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What's the Deal With
Mark Reynolds' Swing?

One day I was doing some research into the differences between baseball and cricket, and I came across this video on Youtube.

While the baseball and cricket comparisons were interesting, what really caught my eye was the swing of the baseball player, Mark Reynolds, and what looked like a pretty typical case of Bat Drag.

Mark Reynolds' Swing

Mark Reynolds

In the clip above, notice how, just after Heel Plant, Mark Reynolds gets to a position where his elbows are stacked; where his back elbow is pretty much directly below his front elbow and his forearms are forming a sideways V shape.

Mark Reynolds' Swing

Mark Reynolds

Mark Reynolds' Swing

Mark Reynolds

You can see the same stacked elbows and sideways V in the two game clips of Mark Reynolds. Although it's not as dramatic as in the first clip, notice how Mark Reynolds' back elbow leaks well forward of his hands and his back hip and ends up under his front elbow.

Mark Reynolds' Swing

Mark Reynolds

The sliding forward of Mark Reynolds' back elbow forces him to make contact much farther forward toward the pitcher than is typical.

Mark Reynolds' Swing

Mark Reynolds
2013.09.10

While, over the years, Mark Reynolds has made some improvement to his swing, you can still see significant Bat Drag, and a forward contact position against fastballs, in his most recent swings.

Unless and until he completely fixes this problem, Mark Reynolds is unlikely to be anything other than what he currently is; a strikeout machine with remarkable power when he happens to get lucky and guess right on the pitch.

Mark Reynolds and the Problem
with Extension

Mark Reynolds' problems as a hitter point out the problem with trying to achieve full extension at the Point Of Contact on every pitch. While he likely isn't trying to hitting everything at full extension (although he might be), the Bat Drag is forcing him to do so. As a result, his ability to adjust to pitches is limited and he is a veritable strike out machine.

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