chapter10 ~Barry Bonds~
In this chapter, I want to write on Bonds' mechanics from a practical perspective based on my theory, so that you will be able to copy his mechanics at least with a toy or youth bat ーbonds' bat wiggling requires pretty amount of muscle power and deeply relates to his mechanics. First of all, let me show you a video of his swings.
movie1
Introduction: two easy-to-misunderstand points
There are two points that many guys who try to copy Bonds' mechanics tend to misunderstand.
(1) launch position
Bonds sets the bat in the white framed position of figure1 before starting the swing mechanics.
figure1
Although he wiggles the bat back and forth like Gary Sheffield, they are different in this respect.
figure2: Bonds and Sheffield
(2) double tap move
Barry Bonds isn't an usual double-tap hitter. As a hint to imply that fact, compare his mechanics with that of Prince fielder ーsee figure3.
figure3
While Fielder brings down the hands in the second (forward) stride, Bonds does it in the first (backward) stride. This represents the difference between their mechanics, and most double-tap hitters do the same way as Fielder does, like Sammy Sosa, Bernie Williams, and Reggie Sanders. You will understand the meaning of that difference when reading this chapter to the end. Anyway, Bonds isn't an usual double-tap hitter.
Figure4: Sammy Sosa
I've seen many hitters who tried to copy Bonds' swing, but most of them seemed to be misunderstanding about above two points. That's why I wrote on it at first.
section1: hitch and start-up position
Bonds moves the hands up and down in the stride, which is called "hitch", and it consists of "hitch down" and "hitch up". This move is the same and has the same meaning as that of Jeff Bagwell. Prince Fielder, Sammy Sosa, Bernie Williams, and Mike Piazza also do the same thing, and you will be able to find out that even Albert Pujols does it, when taking a closer look at his mechanics.
figure5: hitch down and hitch up
figure6: Jeff Bagwell, Albert Pujols
※) To understand about hitch, contents from chapter1 to chapter9 must be comprehended in advance.
In puncher-type mechanics, hitch is interlocking with the lower half's move after starting up like figure7.
figure7
When your lower half generates power to kick the ground, the hands go down automatically to take a balance, and then, when your front leg falls onto the ground, the hands are picked up automatically to take a balance. Both of these up-and-down moves should be unconscious, automatic move, and if it is done as an intentional move, it must be said as a wrong move. Then, see figure8.
figure8
This is an experiment using short broomstick. An extremely light weighted stick will allow you to perform the hitch like Bonds or Sosa does. This drill is meant to build a muscle memory of correct movements. As you can see in movie2, they used the automatic-stride mechanics in this experiment. Their hitch appears right after the start-up position, which prove what I explained in figure7.
movie2: hitch drill
Movie3 is for comparing their broomstick-bat swings with baseball-bat swings. In the baseball-bat swings, their hitching moves are scale downed because of the weight of their bats.
movie3
Figure9 shows the comparison of the hitch. We can infer from this result that Bonds' wide hitching move is rooted in his muscle strength. What we should understand from this experiment is that Bonds' hitch is correct move but it's size is not always applied to our own mechanics.
figure9
Anyway, hitch appears right after the hitter starts up and is performed between the start-up position and landing position like figure10.
figure10
In accordance with the findings above, I can assume that Bonds' start-up position is the white framed cut in figure11.
figure11
Usual double-tap hitters start up after their first stride and therefore, their hitch-down move appears in their second stride. However, Bonds' first stride appears after the start-up position, and so does his hitch-down move. This is the reason why I think Bonds is not a usual double tap hitter. He rather should be regarded as a variant kind of automatic-stride hitter. Specifically, his double-tap motion appears automatically after he starts up, and the mechanics of it is going to be explained in section2 below.
section2 : automatic-double-tap motion
As I wrote above, Bonds' first stride is performed after starting up, and this means his first (backward) stride is an automatic stride, unlike the case of Prince fielder, Sammy Sosa, and Bernie Williams. Also, his second (forward) stride is done naturally as a counteraction of the first stride ーthis also can be automatic. To sum it up, his double tap move is an automatic move, and therefore, he should better fall into the automatic-stride style rather than double-tap style.
figure12: Bonds' double-tap move appears after the start-up position, so it can be said to be a kind of automatic-stride move.
So why he has such a distinctive mechanics that none of other hitters have?
