[外電] Albert Pujols: Anatomy of the Swing
http://tinyurl.com/lbh3xv
As you may know, one of my pet peeves is how little the commentators on TV
and the radio, at both the local and national levels, seem to know about what
a good baseball swing looks like. They spend most to all of their time
talking about false notions and outright myths, like extension at the point
of contact, that seem important but are actually the effect of a good swing
rather than the cause of a good swing.[1] As a result, they leave kids and
their parents with a false sense of what the best hitters actually do when
they swing the bat. That ends up hurting, rather than improving, kids' swings.
The Pitch
Before I get into the swing, let me give you some context. The pitch was an
85 MPH fastball, right down the middle, thrown by Livan Hernandez in the
fifth inning on April 23, 2009. The prior two pitches were 78 and 79 MPH
sliders just outside. The ball landed about rows up in the Left Field
bleachers, just a few seats in from the aisle and the grassy knoll in Center
Field.
Shorter is Sometimes Better
The first thing to notice is how short Albert Pujols' swing is. It comes in
at 10 or 11 frames (based on a 60 FPS clip). Because his swing is so short,
and so simple, Albert Pujols has more time than the average player to read
the pitch and try to get a sense of what it is and what it is going to do.
That increases the likelihood that he will be able to hit the ball squarely
and, as I will discuss in a moment, that is the key to Albert Pujols' ability
to hit for both average and power.
http://tinyurl.com/myyedx
To Stride or not to Stride
While it is true that Albert Pujols doesn't stride as much as many players,
if you watch what his front foot does in the clip above, you will see that he
does take a stride of 9 or so inches. Also, and more importantly, if you
watch the movement of his back hip, you will see that he gets a significant
weight shift. That weight shift is important because it helps to power the
rotation of his hips and thus his entire swing. Without his short but
powerful weight shift, Albert Pujols wouldn't be able to hit the ball as hard
as he does.
Extension: When, Why, and Why Not
Many baseball announcers and commentators are absolutely fixated on the
concept of extension at the Point Of Contact (POC), but if you look at the
clip above you will see that Albert Pujols doesn't reach full extension until
Frame 35, which is four or five frames after the POC. At the POC in Frame 30
and 31, Albert Pujols' back elbow is in a position that rotational hitting
instructors call the Power L and which is quite different than the Power V
position that many of Charley Lau Sr.'s devotees preach.[2] Albert Pujols'
back elbow is in the Power L position at the POC in part because, rather than
being thrown at the ball, at the POC Albert Pujols' hands are connected to,
and rotating with, his back shoulder. Albert's bat and hands are then pulled
out into extension by the tremendous centrifugal force that he generates
during his swing.
Ted Williams Was Right
Albert Pujols' swing is consistent with Ted Williams' principle that the hips
lead the hands. Notice in Frame 20 and 21 that Albert Pujols' hips start to
open up while his shoulders, and thus his hands, stay closed. Once Albert's
hips have opened a frame or two, the contraction of the muscles of his core
then powerfully pulls his shoulders around.
No Bugs Were Squished in the Filming of this Clip
You can see in Frame 30 and 31 that, rather than squishing the bug as many
people teach, Albert Pujols' back toe is completely off the ground at the
POC. His back toe gets pulled off the ground by the extension of his front
knee and the resulting rapid rotation of his hips. Albert does eventually get
to a position that looks like squishing the bug, but he reaches that position
in Frame 45, which is well after the POC.
That Swing Ain't Level
One thing that you will hear constantly at any youth baseball field is
parents and coaches telling kids to, "Swing level." The problem is that if
you look at Frame 30 and 31 of the clip above, you will see that Albert
Pujols doesn't swing level to the ground. Instead, he drops his back
shoulder, lets the head of the bat get below the level of his hands, and
swings with a moderate uppercut. That allows him to match the plane of his
swing to the plane of the pitch and hit the ball squarely.
Why Albert Isn't Himself in Home Run Derbies
Many people have wondered why Albert Pujols has fared so (relatively) poorly
in the home run derbies he has participated in and why he doesn't hit as many
towering batting practice home runs as some power hitters. I would argue that
this is directly related to why Albert Pujols is such a great hitter, and in
particular to why he can hit for both power and average.
