Welcome again for one more installment of FanGraphs’ Visible Scouting Primer! For earlier editions, or an introduction explaining the idea of this ongoing sequence, you possibly can click on right here, right here, and right here, however in an effort to tamp down my phrase rely, I’m diving proper into it this time.
Fluid vs. Stiff
Typically talking, these phrases are fairly self-explanatory, however maybe it’s value offering some readability for the way they’re utilized to describing baseball swings.
Fluid: Mookie Betts
As you possibly can see, Betts’ physique strikes like liquid, sending vitality from his backside half to his high. The motion and rotation in his physique strikes seamlessly from his legs to his shoulders, in a manner that jogs my memory of the crack of a whip, and ripples upward by means of his complete physique. The Gumby-esque fluidity consists of ample hip/shoulder separation, which I lined in a pitching context within the first entry to this sequence, however which applies to hitting in an identical manner. His hips open up whereas his shoulders and palms keep again, earlier than his higher half follows swimsuit, and his arms shoot by means of the zone, as a result of this vitality switch.
Stiff: Giancarlo Stanton
If Betts is Gumby, then Stanton is a GI Joe motion determine, with solely a handful of articulated joints. His actions are way more herky jerky, along with his hips and shoulders shifting in unison to rotate his complete torso as one block, whereas his robust arms muscle their manner by means of the strike zone.
A side-by-side comparability solely makes their variations extra apparent.
Rotational vs. Non-Rotational Swing
These phrases will be complicated, since each swing consists of a point of rotation. However for some gamers, the rotational nature of their swing is a key part of how they generate bat pace, and by extension, energy.
Rotational Swing: Luis Matos
Matos’ swing is extraordinarily rotational. Whereas he doesn’t have the identical hip/shoulder separation as Betts, the diploma to which his complete midsection rotates from the begin to the end of his swing is unattainable to overlook. By the point he’s accomplished swinging, his bat is smacking his again, and it appears like he’s making an attempt to point out off his belt buckle to his teammates within the dugout. In the meantime, the momentum of his rotation makes it in order that he winds up on the outer aspect of his entrance foot. An ultra-rotational swing like that of Matos is prone to produce energy solely to his pull aspect, since there’s a lot physics concerned, and it’s tough to time an opposite-field swing with one of these rotation, with out being dangerously behind on the pitch.
Non-Rotational: Luis Robert Jr.
Robert’s swing by no means entails a lot rotation, however this can be a significantly non-rotational instance. Even on hacks when his midsection has extra rotation, like when he rips inside pitches to his pull aspect, his swing is way more about brute power created by his higher physique. His hips don’t rotate to just about the identical diploma as Matos’ do, and generally hardly in any respect, along with his belt buckle staying seen all through his entire swing, from the aspect view. He stays roughly flat-footed, and hardly makes use of his decrease half in any respect to generate his mind-boggling energy, which solely boggles the thoughts all of the extra. Whereas the momentum of Matos’ bat nearly corkscrews him into the bottom, Robert finishes with an abrupt halt to his bat, as if he out of the blue determined to cease swinging.
Bonus Rotational Swing: Moises Ballesteros
Primarily based on the above two examples, it could look like this comes all the way down to physique kind, with Matos’ leaner, wiry athleticism equating to an ultra-rotational swing, and Robert’s extra filled-out body using a extra physique-over-physics strategy. However whereas that’s usually true, there are many exceptions. Take, for instance, Cubs prospect Moises Ballesteros, whose construct is kind of completely different from that of Matos. The best way that Ballesteros creates an explosive rotation is kind of spectacular, because it belies his physique kind, and illustrates a stage of athleticism that’s considerably much less apparent or intuitive based mostly on look alone (to not point out its affect on his exit velocities).
Within the first installment of this sequence, I discussed {that a} repeatable pitching supply is much more spectacular when it’s being accomplished by a pitcher with lengthy, lanky limbs. Ballesteros’ rotational swing is equally spectacular, because it’s much less anticipated from a participant along with his construct.
Grooved vs. Adaptable Swing
A grooved swing is one that may solely generate constant energy when it follows a really particular bat path. These swings are best to pick throughout batting follow, when gamers are attempting to ship all the things out of the park. A grooved swing will look nearly an identical each time, on this context. The priority with a grooved swing is that it normally features a vital quantity of swing and miss and/or noticeably weaker contact on pitches that don’t adhere to the precise a part of the strike zone that the bat’s groove passes by means of.
Grooved Swing: Jasson Domínguez
For Domínguez, a swap hitter, his grooved bat path goes by means of the guts of the zone, about belt excessive. Earlier than tearing his UCL in September and present process Tommy John surgical procedure, Domínguez performed eight profession video games within the majors and hit 4 house runs. All of them got here towards pitches alongside that grooved path whereas he was batting left-handed, so we’ll solely concentrate on his lefty swing for this evaluation.
Listed below are some overlays of two of his huge league house runs:
Whereas Domínguez is ready to make contact in different areas of the zone, his house run energy is proscribed to that band throughout the plate, and his general slash line is way larger in that band as nicely. When a pitch is in a zone exterior of his pre-determined bat path, he does little, mechanically, to regulate his swing to the completely different zone.
It’s too early in Domínguez’s profession to make any rash assumptions about how his house run energy will change over the course of his time within the majors, however lest this look like a small pattern anomaly, right here’s the place all of Dominguez’s left-handed minor league house runs crossed the plate (considered from the catcher’s POV):
It’s clear that at this level, his house runs are restricted to that particular a part of the zone, with only a few exceptions. However he will get away along with his grooved swing by making up for it along with his eager pitch choice, and naturally by being a swap hitter with different enviable instruments.
