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How are the 2 distinguished , is it more mental or mechanical and who in your opinion was the best in each class
Tim
Tim
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I am going to go baseball best contact hitter has to be Pete " I didn't bet on baseball" Rose. Power hitter has to be Hank or the Babe not sure but at least they did it honestly to the best of our knowledge. In their era the pitching wasn't watered down either.
I am not smart enough to distinguish anything.
I am sure someone will come with stats and blow me out of the water but I am not doing the research.
I am not smart enough to distinguish anything.
I am sure someone will come with stats and blow me out of the water but I am not doing the research.
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There are many factors that can cause a player to be a contact hitter versus a power hitter. Many contact hitters have a very controlled linear swing. Others have a very compact swing, like Pete Rose.
Most power hitters have a very long, rotational finish. Some are completely rotational while others have a linear start with a rotational finish.
I believe the best contact hitter was Ty Cobb. the best power hitter in my opinion was Babe Ruth. Both were left handed batters.
Len
Most power hitters have a very long, rotational finish. Some are completely rotational while others have a linear start with a rotational finish.
I believe the best contact hitter was Ty Cobb. the best power hitter in my opinion was Babe Ruth. Both were left handed batters.
Len
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Ted Williams? Mark "roid" Mcgwire? Mickey "the best of both" Mantle was contact and power!
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Contact hitters are "safe" hitters. They dont take chances at the plate. As it was said - short controlled swing more like a 2 strike swing. Susuki (sp?) Seattle
Power hitters tend to take more chances, and guess at the pitch a lot more. Definately rotational with a long follow through. Babe, I guess, and his 36 ounce bat.
Power hitters tend to take more chances, and guess at the pitch a lot more. Definately rotational with a long follow through. Babe, I guess, and his 36 ounce bat.
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I tell you who looked like they "could" have been a power hitter. Glen Braggs of the Reds. He spent some much time lifting he could never figure out that he should have been swinging the bat instead of lifting.
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Tim I beleive in most cases it is mechanical. Your contact hitters as Len stated tend to have short compact swings. Everyone will agree the Rose is a great example of this. When it comes to power hitters I have togo back and look at Hank, Babe, and Ted Williams. I am too young to have watched any of these men in person, thank God for the internet!! The only reason I go back to these guysis you don't know who is legit anymore!! Not that A-FRAUD surprises me, but you want to pull for someone.
Mike
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Not sure how you do not give Ken Griffey Jr. the acknowledgement on the power hitting side. As far as contact hitting, Tony Gwynn is probably the most under-rated position hitter the game has ever seen. I think you can be pretty sure they are both legit.
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I doubt the pitchers or teams that he faced thought he was under-rated. Not sure he was the best the game ever saw though. Dear ole' Pete was pretty dang good at it.
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I like Ty Cobb for contact as far as the mental thing, Ty Cobb was MENTAL. Babe is my power hitter.
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Ty Cobb was indeed mental.....LOL.
Len
Len
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The Physics of Baseball by Robert K. Adair, Ph.D. does a great job describing it is how much the power hitter actually swings up on the ball (14 to 20 degrees) verses the contact hitter of (8 to 10 to possibly 12 degrees).
They use Reggie Jackson for power and Rod Carew for contact.
I marked my nets in 1990 based on the numbers from his book to establish a zone so we could estimate as we were hitting where the ball was being hit and what factors would allow us to stay in that zone as we are hitting. We attempt to hit the ball as much in the middle as possible so the hitters understand hands above the plane of the pitch and how far they can hit the ball. Once we have established a good swing we introduce situational hitting by practicing hitting more of the top of the ball or middle up and look where it hits on the net. Since we started using T Stackers last year it has given the hitters a target to establish a plane on hitting that is about 10 to 12 degrees upward. Too much middle up swing and the bottom ball comes off the tee; too much middle down and the bottom bottom ball comes off the tee. If you hit it exactly perfectly the spool stays on top of the bottom ball.
In my opinion you can be both provided you practice for it however you probably will be better at one facet and not be totally equal however you could help your team in a lot of situations because you practiced doing it.
Crystl demonstrates this at the clinics and if you have seen her play with runners in scoring position and one out she attempts to put it on the ground on either side of the shortstop and after that she will just try to hit it long.
They use Reggie Jackson for power and Rod Carew for contact.
I marked my nets in 1990 based on the numbers from his book to establish a zone so we could estimate as we were hitting where the ball was being hit and what factors would allow us to stay in that zone as we are hitting. We attempt to hit the ball as much in the middle as possible so the hitters understand hands above the plane of the pitch and how far they can hit the ball. Once we have established a good swing we introduce situational hitting by practicing hitting more of the top of the ball or middle up and look where it hits on the net. Since we started using T Stackers last year it has given the hitters a target to establish a plane on hitting that is about 10 to 12 degrees upward. Too much middle up swing and the bottom ball comes off the tee; too much middle down and the bottom bottom ball comes off the tee. If you hit it exactly perfectly the spool stays on top of the bottom ball.
In my opinion you can be both provided you practice for it however you probably will be better at one facet and not be totally equal however you could help your team in a lot of situations because you practiced doing it.
Crystl demonstrates this at the clinics and if you have seen her play with runners in scoring position and one out she attempts to put it on the ground on either side of the shortstop and after that she will just try to hit it long.
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while morally bankrupt, Barry Bonds had the ability to slow a pitch down to 50 mph and swell a baseball to the size of a pumpkin. you may not want to hang out with the guy but he's in the top 4 or 5 all time in both categories.
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for contact I have to say Don Mattingly he could put the ball where he needed to in any situation and was very hard to K. And power well Manny is tough, just hate seeing ball players not running out a groundout. Huge attitude!!
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If you want to see "who was or is the best" check out www.baseball-reference.com
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Chuck Norris, power and contact.
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There are no steriods in baseball; just players that Chuck Norris has breathed on.
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The mental aspect of it, a true power hitter and a true contact hitter are seperated as much by their thought process as their mechanics, maybe even more so. I heard this from a coach and started asking questions of other coaches to get their feedback and for the most part all the opinions pretty much stayed on the same track.
A contact hitter will find the first avalabile pitch that is close enough to make solid contact, they are not as concerned at finding that perfect pitch as a a power hitter would be. And they seem to be more concerned about pitch counts than thier counterparts .
A power hitter seems to have little or no concern for the pitch count and will often let the first pitch slide by even if it is a called strike , because it is not ...their...... pitch, they have more of a tendency to go deeper in the count looking for that one certain pitch they can tattoo, not to mention taking particular pleasure in working the pitcher and making the coaches grow older with worry watching them. I just believe its the way they are hard wired.
But i think that Howard is correct in that a power hitter can go to the other side of things with the proper training, with the drills such as the attack mode it makes it easier for them to not be just one dimensional (sp)
Tim
A contact hitter will find the first avalabile pitch that is close enough to make solid contact, they are not as concerned at finding that perfect pitch as a a power hitter would be. And they seem to be more concerned about pitch counts than thier counterparts .
A power hitter seems to have little or no concern for the pitch count and will often let the first pitch slide by even if it is a called strike , because it is not ...their...... pitch, they have more of a tendency to go deeper in the count looking for that one certain pitch they can tattoo, not to mention taking particular pleasure in working the pitcher and making the coaches grow older with worry watching them. I just believe its the way they are hard wired.
But i think that Howard is correct in that a power hitter can go to the other side of things with the proper training, with the drills such as the attack mode it makes it easier for them to not be just one dimensional (sp)
Tim
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