To understand why this is, you have to understand that there are two ways to
hit a ball a long way.
Type I power hitters swing as hard as possible, pray that they hit the ball
square enough, and pray that the ball carries enough to clear the fence. You
see this approach in most high-power slow pitch softball swings and some
major league baseball swings. It makes sense that most high-power slow pitch
softball power hitters are Type I power hitters because the ball isn't coming
in very hard. As a result, what they have to do is generate energy in the bat
(in the form of high batspeed) and using it to propel the ball a long way.
That isn't an issue for them because they don't have to protect against the
change-up. Type I baseball players get away with this approach because, while
it will tend to hurt their ability to hit for average, it will also mean that
they will absolutely crush the ball if they square it up (and still hit the
ball hard and/or a long way even if they miss it by just a bit).
Type II power hitters swing a little slower but try to hit the ball more
squarely more often (which enables them to hit for both power and average).
What you are doing in this case is taking the energy that is in the ball and,
to a large degree, just redirecting it in the opposite direction.
Three things make it clear that Albert Pujols is a Type II power hitter.
First, his bat speed is only 87 MPH, rather than the 100+ MPH numbers that
you see in some Type I power hitters (e.g. Prince Fielder and Bryce Harper).
Second, Albert Pujols is a fastball hitter; which makes sense because it
gives him more initial energy to start with. When Albert Pujols is hitting a
batting practice fastball (which is also the type of pitch that you get in a
home run derby), the ball is coming in slower and, as a result, doesn't have
as much energy. As a result, while Albert will tend to hit the ball hard, it
won't go as far as it would have if it were a fastball. I would argue that
that is why many of Albert's home run's during the 2009 ASG HRD only just
made it over the wall. The third and final piece of evidence that Albert
Pujols is a Type II power hitter is that fact that he tried to modify his
swing during the home run derby before the 2009 All Star Game. Basically,
what he was trying to do, by experimenting with a larger leg kick and such,
was incorporate more Type I aspects into his swing. However, it yielded only
mediocre results (and may have knocked him into a small slump) because he
couldn't overcome his muscle memory and its Type II orientation.[3]
Albert Pujols and the Steroid Thing
What I see in Albert Pujols swing is a mechanically perfect swing that is
highly repeatable. Even in his "bad" swings, meaning swings that result in
outs, he often misses the ball by as little as 1/8 of an inch.[4] As a
result, I absolutely believe Albert Pujols when he says he doesn't use any
illegal, performance-enhancing substances. I think the best explanation for
Albert Pujols' numbers is once-in-a-generation talent, rather than steroids.
[1] For whatever reason, baseball commentators, observers, and instructors
tend to confuse cause and effect quite frequently, which is why so much
instruction is so bad.
[2] If you read Charley Lau Sr.'s book "The Art of Hitting .300" or view the
related video, he never once talks about the concept of extension or making
the Power V at the Point Of Contact. However, the book is full of pictures of
George Brett doing just that......so it's not surprising that that is generally how the book is interpreted.
Of course, if you go through George Brett's best swings frame by frame, you
will see that they look nothing like the swing he demonstrates in Charley Lau
Sr.'s book.
http://tinyurl.com/kutpml
[3] It would be interested to see what would happen if, during a home run
derby, the batting practice pitcher threw the ball harder to Albert than they
normally do during batting practice. That might give him more energy to work
with and result in more home runs without requiring him to alter his swing.
[4] The frame below is of a fly out to the right field warning track (third
pitch of first at bat on 7/31/2009). Albert Pujols is in a mechanically
perfect position in this frame. The result of the swing was only an out,
rather than a home run to right field, because Albert chased a high pitch and
got under the ball by maybe 1/8 of an inch (note the position of the ball on
the bat). To the pitcher's (Brian Moehler) credit, he went up the ladder on
Albert and got him to chase a pitch just out of the top of the strike zone.
But talk about dodging a bullet.
http://tinyurl.com/kw5nr8
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