Drew Stubbs

by Havok1517 on Aug 21, 2007 2:07 PM EDT

It seems that the prospects of Drew Stubbs actually fullfilling his skills and meriting his Top 10 pick in the 2006 draft have suddenly become pretty good. The reason? Choking up.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=547

Thats right a simple move of the hands that our Dad's always told us to do when we were younger. But most of us, like myself, eventually realized that we could generate more power from swinging with the whole bat. The draw back is the that we sacrificed bat speed and it takes longer to loadup for a pitch. Many years ago, studs like Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Willy Mays all choked up on the bat. One of the main reasons was because they usually swung heavier bats than the sluggers of today do but maybe they were on to something. Barry Bonds has long preached that choking up allows him to get the bat through the zone much quicker and the rest is well...history. Many Japanese batters take a similar approach when they come over to the majors to better compensate for better MLB pitching. Is this the solve-all? Well, no, but it could certainly help free-swinging

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I don't know about all of that.....

That might explain the strikeouts, but he OPS'd .925 in July and was hitting fine early in August before making the change. I just hope he keeps hitting like he has the last two months.

http://www.redsminorleagues.com

by dougdirt on Aug 21, 2007 4:54 PM EDT reply actions

Choking Up

I was never much of a player, but back when I was playing pickup games on the playground, I always thought moving my hands 1/2-1" above the knob made the bat feel more balanced and I made more solid contact. It also seems like you might get more of the fat part of the bat on the ball on inside pitches. Does gripping the bat down on the knob really add that much bathead speed?

by DrBGiantsfan on Aug 21, 2007 5:01 PM EDT reply actions

Hands and Wrist

Dr. B

If you have strong hands and wrist you can grip the bat down on the knob, and still have good bat speed, it also gives more plate coverage, but it seems to creat a longer swing, which is why we were told growing up to choke up on the bat, so that we could see the pitch longer, and be quicker in the zone.

by JFP on Aug 21, 2007 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions

choking up

gripping the bat on the knob does not increase bat speed. in fact, it decreases bat speed: the moment of inertia of the bat when held at the knob is greater than when choked up, so you get less bat speed for the same applied torque. however, the greater moment of inertia means that the bat is "effectively" heavier for the bat-ball collision. that means the ball will travel further upon contact for the same relative speed between the ball and the bat. overall it's a wash in terms of how far you hit the ball. basically the optimal thing to do is use as heavy a bat as you can while still being able to swing it as hard as you'd like to.

by jpahk on Aug 22, 2007 12:18 AM EDT up reply actions