The Japans Way of Hitting（2）Top (Launch Position）

The word 'top' refers to launch position in Japanese baseball instruction, and it derives from 'top of swing', a golf jargon. 
Japanese coaches generally place a premium on it as if they have a kind of worship on it.

The book, The Art of Hitting .300, appears to conduce to the spread of 'top worship' in Japan, for this famous book written by Charley Lau in which he asserted the importance of launch position was issued also in Japan. 

If my memory serves me right, Charley Lau made a statement about launch position and its out line was as follows: "If you can make a correct launch position, batting stance doesn't matter."

This idea was favored by many Japanese coaches and players, and many books now roughly states that whatever batting stance you chose, you must get to a correct 'top'. So where is the top?

　　Figure1

Opinion is divided into three factions like following.

Faction1:Some people including professional players think (2) of Figure1 is the top. This, in a sense, is a practical idea because hand action between (2) and (3) is an automatic movement due to weight transfer and most of hitters don't pull their hands back by using their arm muscle itself. Meanwhile, novice players can have the same idea because they don't have a sense of separate motion which means opposite movement of grip and front leg.

The ceparation


A instruction by former professional player; and as he is saying from 1.05, his instruction is conforming to the idea of faction2.


Faction2: An idea in which (3) is regarded as the top would be in the majority; and seeing objectively, it seems to be the most reasonable idea, because it is desirable that the word top, namely, launch position be a term which includes the concept of separation.
However, This idea can sometimes give players misunderstanding, especially to 'diligent' and 'obedient' players who are likely to get a good score in school exam, as they will pull the hands backward consciously. Correctly, separation means interlocking motion between weight transfer that is main movement of this phase and hand action that is led by whole body movement. So despite the faction2 is right, faction1 kind of instruction would some times result in better outcomes than faction2 kind of it.

This also is an instruction by former professional player. His instruction can roughly be classified into the faction2.



Faction3: There occasionally are people who claim (4) is the top. This idea would be based on the belief that stride and swing must be divided. Such belief possibly come also from Charlie Lau; because he said, like,"Swinging before landing is the same as building a house before paving a basement."  For that reason, some people including Mike Epstein are thinking that (4) is the top, out of belief that swing should initiate after landing. By the way, there would be two types of people who take a stand for the faction3 kind of idea: one probably are players having considerable high level skills, and the other possibly are armchair analyzers not having opportunity for instructions on the ball field.

　　　　　　　　　　　Is this the top?

When hitting a slow breaking ball with aiming a fastball, many professional-level players can make a split second of interval after the landing, and swing from there like following movie.


Like above movie, hitters having well matured skills can keep so-called 'stay back' even after the landing, and this is the very meaning of Charley Lau's saying "Don't do the swing and stride at once."

The Japanese Way of Hitting（1）Load or weight shift

Candidly speaking, Japanese position players have not succeeded in MLB expect for few particular cases like Ichiro, who has a characteristic batting style and superfine fielding skills, or Hideki Matsui, who has outstanding power for a Japanese. When seeing from just technical perspective purely, the best Asian hitter is probably Shin-Soo Choo, a Korean player, in todays MLB. Unfortunately, Japanese hitting instruction system has not served very well so far. So I can disclose Japanese hitting instructions without hesitation, and I will write about it with a focus on frequently argued matters as objectively as possible without my own opinion.

1）Load or weight shift

When other countries' baseball fans watch Japanese batting order, they will notice that most hitters lift up their front-leg higher than other countries' hitters.  The reason why they lift the front-leg highly is because of the need to load their weight into the back-leg. In Japanese hitting instruction, loading the weight into back leg before stride is thought as a crucial basic for power production and adjustment against slow breaking ball. So basically, they do probably not have intention to increase a carry by using a counter motion due to the leg-elevation. Simply stated, they elevate the front-leg not for gaining a momentum but for loading into the back leg.

Until about fifty years ago, the leg-elevation type mechanics had been thought as a form of incorrect mechanics also in Japan. After that, Sadaharu Oh turned over that conventional wisdom with his own mechanics and success accompanying a plethora of awards and honors. Yet despite of his success, in his era, that kind of mechanics had been regarded as a particular, customized skill limitedly allowed for a few of superbly talented players, especially for long hitters.

Sadaharu Oh


From left: Sadaharu Oh, Koichi Tabuchi and Hiromitsu Kadota, later two players are followers of Sadaharu Oh. They built their mechanics in reference to Sdaharu Oh's it.

Subsequently, in the 1980s, an innovation of leg-elevation mechanics was provided by several players including Makoto Sasaki and Kazunori Yamamoto, who both were teammate.

Makoto Sasaki's home run from 4.53

Kazunori Yamamoto's home run


Those innovators got aware of another effect of leg-elevation, that is, by elevating the front leg, whole weight can easily be loaded into the rear leg. As it turns out, the rear leg can get stability by loading weight, and it enables the rear leg to serve a function as a basement for swing.

Originally, leg-elevation mechanics were thought as it was instability and inability to keep staying back, and therefore, it had been regarded as an incorrect skill. However, the 'innovators' found out that opposite is also true, and their successes have brought so many followers to this day, e.g. Shinnosuke Abe, a captain of national team.

