the Point Of
Contact, which is an indication of the the rapid Rotation of his
hips.
Related Principles Of Rotational Hitting
The PCR principles are the first and primary principles of
Rotational Hitting, but they are backed up by a number of other,
related principles that help to explain the philosophy.
Tilt
The principle of Tilt is related to the principles of Posture
and Connection. The principle of Tilt states that in order to
hit pitches in different locations, but still stay
connected, a good hitter will vary the tilt of their upper
body in order to cover the entire plate.
Fernando Seguignol Demonstrating Tilt
The photo above of Fernando
Seguignol, which is of a home run
swing, shows how he stays relatively upright due to the
up-and-in location of the pitch. As
a result, he is tilted over the plate only slightly and his back elbow
is still at his side at the Point Of Contact.
Carlos Delgado Demonstrating Tilt
In contrast, in the photo above of Carlos Delgado
hitting a home run, the pitch is low and away.
As a result, he has to tilt out over the plate in order to reach
the pitch. Delgado has
also let his back elbow come away from his side (so that his back
upper arm is vertical). However, the fact that his back elbow is
still bent 90 degrees means that he is still connected.
Circular Hand Path
If the hands are connected to, and rotating with the back shoulder,
then when viewed
from above a hitter will exhibit a circular hand path, not a
linear hand path.
Pete Rose's Circular Hand Path
As you can see in
the photo above of Pete Rose, his hands maintain the same position
relative to his back shoulder as his shoulders turn. This
helps him stay compact, maximizes the rate at which his shoulders
rotate, and keeps his swing from getting too long and becoming
afflicted with bat drag.
Separation
The thing that powers the rotation of a major league swing is
the separation of the hips and shoulders. A power hitter's hips rotate
(slightly) ahead of his shoulders.
As with pitchers,
this stretches the muscles of the torso and
enables them to powerfully pull the shoulders around. Greater
degrees of Separation
is one of things that distinguishes contact hitters from power
hitters.
Matt Holliday Demonstrating Separation
The photo above of Matt Holliday
hitting a home run is a good example of separation in action.
Notice how his hips are rotating ahead of his shoulders. This will
help pull his shoulders around and increase his bat speed.
Middle Out
A rotational swing is neither Top-Down (from the shoulders)
nor Bottom-Up (from the feet). Instead, a rotational swing is best
described as Middle-Out. The rotation of the hips, facilitated by
the stiffening of the front knee, drives the rotation of the
shoulders, hands, and bat. The rotation of the hips also pulls a
rotational hitter up onto their back toe.
The Role Of The Stride
One thing that people often misunderstand is the
purpose of the stride. Advocates of Linear Hitting tend to believe
that the stride serves as a source of power in and of itself. As a
result, they want their hitters to keep moving their Center Of
Mass (e.g. their hips) forward through the point of contact. while
this approach obviously worked for guys like Roberto Clemente
in the past, and works for Ichiro Suzuki today, very
few people have the strength or coordination required to make it
work for them.
A strategy that works better for most people,
and that is used by most major leaguers, is to stride -- or in the case of
Albert Pujols to shift one's weight -- forward to a degree and to
use the momentum generated by the stride and/or weight shift
to help power the rotation of the hips. When looking
at a guy like Albert Pujols, notice how he strides forward
into his bent front leg and then
stiffens his front knee as he starts to swing. This pushes his
hips around, which then pulls around his torso, shoulder, hands,
and bat. However, one thing to notice is how short his stride is.
In most cases, the stride of a major league hitter is in the order
or 6 inches.
The Role Of The Hands
The role of the hands is probably the most hotly debated
subject when it comes to Rotational Hitting, and to be honest I
haven't yet made up my mind in terms of where I stand. Some people
will tell you that the hands play no role in the swing; that they
are just along for the ride. Others
will tell you that the hands play a critical role in the swing.
At
the moment, I am of the opinion that the hands (and arms) are more
important in terms of making adjustments to the position of the
head of the bat than they are to the generation of significant
power.
However, my mind is still open.
What A Major League Swing
(Actually) Looks Like
Now that you understand the basic principles behind Rotational
Hitting, let me explain these principles in more detail
using a number of frames
from a
single swing by Albert Pujols.
Setup
In the photo below, notice how Albert Pujols has taken an
athletic stance. His feet are spread apart for balance, his knees
are bent, his butt is sticking out, his torso is tilting over the
plate slightly, and his hands are back.
Albert Pujols - Frame 1
Load
As the pitcher begins his delivery, Albert Pujols
reverse-rotates his shoulders slightly and takes the wait off of
his front foot by lifting his front heel off the ground. As with a
golfer's backswing, this helps to stretch the muscles of his torso
and will help him to powerfully swing the bat (if he decides to do
so).
Albert Pujols - Frame 13
Shift
In order to help maximize the rate at which his hips -- and
thus his entire torso -- will rotate, before starting his swing
Albert Pujols shifts his weight forward 6 or so inches.
Albert Pujols - Frame 18
Swing