Adaptable Swing: Julio Rodríguez
By comparability, right here’s a have a look at all of the areas of the pitches Julio Rodríguez despatched out of the park in 2023:
Not like Domínguez, Rodríguez’s visualization doesn’t clearly illustrate a selected zone the place he’s clearly more adept at producing house run energy. It is because Rodríguez has a confirmed skill to regulate the mechanics of his swing, relying on the situation of the pitch at which he’s swinging, with out essentially sacrificing energy. Listed below are two house runs that Rodríguez launched on pitches that fall nicely exterior of Domínguez’s energy belt.
I received’t belabor the purpose: Rodríguez’s skill to adapt his highly effective swing to pitches all through the zone makes him, at this level of their respective careers, a extra versatile energy hitter than Domínguez.
Prime-Hand vs. Backside-Hand Dominant Swing
First, let’s outline these phrases. “Prime” and “backside,” on this context, consult with how the participant’s palms are oriented on the bat. The hand closest to the knob is the underside hand, and the hand closest to the barrel is the highest hand. A right-handed hitter’s proper hand is his high hand, and his left hand is his backside hand, and vice versa for lefties.
These phrases consult with which of a hitter’s palms is liable for guiding his barrel by means of the zone, and/or offering it with energy. Naturally, this isn’t at all times apparent; each palms, in fact, are essential to any given baseball swing. However there are particular mechanical variations between a top-hand dominant swing and its bottom-hand counterpart. Let’s check out some visible examples to hopefully make the excellence extra clear.
Prime-Hand Dominant Swing: Mike Trout
Trout’s swing is top-hand dominant as a result of his proper hand is the one liable for controlling his barrel and offering his swing with its signature house run energy. That is evidenced by the truth that his proper arm stays bent and flexed all through almost his complete swing, with clear management over the trail of the bat from begin to end. One other indication of that is that the palm of his proper hand stays pointed upward till lengthy after contact.
Backside Hand Dominant Swing: Bryce Harper
Harper’s swing is bottom-hand dominant, and it’s not too stunning, contemplating he’s a righty who swings left-handed (i.e. his dominant hand is his backside hand). To make certain, Harper’s high hand remains to be an vital factor of his swing. Previously, Harper has defined that his psychological focus is on his high hand as he swings, and he’s described it as a hammer. The affect of that psychological strategy is evidenced by the truth that he can nonetheless be quick to the ball, regardless of his backside hand being the stronger of the 2. Even so, his general mechanics are these of a bottom-hand swing, which is true of many batters who throw righty and hit lefty.
In distinction to Trout, the arm of Harper’s high hand straightens out shortly after contact, as his backside hand pulls the barrel of his bat by means of the zone, and his high hand rolls over the deal with of the bat after contact, versus remaining palm-up for so long as Trout’s does.
That’s a TL;DR model of the excellence between a lot of these swings, so, should you’re into the entire brevity factor, this may be your off ramp. However even with that understanding, figuring out top- and bottom-hand swings within the wild is usually a problem, so listed below are just a few extra particular indicators to look out for.
Let’s begin with side-by-side clips of their respective swings:
The elbow of Trout’s high hand stays linked to his torso when he makes contact, whereas Harper’s arms are already starting to increase on the level of contact, and his high elbow is much less linked to his torso. The angles of those slow-mo swings are simply completely different sufficient to obscure this distinction. (The digicam on Trout’s swing is positioned barely behind the plate, whereas the digicam for Harper’s is barely in entrance of the plate.) As an alternative, right here’s a special side-by-side comparability with extra related digicam angles, which makes the distinction of their arm extensions extra apparent.
Along with the variations of their arm extensions, proper after contact, we will additionally see how the momentum of Harper’s bat pulls his palms over his proper shoulder as he finishes his swing, whereas the management exerted by Trout’s high hand makes it in order that his palms barely cross his chest. This will ring a bell, because it’s much like the end in Luis Robert’s swing above.
Certainly, torso rotation is usually used in a different way for top-hand swings than it’s for bottom-hand swings. To ensure that Harper’s backside hand to information the barrel of his bat to the candy spot, his higher physique must rotate extra previous to contact, opening him extra to the pitcher. He does this in order that his proper shoulder (the shoulder linked to his backside hand) will be positioned in a manner that aligns the candy spot with its level of contact. To do that, Harper begins the rotation in his higher physique a lot sooner than Trout does, and he’s already rotating when his entrance foot lands after his leg kick. In distinction, since Trout’s high hand is the one controlling the barrel of his bat, he retains his shoulders extra sq. to the ball as he makes contact. Taking a look at their swings aspect by aspect from the pitcher’s perspective illustrates this distinction.
After contact, Trout’s physique begins to rotate extra, which permits him to maintain his high arm bent and flexed, as described above, whereas holding the barrel of his bat within the zone for so long as doable. Conversely, by the point Harper makes contact, there’s not way more room for his torso to rotate. As an alternative, he retains his barrel within the zone by totally extending his arms so as to push his hand by means of the zone, fairly than holding his arms tight to his physique and rotating by means of the zone like Trout does.
Given Harper and Trouts’ respective observe information, each strategies are viable by way of huge league success.
Subsequent time, we’re heading again to the mound for some extra pitching terminology, however there’s loads extra to cowl on the plate (and within the discipline!) too. So, if there are any phrases which have had you scratching your head, don’t be shy about leaving them within the feedback, they usually could also be featured in a future installment of this primer.