While old type high-knee hitters lift their legs up as a counter movement, those of innovated new type lift their legs up for getting stability by loading the weight into their rear legs. For that reason, old type doesn't bend the knee, and new type, on the other hand, bends the knee as shown in below figure.

Left; New type high knee mechanics :  Right; Old type high knee mechanics

This innovation should be revolutionary not only for players but also rather for coaches, because coaches generally value sureness. 

Despite they criticized the high-knee mechanics, they turned over to begin teaching it their players since finding it out as it can provide a sureness by staying back and stability.

Most Japanese coaches are now instructing the high-knee mechanics as if it is a textbook answer, and it actually is appearing on textbook often. As strange as it seems, hitters who adopt slide-step mechanics like Vernon Wells, Alex Rios and Justin Morneau often receive butting in from coaches. No-stride mechanics can not be acceptable still more.

Shin-Soo Choo; A hitter having this kind of mechanics can hardly be brought up from Japan, especially as for left handed hitters.

Following is a Japanese textbookish explanation of load in hitting mechanics; Lifting up the front leg, load weight into the rear leg.

So let me give some examples related this issue below and add commentaries on those.

1）Isao Harimoto　　In about this era of the 1970s, slide-stip mechanics had still remained as a basic style.


2）Hiromits Kadota  　As mentioned above, he leaned the high-knee mechanics by referring to Sdaharu Oh. So his mechanics was typical old type high-knee mechanics, and as to power production, old is superior than new.


3）Darryl Strawberry 　Also he was follower of Sadaharu Oh because he learned the high-knee mechanics from Dave Johnson, then manager of New York Mets and former team mate of Sadaharu Oh in Yomiuri Giants.


4）Tadahito Icuchi　　This is the typical new type high-knee mechanics placing importance on sureness.


5）Noritchika Aoki　　This is the new type too, and although this is a home run, he frequently hit grounder with feeble swing, and it means this type mechanics is not for increasing power but for raising an ability of adjustment. Actually, he recorded 209 hits in single season, which is just behind of Ichro's record 210 hits.


6）Alex Rodriguez　　He probably is a pioneer of high-knee mechanics in MLB, really, since his success, quite a few players has com to adopt it. 


7）Tomoya Mori　The new type high-knee mechanics is rampant rather in high school, college and little league baseball.


END

Cuban, Dominican and American

Since I've been checking almost all MLB players' mechanics by using video clips, I came to be able to discern about where is the black position player from, especially as for Cuban, Dominican and American, by his hitting mechanics, in high rate.

So in this article, I'll write about difference and tendency of hitting mechanics among those three country's black player.

1) United States of America

Probably the reason why is that USA has long and rich history of baseball, its instruction policy seems like having somewhat authoritative attitude and placing importance on basic matters, compared with other countries. Add to this that American people generally appear to prefer taking practical and statistical approach on baseball. So, a lot of American players have, so to speak, simple and sturdy hitting mechanics while coexisting with it somewhat rough touch appearances like their products made in USA. Of course, those tendency can be adopted for white players, but they almost all are from USA, in the first place. It doesn't holds as a quiz to me.

Concretely, many of American black players take a small stride, which probably means they attempt to raise their batting average in many cases, for example, Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, Jason Heyward,  Matt Kemp, etc.

In addition, compared with other country's black players, quite a few of them have a compact, tight and short swing, and that probably also is for batting average, for example, Justin Upton, Vernon Wells, Jason Heyward, Cameron Maybin, etc.

Vernon Wells; A Typical Example of American Black Player's Hitting Mechanics; It can't be that Cuban or Dominican swings like him. This is the American hitting mechanics. Of course, this tendency can be seen commonly with some of American white players: Chris Johnson, Freddie Freeman, Mark Trumbo, Jason Wearth, namely, this is a form of the American style, and I think that is like a symbol of a word, American pragmatism of which I don't know the definition very much.


Plus, American hitters, regardless of race, have another characteristic skill, that is, they created and have been practicing a new-style stride since the early 2000's. David Wright and B.J. Upton are typical examples of it. This stride now has come to be instructed even on Youtube.



As for that stride, thinking from instructive perspective, it might mean partitioning between stride and swing. As Charley Lau used to say, a popular instruction saying,"Don't do the stride and swing at once." can be said as one of the important basics of hitting skills still now. However, it also can be said that stride and swing are two important sections of a series of linking motion that shouldn't be cut into pieces. So I can't unconditionally agree on this American-style stride, and the primary reason why I can't agree on it is that the American-style is as essentially same as no-stride mechanics.

Then, let me itemize the characteristics of American black players' hitting mechanics:

●Compact and tight swing
●Short and small stride
●American-style stride

For example, Curtis Granderson is one of the typical case of it. People who was born and raised in Cuba or Dominica would hardly ever learn this kind of mechanics.


