THE WEIGHT TRANSFER

During the 1994 season, Michael Jordan might have benefited from this straightforward bit of advice on weight transfer. Playing in the Southern League, Jordan struggled at the plate as he tried to learn to hit for the first time in his life. An analysis of his swing revealed a serious mechanical flaw in the early stages: he began the swing with his weight already shifted to the backside instead of in the middle of his body. This resulted in a slow bat and no power. Had he started in the middle, moved back to load up, and then come forward, he could have had much more success developing bat speed and power.

SEEING THE BALL CLEARLY

1-23. You should first see the ball right out of the pitcher's hand. This is the beginning of the tracking process that tells you the speed, trajectory, and spin of the incoming pitch.

Hitters track the ball with their "on-board computer"-the brain. Information starts arriving in the computer as the pitcher releases the ball. Cliches such as "Watch the ball all the way in," "See the ball hit the bat," and "Don't pull your head" are true: you must learn how to do all of these things and see the ball more effectively.

"Good golfers and good hitters keep their heads still and down during the swing-even after the ball is gone." Steve Garvey

Good tracking starts with a still head. It should make sense to you that if your eyes are moving when you are trying to see the ball clearly, the information reaching the brain will be scrambled and poor results will be inevitable.

Since 1971, every single major league hitter appearing at the school has made this point to the students. Joe Morgan, Dave Winfield, George Brett, Willie Stargell, Robin Yount, and-more recently-Tony Gwynn and Alan Trammell have all attached a great deal of importance to keeping the head still.

Try to see the ball as soon as possible and as clearly as possible. You should pick up the ball out of the pitcher's hand at his release point (fig. 1-23). One method that Trammell uses is to focus on the pitcher's cap during his windup and then switch to his release point as his arm comes forward. The theory is that the ball will come into focus faster with the eyes already focused at the correct distance.

Your brain gathers information about each pitch and sends commands to your muscles to move the bat. Information starts to arrive in your brain as soon as the ball gets into focus. Studies indicate that the direction and trajectory of the pitch are the first bits of information to be processed. The information that is the most difficult-and therefore takes the most time-for your brain to process involves the speed of the pitch.

1-24. The "sweet spot," also known as the center of percussion.

Your eyes aren't the only means by which you track the ball. The vestibular system of your inner ear (used for balance) tells you where you are in space and therefore where the head of your bat is at all times (you can't see the head of the bat during your swing). Your brain puts all this together, computes the timing, and directs the speed and direction of the swing. This entire process happens in less than one-half second.

"When I am missing the ball consistently and hitting it on the bad part of the bat, I try to keep my head still, see the ball, and hit it the other way." Ozzie Smith

Horizontally speaking, a four-inch wide area of the bat called the center of percussion (fig. 1-24)-the "sweet spot"-is the perfect spot to make contact with the ball. The sweet spot is four to six inches from the end of a wood bat and is two to three inches wide. On an aluminum bat it is slightly larger; four to eight or ten inches from the end of the bat, depending on the model. For this reason, many players have a great deal of trouble adjusting from aluminum to wood when they sign professional contracts.

Vertically speaking, an error of as little as an eighth of an inch in a swing can result in a fly ball instead of a line drive. When the baseball reaches the impact area, it remains hittable for approximately 36-48 inches of its flight-to put the ball in fair territory, only 24-30 inches. A ball thrown at 90 miles per hour only remains hittable in fair territory for an estimated .015 (fifteen thousandths) of a second. Thus, if you begin your swing .02 (two hundredths) of a second too early or too late, you will miss the ball. Can you see why only a handful of players hit .300 each year?