Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

[kehlis]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

I would vote Gwynn but one name that hasn't been mentioned that I think could be in the discussion is Jeff Bagwell.

[Boltman]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

I would vote Gwynn but one name that hasn't been mentioned that I think could be in the discussion is Jeff Bagwell.

The thing with Bagwell is...

Well, are we just talking the mechanics of the swinging motion and the follow through? Or the entire package including the stance?

Because his stance looked brutal, I know it worked for him but it just looks so unsound.

[kehlis]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

The thing with Bagwell is...

Well, are we just talking the mechanics of the swinging motion and the follow through? Or the entire package including the stance?

Because his stance looked brutal, I know it worked for him but it just looks so unsound.

I took it as a subjective question. His stance was absolutely ugly but his swing when broke down was beautiful to me.

[Boltman]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

I always liked Tony Gwynn's swing, I also like Paul Molitor's.

Like others have said already, Griffey Jr's swing was sweetness.

[Boltman]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

I took it as a subjective question. His stance was absolutely ugly but his swing when broke down was beautiful to me.

Well subjectively like that, then yea his swing was as sound as anyone's. I never understood how he generated any pop with that stance though.

[24]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

I keep noticing many people saying Griffey and I want to clarify something. Ken Griffey Jr. had a pretty swing. It looked graceful and beautfiul however it was not mechanically correct. Yes without a doubt it looked picturesque but its not something you want to teach a child.

[DJ]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

Since moving to Colorado back in '04, I've had the chance to see Todd Helton play a lot of games at Coors Field. I really like his swing; not a lot of movement pre-swing, good eye and a very quick, compact swing. When he's on he can spray the ball all over the field.

Albert Pujols was always a treat to watch when St. Louis came to town, and I have to also say Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds as far as guys I've seen in person.

[sweny5632]

I'm not quite sure how mechanically sound his swing is because I can't dissect swings as well as some of you guys can but I have always thought Adam LaRoche has a pretty swing. I love his follow through

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[55]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

Jeff Bagwell's stance always reminded me of having to take a dump in a public bathroom and having to hover.

[kehlis]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

Jeff Bagwell's stance always reminded me of having to take a dump in a public bathroom and having to hover.

Ha, can't argue against that.

[Jr.]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

I keep noticing many people saying Griffey and I want to clarify something. Ken Griffey Jr. had a pretty swing. It looked graceful and beautfiul however it was not mechanically correct. Yes without a doubt it looked picturesque but its not something you want to teach a child.

Please explain. You don't hit 600 homeruns and have a career BA over .290 with a poor mechanical swing.

[Blzer]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

Please explain. You don't hit 600 homeruns and have a career BA over .290 with a poor mechanical swing.

Sure you can, ask Sosa.

Well okay, he didn't have the .290 average, but you get my point. The MLB is filled with unorthodox visuals on how to actually play the game, but it doesn't meant that they can't be successful with it. The idea is that we are discussing fundamentals and mechanics, and if your kid tries to Griffey his way to the majors, he will fall flat on his face.

Plus if we're going to go by that, how come the home run king with a .298 career average isn't being mentioned more?

[24]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

Please explain. You don't hit 600 homeruns and have a career BA over .290 with a poor mechanical swing.

I am not taking away from Griffey's achievements all I am saying is that his swing was not fundamentally sound. It worked for him but would it work if I taught it too a 12 year old? No not a shot in hell. His swing was long and it looped a bit. He is without a doubt one of the greatest to play the game there is no questioning that, however his swing was not mechanically correct and he is not the only player in the history of baseball that put up significant stats with improper mechanics. I don't have some vendetta against him, personally I love Junior.

[Jr.]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

Sure you can, ask Sosa.

Well okay, he didn't have the .290 average, but you get my point. The MLB is filled with unorthodox visuals on how to actually play the game, but it doesn't meant that they can't be successful with it. The idea is that we are discussing fundamentals and mechanics, and if your kid tries to Griffey his way to the majors, he will fall flat on his face.

Plus if we're going to go by that, how come the home run king with a .298 career average isn't being mentioned more?

I'm not disagreeing with Bonds. It's pretty obvious that he has one of the best swings of all-time.

I just think it's interesting that people are harping on Griffey's swing without actually saying what's fundamentally wrong with it. I seriously doubt someone can hit as well as he did, for as long as he did, if he had a swing that was bad mechanically.

[Blzer]

Re: Mechanically who was the best hitter you have seen?

I'm not disagreeing with Bonds. It's pretty obvious that he has one of the best swings of all-time.

I just think it's interesting that people are harping on Griffey's swing without actually saying what's fundamentally wrong with it. I seriously doubt someone can hit as well as he did, for as long as he did, if he had a swing that was bad mechanically.

Well on the flip side, I haven't heard anyone say what was right about it either. Sure, it's beautiful, but so is Transformers, and that's not being nominated for any Oscars. I keed.

Anyway, the biggest issue is the upper half of the body, particularly the arm-length extension. A proper mechanic for making contact with the ball is from a bottom-hand pull, leading with the knob directly to it. He ignores that facet and throws the barrel to it. Any kid who would try and replicate this would roll over nine times out of ten. Thankfully he had quick wrists and good bottom-half torque though, because if you try this at home, you'll have horrible luck being able to square up an inside pitch in fair territory.

If there was any problem with his lower body, it would derive from his stance. It is so tall and narrow, that his "zero spot" (loading position before he swings) means that he has to take a wide stride and bend lower, and just like I said with Josh Hamilton, unless you know what you're doing, altering your eye line and banking on making expected contact off a tee, much less off 90+ MPH fastballs, is very difficult to do correctly. It looks good, especially when he hits it out and walks it off, but it's a fantasy that only he could do right. If more people could, you would probably see some variation of that more often, just because it also looks so damn sweet.

The final thing with his upper body that's a little different is tied into his stance. His bat starts upright, and his swing sort of begins with the same amount of uprightness. Now I wouldn't say that he has a loop swing in the sense that his entire backside drops and he has to compensate by coming up on the ball, but he throws the hammer down to it, giving it that loop effect. With his strength and his beat on it, he would be able to handle pitches at the top of the strike zone every so often, but that's not where the majority of his home runs came from. He had weaknesses that were difficult to exploit in case you made a mistake pitch on him.

Anyway, that's the best I could do. I never want to really "disagree" with anyone's opinions per se, but I just wanted to make sure people understood what the thread question really was. If it was "Who has the best looking swing" or even "Who has the best swing," I can see a lot of people saying Griffey simply for how awesome it looks. But when this question is asking about swing mechanics, it's very difficult to look at him as a first answer, or even a 30th answer. There are many other players in the game who have great mechanical swings who, perhaps, have poor timing or pitch recognition. It's really a tough thing to judge.