2) Republic of Cuba

Cuban style baseball is, to put it nicely, agressive and thrilling, but on the other hand, it still seems to remain somewhat primitive taste. As far as I know, their play style mainly depends on their physical ability, and most of them swing as hard as they can. As for hitting mechanics, they mostly have a small stride. However it probably is not for batting average, but for they know that width of stride doesn't matter about power production, because they have watched Omar Linares. As an evidence of it, a dynamically big swing is their another primary special product. "Big swing from small stride" is their trademark.  

Alfredo Despaigne, a typical example of cuban swing: Most of them take short and quick stride from wide stance and swing so hard with their elastic and strong muscle. They continuously have  been adopting this hitting approach since the 1980s.

Add to this that their swing has characteristic follow through, which can classified into two types. First, this is the most characteristic point of cuban swing, that is, in the case of swinging with both hands to the finish, their barrel knock their back at finish. When I think about this follow through, I remember nobody but Omar Linares, and after his era, in the 1990s, some of major leaguers showed that follow through: Vinny Castilla, Mike Piazza and Carlos Beltran, which might be an influence of Omar Linares and other cuban hitters.

The Cuban Style Finish: Left: Frederich Cepeda (Cuba)  Right: Vinny Castilla (Mexico)

As for the second characteristic point, it doesn't so much separate cuban hitters from other countries' hitters compared with the first point, but it still expresses their hitting attitude very well. I mean, when cuban hitter releases his top hand in follow through, that follow through draws comparatively bigger arc than American's it, in many cases.  

In the case of American players (regardless nationality, players who were raised in America), they seem to have a tendency that when they release their top hands in follow through, they extend and brake their arms in front area of their bodies and not pull their hands toward their backs. Alex Rodriguez, B.J.Upton, Mark Trumbo, Manny Ramirez (immigrated to new york at the age of 13) and Albert Pujols (immigrated to Kansas city at the age of 16) are typical cases of it.


Of course, these are just a mere tendency and there are many exception cases, but, by and large, that tendency holds true for Cuban and American hitters, and it speaks of their hitting attitude due to their baseball history and environment.
While both Cuban and American do the short and quick stride from comparatively wide stance, Cuban has aggressive, dynamic swing and American has tight, compact swing. So it can be said that a hitting mechanics that has short and quick stride from wide stance is able to be applied to various kind of hitting style, ranging from the 'sure contact hitter' to the 'home run or strike out hitter'. For example, Justin morneau, Vernon Wells and Shin-Soo Choo are the former, and Reggie Jackson, Jim Thome and Jose Canseco are the later. 
By the way, what makes this difference between Cuban hitters and American hitters? In other words, why most American hitters put emphasis in contact more than Cuban hitters? The answer probably is that American hitters have opposed superior pitchers who gathered from all over the world. Meanwhile, Cuban baseball has been closed against foreign players since the Cuban Revolution, which took place from 1953 to 1959. As it turns out, cuban hitters lost opportunity to oppose superb pitchers being all over the world, and they would come to enjoy hitting a ball as far as possible from relatively easy pitchers.

　　　　Fidel Castro

This circumstance around Cuban baseball is, so to speak, a form of Galapagosization, also known as Galapagos syndrome. As far as watching WBC game, Cuban baseball is slightly, but obviously different from other Latin American baseball, and it has shown somewhat out-of-date flavor over a various range of aspects.

By the way, wile the quick and short stride from the wide batting stance has come to be adopted by many hitters in MLB since about the 1990s, Cuban hitters had already adopted it as a standard installation as of the late 1980s. That means that the formerly advanced skills of Cuban hitters have become a little bit obsolete nowadays because of the Galapagosization.

The cuban batting order at 1989; Although their mechanics would be in up-to-date at this point, those seem to have slightly passed into out-of-date nowadays.

In addition, Cuban hitters have another characteristic motion in terms of getting good timing in their stride motion, that is, some of them turn their front leg inward quickly when they take stride, for example, Alexi Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo and Alexi Bell are definite cases.

As this motion can be seen at the point of 1989 in Orestes Kindelan's hitting mechanics, it would be one of their conventional styles. Meanwhile, it should be considered that a Latino hero, Roberto Clement also had been doing it, so, that stride motion may be an influence of and homage to him.

Then, let me itemize the characteristics of Cuban hitters.

●Small and quick stride from wide stance

●Big, aggressive and dynamic swing (and two kinds of characteristic followthrough)

●Turning front leg inward quickly in the stride

Considering above items, Alexei Bell's mechanics can be said as a typical case of Cuban hitting mechanics.

3) Dominican Republic

As for dominican baseball, it seems like a polar opposite to the Cuban baseball, that is, dominican baseball seems to regard itself as a market for MLB rather than as their own baseball, and an organization Dominican Prospect League  appears to symbolize what dominican baseball is. Probably, therefore, many dominican players seem to put forward their personal ability and chose their play style considering how to attract major league baseball industry to themselves.
Specifically, some or many of them having somewhat good physiques tend to lift their front leg high and swing largely. Conversely, players having relatively good speed apparently tend to become a switch-hitter.

A typical Dominican power hitter's mechanics; If he wears MLB uniform, I will find out that he is a Dominican player.