Thread by @SteveEnglishbey

As I have noted many times, Paul Nyman's lead arm disc model, in the context of a high level swing, was revolutionary. Until that model, no one had conceptualized a high level swing that had such, as I say, "explanatory power."

https://twitter.com/setprosports/status/1428371604019597314

What do I mean by "explanatory power"? Well, simply put, no one had tried to explain, from a physics perspective, some of THE basic parameters involved in creating a high level swing.

What do I mean by this? Well, one needs to try to define how physics can help define a high level swing. Here, I think, are some basic ways to conceptualize and quantify this:

1] How can physics explain as to how one can optimize the body's ability to create optimal momentum transfer, optimal swing quickness, and optimal swing accuracy [as regards how to create optimal "lift?"].

As the above clip shows [for both pitching/hitting] one key is the distal segments aligning ....PERPINDICULAR to the more proximal segment [the spine].

An anecdote to this: Years back an engineer who had no baseball experience had a young son who started playing baseball. As a dad dedicated [like many] to helping his son, he went to a number of baseball clinics that were ostensibly designed to help him and his son.

Much of what he heard as regards "techniques" demonstrated as things to help him and his son did NOT make much sense to him.

From his perspective as an engineer, an orientation that inherently demands a certain rigor of thought, logic, rational reasoning, etc., much of what he heard made little sense.

BUT. Since he also understood that he had no baseball experience, he decided to yield to those baseball "experts". In effect, saying: "Well, I guess these baseball "experts" know what they are talking about...I just am not smart enough to understand them."

Thereafter, [keep in mind this was about 15 yrs. ago], he found something that intrigued him. He saw someone post on a hitting website [Baseball Fever] that:

A key characteristic of high level hitters is that of aligning the lead arm along the shoulder line and both are aligned perpendicular to the spine angle. In other words, there is a consistent RIGHT ANGLE relationship....

....of the lead arm/shoulder line to the spine angle. His first thought about this was: Well that's weird. NO one at any hitting clinic had talked about this. None of the hitting "experts" he heard had even remotely said this.

Thus, he concluded, this must be wrong. BUT. He then did what any normal science/engineer type would/should do: He sought to DISPROVE this seemingly heretical notion via EMPIRICAL analysis.

Meaning that he went about looking at a number of MLB hitters and annotated their unloading geometry.

And lo and behold--and to his great surprise---he indeed found that this assertion of a relationship between the lead arm/shoulder line and its right angle relationship with the spine angle was....CORRECT!

And the more he looked the more he saw this. AND, thus, concluding, that this basic geometry was, in fact, an absolute as regards elite level hitters.

He then went on to compare NON-elite hitters in an effort to further verify what he had seen this ONE guy assert. And he found that non -elite hitters did NOT create this kind of basic geometry.

The engineer in question here is a pretty remarkable guy from San Diego ....Stu Byrne.

And the guy who had this seemingly heretical notion?

Well, that was ME!!

Now, I hasten to add that there are a NUMBER of postural components that add to [or detract from] this basic "Iron Byron" example of optimizing momentum transfer.

[Here's clip explaining the Iron Byron and the basic physics]:

Understand that from a basic physics perspective, optimizing momentum transfer is a function of a vector quality in that it has both a magnitude AND direction of force.

In the context of swinging a bat, the latter component contains NUMEROUS postural dynamics.

Stu Bryne, based entirely upon things I wrote on website, created an OUTSTANDING visual accounting of these postural dynamics.

Which can be found here on my website:
englishbeyhitting.com/hitting-videos/

We called this [Originally "Initiation Geometries"]

Now within: "Illustrated E-book – INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE"

Again, I want to thank Stu for doing an outstanding job of ...."looking and listening " to my info!!

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