See figure13. The answer lies in his preparative motion of back-and-forth weight shift that is done repeatedly, interlocking with the bat's back-and-forth move ーthey keep the balance with their mutually opposing moves.
figure13
In this chapter, I want to write on Bonds' mechanics from a practical perspective based on my theory, so that you will be able to copy his mechanics at least with a toy or youth bat ーbonds' bat wiggling requires pretty amount of muscle power and deeply relates to his mechanics. First of all, let me show you a video of his swings.
movie1
Introduction: two easy-to-misunderstand points
There are two points that many guys who try to copy Bonds' mechanics tend to misunderstand.
(1) launch position
Bonds sets the bat in the white framed position of figure1 before starting the swing mechanics.
figure1
Although he wiggles the bat back and forth like Gary Sheffield, they are different in this respect.
figure2: Bonds and Sheffield
(2) double tap move
Barry Bonds isn't an usual double-tap hitter. As a hint to imply that fact, compare his mechanics with that of Prince fielder ーsee figure3.
figure3
While Fielder brings down the hands in the second (forward) stride, Bonds does it in the first (backward) stride. This represents the difference between their mechanics, and most double-tap hitters do the same way as Fielder does, like Sammy Sosa, Bernie Williams, and Reggie Sanders. You will understand the meaning of that difference when reading this chapter to the end. Anyway, Bonds isn't an usual double-tap hitter.
Figure4: Sammy Sosa
I've seen many hitters who tried to copy Bonds' swing, but most of them seemed to be misunderstanding about above two points. That's why I wrote on it at first.
section1: hitch and start-up position
Bonds moves the hands up and down in the stride, which is called "hitch", and it consists of "hitch down" and "hitch up". This move is the same and has the same meaning as that of Jeff Bagwell. Prince Fielder, Sammy Sosa, Bernie Williams, and Mike Piazza also do the same thing, and you will be able to find out that even Albert Pujols does it, when taking a closer look at his mechanics.
figure5: hitch down and hitch up
figure6: Jeff Bagwell, Albert Pujols
※) To understand about hitch, contents from chapter1 to chapter9 must be comprehended in advance.
In puncher-type mechanics, hitch is interlocking with the lower half's move after starting up like figure7.
figure7
When your lower half generates power to kick the ground, the hands go down automatically to take a balance, and then, when your front leg falls onto the ground, the hands are picked up automatically to take a balance. Both of these up-and-down moves should be unconscious, automatic move, and if it is done as an intentional move, it must be said as a wrong move. Then, see figure8.
figure8
This is an experiment using short broomstick. An extremely light weighted stick will allow you to perform the hitch like Bonds or Sosa does. This drill is meant to build a muscle memory of correct movements. As you can see in movie2, they used the automatic-stride mechanics in this experiment. Their hitch appears right after the start-up position, which prove what I explained in figure7.
movie2: hitch drill
Movie3 is for comparing their broomstick-bat swings with baseball-bat swings. In the baseball-bat swings, their hitching moves are scale downed because of the weight of their bats.
movie3
Figure9 shows the comparison of the hitch. We can infer from this result that Bonds' wide hitching move is rooted in his muscle strength. What we should understand from this experiment is that Bonds' hitch is correct move but it's size is not always applied to our own mechanics.
figure9
Anyway, hitch appears right after the hitter starts up and is performed between the start-up position and landing position like figure10.
figure10
In accordance with the findings above, I can assume that Bonds' start-up position is the white framed cut in figure11.
figure11
Usual double-tap hitters start up after their first stride and therefore, their hitch-down move appears in their second stride. However, Bonds' first stride appears after the start-up position, and so does his hitch-down move. This is the reason why I think Bonds is not a usual double tap hitter. He rather should be regarded as a variant kind of automatic-stride hitter. Specifically, his double-tap motion appears automatically after he starts up, and the mechanics of it is going to be explained in section2 below.
section2 : automatic-double-tap motion
As I wrote above, Bonds' first stride is performed after starting up, and this means his first (backward) stride is an automatic stride, unlike the case of Prince fielder, Sammy Sosa, and Bernie Williams. Also, his second (forward) stride is done naturally as a counteraction of the first stride ーthis also can be automatic. To sum it up, his double tap move is an automatic move, and therefore, he should better fall into the automatic-stride style rather than double-tap style.
figure12: Bonds' double-tap move appears after the start-up position, so it can be said to be a kind of automatic-stride move.
So why he has such a distinctive mechanics that none of other hitters have?
See figure13. The answer lies in his preparative motion of back-and-forth weight shift that is done repeatedly, interlocking with the bat's back-and-forth move ーthey keep the balance with their mutually opposing moves.
figure13
