Hitting with Bill Sandillo of Predator USA

Comment by Richard Lovell on August 27, 2012 at 4:27pm

With all due respect, how can you hit a line drive when you swing DOWN to a ball traveling in a downward angle. Saying to swing from A to C is leaving out B which would place your bat path in line with the plane of the pitch for a longer period of time. Your A to C type of swing path gives you a very small area to actually make contact with the ball as the bat cuts straight down. At best this type of swing path will result in a ground ball or a pop up which we know 80-85% of all ground balls in the Majors ends up an out.  At least 70-75% of ground balls in HS ball result in an out and maybe more. I suppose this would work in baseball with ages 6-9 years. Think about this; as coaches we teach our pitchers to do what? Pitch down to make the batter hit a ground ball. Why do we want a ground ball? Because we have a greater chance of getting an out. Why would we teach our batters to do what the pitchers want them to do? If you look at any of the great MLB hitters from Joe Jackson to Babe Ruth to Barry Bonds to Josh Hamilton, you will see that they do not swing DOWN on the ball from A to C points.  Their hands lower slightly to get the bat path in line with the path of the pitch.  As Ted Williams said "Place the plane of the bat in line with the plane of the pitch".  Hard to argue with one of the greatest hitters of all time.

 I don't mean to sound or be condescending, I am just trying to get an understanding why anyone would teach this type of bat path.  Hey, I do like a lot of what you have to say as far as the "style" part of the swing. Stance, stride, balance, etc.  It just does't make sense to me to teach the "technique" portion of the swing, from swing to launch to finish, by swinging straight down A to C.  Thanks. 

Comment by BILL SANDILLO on August 27, 2012 at 5:30pm

 

Based on the above video Im not sure what your talking about A to C? Where does it say that? Barry Bond and the others you speak of DO swing down on the ball. Watch them under video Hamilton has a hitch that works for him. You cant teach that. Babe Ruth only hit fastballs because pitchers didnt know about sliders, spilts, change-ups etc. He couldnt play in todays game. And Ted Williams maybe the greatest hitter of all time was a terrible hitting coach. He had more losses as a manager then wins. You cant teach natural ability anymore then Pete Rose can teach crouching down like he did to hit. He ended up with 4256 hits. And he was a bad hitting coach as well. Sometimes the best players cant teach because what they do well is not something anyone can teach. I teach balance, rhythm, vision and timing. You cant teach a Flat type of swing. (getting on plain like rod carew) The swing path to the ball dosent work that way. Swinging down on the ball and getting on plain early lets the player keep his bat in the hitting zone longer which will produce more solid contact and finish in a great launch position. When a pitched ball is coming in on a downward angle swinging down on the ball allows you to put back spin on it when hit correctly which makes the ball go very far. Again, A to C not sure what your talking about regarding the video. My school has been in business for 16-years and ive worked with some pretty good pro players that all swing down. Watch how Kevin Youkilis warms up he pratices swinging down at a deep angle. Hes pretty good. I could pick 400 major league players that swing down. So again not sure what your talking about. Thanks....

Comment by Paul Stein on August 28, 2012 at 6:39pm

No, good hitters DO NOT swing "A to C". Williams was a fantastic hitting coach, though not a great manager. To say Babe Ruth couldn't hit today exposes ignorance about the swing. His underlying mechanics are the same. "Under the hood" so to speak. Good hitters DO NOT swing down, relative to the plane of the pitch. They swing level to the pitch... which is slightly up at a fastball down the middle. "Swing down" is a mental cue, not truth. Because you don't have sufficient TIME to get the bat around if you think "slightly up". Hamilton, Bonds, and every other MLB hitter swings level to the ball.

Every good hitter STARTS down, but swings level to the ball through the impact zone. Nobody does what you're advocating in terms of swing plane.

That path is slightly up... not DOWN.

Comment by Gregory Leonard Celeski on August 30, 2012 at 8:56am

The textbook definition of K-zone is halfway between the top of the shoulders and the top of the pants to the hollow under the kneecap.  The whole "swing down" terminology has been misconstrued in the baseball hitting world.  Obviously your hand are usually positioned above the K zone and must travel in a downward path, especially for pitches at or just above the knees.  It's the barrel path that is important.  Where it enters the "plane" and how long it stays there.  As far as "creating backspin" that is the biggest myth in baseball.   In order to achieve true backspin the bat would have to contact the ball just below the equator and at or close to 90 degrees.  The overwhelming majority of pitches enter the K zone below the waist and the bat head would enter anywhere around 20 degrees to 60 degrees.  More of a chance to produce sidespin than backspin.  I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, I just wouldn't make trying to produce backspin the basis of any swing technique.  It's just a term that has been regurgitated in the baseball BS(belief system).  Physics  101.  Can you create backspin with a pendulum?

Comment by BILL SANDILLO on September 21, 2012 at 11:33pm

Let's address one at a time here.....

First Paul; the comment Babe could not play in today's game has nothing to do with his underlying swing mechanics. It has to do with today's pitchers and the way he swung. When Babe played the pitchers threw fast and not so fast (change of speed pitch). Babe would not hit MANY of today's pitchers. That's all I ment. And good hitters DO swing down Greg. It's because they swing down that creates that backspin. I could talk and
write for several hours on hitting. 15-years in pro ball and thousands of hours of video will do that. For every video you have of a hitter taking one swing, I can show you thousands of hitters that swing down first then get on PLANE (plane of the pitched ball) to hit it......

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