Swinging the Bat for Power
Many people might think that swinging the bat straight through the ball would be enough to hit the ball a decent distance off the bat. There's many more mechanics involved in the swinging process. Muscle has only a small part to play in the swinging a bat for power. There are two types of mechanics involved while swinging a bat, Linear and Rotational. Rotational mechanics are the dominant source of power in the swing. Out of the rotational mechanics come the two forces that help generate the speed and power of the swing, torque and the other comes from the energy of rotation. Speed from the energy of rotation comes from the path that your hands follow as you swing the bat. The speed generated by the circular rotation from your hands is like a ball at the end of a string, as long as your hands are moving in a circle then the ball continues to accelerate in a circle. So the bat will also move in at an increasing speed as long as your hands are following a circular path as you swing. Any foward movement of the hands or body in a straight line won't add to the overall bat speed.
Torque is another key ingredient to a good power hitter, or even a good hitter. Torque is the result of two forces being applied to an object in opposite directions. In this case the two forces are being applied from the hands and wrists onto the bat. As you start your swing, instead of moving your hands directly at the ball, you want your hands to start a rotation. The top hand begins to move backwards while the lead arm drives the end of the bat towards the ball. The torque invloved is created around the point of the bat that lies between your hands. This torque greatly accelerates the head of the bat which will have act with a greater force when (or if ) it comes into contact with the ball.
A good batter will use almost all of these rotational and torque energies either before or durning contact with the ball. After contact your body is relaxed and its remaining motion is smooth, this extra motion is caused by the momentum of the bat pulling the arms up and through.Your follow through is also very important, even though the ball has already been hit it is ideal that you complete your swing so that you're not thrown off balance by that extra momentum when you start to run.
The game of baseball can be divided into three broad categories: hitting, pitching, and defense. No other facet of the game gets as much attention as hitting. For example, every year the MLB puts on a home run derby. No other part of the game draws as much attention. The traditional statistic that measure hitting ability is batting average (BA or AVG). To find a players batting averag...
Right now in America, the world of sports is constantly changing and growing to make the sports safer and fairer. People want sports to be as exciting and thrilling as before, but without the human error that may turn some baseball fans away. Along with this fear, people also want every sport to be as fair as possible, and by doing this most sports have incorporated an instant replay rule. This spring will be the first that the review rule will be in effect, it is a radical decision and game changing because baseballs history is so rich and its structured has not been changed in so long. These changes are not without skepticism though because people believe that the game has been so successful and before being “fair” was not the biggest priority of the game. By adding this rule, baseball’s fairness will be protected in a way it was not previously, but this set of rules is not without skepticism by people who believe there is nothing wrong with the game now.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the softball swing anatomically, mechanically, and analytically. By analyzing each move one makes when...
It’s a Sunday afternoon and the whole family is over at grandmother’s house playing a fun game of pickup baseball until they realize they do not know how to hit a baseball. Luckily, it is a rather simple process that can easily be taught and learned. Hitting a baseball is not nearly as hard as it seems. Professional baseball players make hitting a baseball either look very easy or extremely hard. To begin the process, the following items are needed: a bat, a baseball, and baseball gloves so that the hit baseball can be caught.
When one throws a baseball properly they are using there entire body to generate a large force to propel the baseball. A general throwing position starts with a person rotated 90 degrees from there target with there throwing arm 180 degrees from the target and parallel to the ground. The person then starts rotating their body back towards their target while there throwing arm starts bending until it is almost 90 degrees to their elbow, while the arm is bending at the elbow the throwing arm is rotating such that the arm rotates back almost 180 degrees from the target. Meanwhile the person is leaping forward with the leg that was initially pointed at the target while there other leg is planted into the ground. The person is bending at their waist and the other arm is rotating into their body. Around the point where the driving leg strikes the ground the throwing arm is rotating foreword at a tremendous angular speed and the person lets go of the ball. At the point where the ball is let go the persons body pulls the planted leg forward and the throwing arm finishes its motion towards the driving leg.