Once he has decided to swing at the pitch, Albert
Pujols does a number of things to get the head of the bat into
the path of the ball. First,
he stiffens his front knee, which causes his hips
to stop moving forward and to
start rotating. This then causes his torso and shoulders
to start rotating. At the same time, he drops his back knee, which
helps his hips to rotate. Notice that, rather than
squishing the bug, at the Point Of Contact
Albert Pujols' back knee is bent roughly 90 degrees and his back
toe is actually up in the air. Rather than being on his back foot,
at the Point Of Contact all of Albert Pujols' weight is actually
on his front foot (but behind it). Also, Albert Pujols does not
push off of his back foot to get to this position. Instead, he is
pulled onto his back toe by the rotation of his hips.
Second, Albert Pujols tilts over the plate in
order to be able to reach pitches that are low and/or over the
outside part of the plate.
Third, and most importantly, at the Point Of Contact
Albert Pujols' hands are still connected to, and rotating with,
his body rather than being driven toward the pitcher or dragging
behind his elbows as happens in a swing afflicted with
bat drag. Albert
Pujols' back
elbow is still by his side, and his back upper arm is close to
vertical, as a result. Only after the Point Of
Contact do Albert Pujols' hands start to move
directly toward the pitcher.
Albert Pujols - Frame 23
Finish
After making contact with the ball, Albert Pujols finishes his
swing by letting go of the bat with his bottom hand and letting
the bat come around behind him. I like that he does this because
it guarantees that the head of the bat is accelerating through the
point of contact. Hitters who do not finish with the bat all the
way behind them often run the risk of cutting their swing short,
which means that the head of the bat is decelerating, rather than
accelerating, through the point of contact.
This can hurt their bat speed and limit their power.
Albert Pujols - Frame 35
Problematic Cues And Advice
Now let's look at some common, but problematic,
hitting cues in the context of the swing I discussed above.
Squish The Bug
Many instructors teach squishing the bug during the
swing (and at the Point Of Contact). They want them
to put their weight on their back foot and
rotate around on their back toe. While this is a cue that can be of
some value, because it helps a hitter to learn to swing with their
hips, it's not what Albert Pujols does.
Albert Pujols - Frame 23
As the photo above shows, at the Point Of
Contact Albert Pujols' back toe is actually up in the air.
Alex Rodriguez - Home Run
You often see the same thing in the swings of
other major leaguers. For example, above is a photo of Alex
Rodriguez hitting a home run. Notice how his back toe is entirely
off the ground at the Point Of Contact, rather than squishing the
bug.
Albert Pujols - Frame 30
Well after the point of contact,
Albert Pujols does assume a position that resembles what some
describe as "squishing the bug", with most of his
weight on his back foot. However, this is due to his momentum
transfer and his Center Of Mass "bouncing" off of his stiff front
leg. Albert Pujols is clearly not in this position as he
rotates through the Point Of Contact.
Make The Power V At The Point Of Contact
As with squishing the bug, making the Power V is something
that Albert Pujols does do, but not until well after the point
of contact.
Albert Pujols - Frame 23
Although it's a little hard to
see in the frame above, rather than having his arms fully
extended at the Point Of Contact, Albert Pujols' back elbow is
usually bent around 90 degrees.
Albert Pujols - Home Run
That is easier to see in the
photo above of a home run swing by Albert Pujols.
Albert Pujols - Frame 26
When working with hitters, I do not teach them to make the Power V
because I think the Power V is the effect of a powerful
swing, not the cause of a powerful swing. The mass of the
bat pulls the hitter's hands out away from his body and into the
Power V, but after the point of contact.
Push Off The Back Foot
Recently, I was working with another coach teaching our 7
year-olds how to hit. At one point, he told a boy who was lunging
forward, "Keep your back foot on the ground so you can push off of
it". The problem with this (fairly common) piece of advice is that
it's wrong; it's not what great hitters like Albert Pujols do.
Albert Pujols - Frame 21
If Albert Pujols pushed off of his back foot,
then you would see that in photos of his swing; you would see his
shoe crease near the toe as he pushed off with his back foot.
However, what you see in photos of Albert Pujols is that the sole
of his shoe stays straight through the Point Of Contact, which
means that he is pulled up onto his back toe (by the straightening
of his front knee and the rotation of his hips) rather than
pushing off of it.
Where To Go From Here
First, I have started a hitting
blog
that discusses my approach to teaching hitting. As with my
pitching
mechanics blog, I try to illustrate all of my points with lots
of photos of major leaguers. Second, I have written an essay in
which I break down
Albert Pujols' swing. Third, I have put together a number of
analyses of major league swings,
including analyses of...
-
Albert Pujols' Home Run Swing

-
Albert Pujols' Single Swing

-
Tony Gwynn's swing

I have also put together a page full of photos of
Albert Pujols' swing and a separate page that contains my
favorite examples
of swings.
Acknowledgements
While I have developed some of this material on my own, I have
learned most of it as a result of being a participant in the
excellent
Baseball 101 forum on Baseball-Fever.com.
|