Break Down of a Baseball Swing

Many movements are involved in the proper technique of a baseball swing. Ground reaction force is the interaction of the body and the ground. As we all know a very important step in the baseball swing, it applies the force, distance, and location of where the ball will go on the field. Each individual foot will result in a different magnitude of force applied; a person’s body weight percentage also plays a major part in a person’s force of swinging. The more weight that is exerted on the feet the greater amount of force. The center of pressure or center of mass also plays a role of the force of a person’s swing. The relative movement of the center of pressure between the 2 feet and the body’s center of mass will result in dynamic balance which gives the batter their forward momentum. Flexion and extension of the left and right knee as well as the left and right elbows have to form the correct angle to get proper direction and absorption of force on our joints; should be about 90* at flexion to about 180* at extension. To properly utilize all of the above a batter also needs to remember you gain more bat speed by the proper rotation and interaction of the hips, shoulders, and arms. They rotate around a common axis of the trunk; hips rotate, shoulder rotate, then the arms and wrists. Next the batter should focus on “bat lag” which is the absolute angle formed between the bat from the handle to the barrel and from the mid-shoulders to the mid-wrists. When the bat is fully extended away from the arms and everything is in line the angle of your arms/wrists; the bat should be about 180*. Everything combined above in a step by step procedure, the swing is initiated with a weight shift toward the right (back leg), at about the same time, the upper body rotates in a clockwise direction around the axis of the trunk, initiated by the arms and shoulders, followed closely by the hips. Even though all this is broken down into steps when put together and implemented in a game/practice setting these steps will go will be done almost simultaneously they are just broken down for purposes of improving techniques or teaching new players.