Baseball is known as America’s national pastime, and has been played for over 100 years. Baseball can be a lot of fun, but is also extremely challenging to play, especially when trying to hit a 90 mile per hour fastball. I am a very devoted baseball player myself, and over the years I have learned numerous key things about the game. Baseball does not only require physical strength to hit and throw the ball, but it also requires a great mindset, such as, mental preparedness, concentration, and a positive attitude. Mental preparedness separates the average baseball player from the elite ones.
Have you ever wondered how baseball players are able to crush 400 foot homeruns? It takes years and years to perfect a baseball swing to be able to do that. Swinging a bat and hitting a baseball is a lot more difficult than most people think. The pros make it look so easy because they have to perfect many mechanics just to hit a ball hard on the sweet spot of the bat. “Hitting is the single most difficult thing to do in sport.” this coming from Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters of all time. Hitting a baseball requires more mechanical precision compared to other sports (Williams).
Throwing a baseball is a lot like throwing any other object. Children grow up throwing things around the house, and it very similar to how you throw a baseball. From a young age, I grew up throwing objects around the house. My father was smart enough to recognize this trend and sign me up for baseball later on when I was much older. To throw a baseball you first need to understand the shape of the object. The baseball has seams around the circumference which are placed around the outer edges of the baseball for added grip. Before we get into the types of pitches and grips, we need to understand the arm and body movement. The movement of your body and arms happens in many steps that follow a fluid form to increase accuracy
Its America’s pastime. Since 1869, the MLB has been the sweetheart of American sports. A requisite to be a true American is to have a conceptual understanding of baseball; the seventh inning stretch, “Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” as well as hotdogs and warm summer nights at the ball park are all favorite memories of American pastime. However, what one might not realize is the extreme physics behind the game. The velocity of the pitch, and degree of the ball exiting the bat, the exit speed, and how an outfielder throws are entailed within the physics of baseball. It is important to understand the physics involved with baseball to grow in understanding and appreciation of the sport.
Fielding a baseball while relaxed makes it 10,000 times easier than fielding the ball all tense and nervous. I just tell myself over and over in my head to stay relaxed and do not think too much. After I relax myself I start to come in on the ball and be aggressive with it, I always remember Coach Davidson telling me to not let the ball play me, take the easy hops and stay aggressive with it. "For starters, charging forward and attacking a ground ball cuts down on bad hops and allows you to keep the ball in front of your body" (Clark & Tulowitzki). Being aggressive greatly improves many players fielding skills, like Troy Tulowitzki who loves persistent aggression when fielding ground balls. He committed only 6 errors in the 2011 season which gave him a .991 fielding percentage, an elite percentage in baseball. Coming into the ball with rhythm and small steps also helps me out a great deal, "That is, Right foot, Left foot, Field the ball. This is the rhythm you want to have as you field the baseball. It will keep you squared up to the ball," (Bernier). I like to think of this reminder while I field baseballs because not only does it give me a good tempo but it also helps keep my fielding smooth and
Physics is everywhere. Consequently, physics is a part of sports and more specifically, hockey. As the scientific discoveries progressed with time, so did the advancements in the sport of hockey, reflecting on how important and influential science truly is. Physics takes part in the ice, the skates, the protective gear, the shots, goaltending, and all other aspects of ice hockey.
It’s fair to say that a good baseball game can lie in the hands of the pitcher. According to an article by the American Journal of Sports Medicine, 50 percent of professional baseball pitchers experience elbow or shoulder pain due to the way they throw the ball. Because not much research has been done on professional baseball athletes, the purpose of this publication was to find at what point in the pitcher’s technique does most of the damage occur. The study began by taking 40 pro-baseball pitchers, all ranging from the age of 23-33 years old with relatively the same height and weight. Also, thirty-two of the 40 selected are right-hand dominant. Then they placed 3 cameras in different parts of the field. These cameras would take still frames of the pitchers and their technique when throwing the ball. They found that at the point where there is maximum rotation (aka the cocking phase) the distraction force was low.
The motions of throwing, batting, and fielding will be presented in physics terms and ideas. Physics plays a big role in sports. One particular sport is softball, where we will be seeing different motions represented.
The skill that I will be teaching is striking but more specifically is striking a baseball otherwise known as batting. Batting is a discrete skill inside a very complex and continuous movement pattern. This skill is known as a gross skill because it take great hip rotation, wrist rotation,...