Launch Angle Fad or Fashion?
This article is put together quickly and is just intended to help tell the story of some of those behind the launch angle fad or fashion. That is, some of those who have helped develop the hitting technique which has been around for quite some time but has only recently come out as not being heretical in its opposition to long standing hitting fundamentals. “Launch angle” has become
This article is put together quickly and is just intended to help tell the story of some of those behind the launch angle fad or fashion. That is, some of those who have helped develop the hitting technique which has been around for quite some time but has only recently come out as not being heretical in its opposition to long standing hitting fundamentals.
“Launch angle” has become the latest buzz word in baseball that so often punctuates the dialogue of MLB telecasts. The concept is not new. That buzz words are and are a bit annoying during telecasts.
Launch angle measures the vertical direction of the ball coming off the bat. A launch angle of zero degrees would be a line drive with positive numbers indicating an upward ball flight and negative ones indicating a ball driven into the ground. Analysts have been able to pinpoint the range of 25-35 degrees as the sweet spot for home runs.
The Dodgers recently hired Robert Van Scoyoc as their new hitting coach replacing Turner Ward who moved on to take up the same position with the Cincinnati Reds. Van Scocyo is not the father of launch angle but he is a staunch disciple.
Perhaps his business partner, Craig Wallenbrock, is one of the founding fathers of a hitting approach that attempts to keep the ball in the air and off the ground. At least he recognized long ago the difference for those hitters who did keep the ball in the air more often. Now 72, he had a short stint with the San Diego State baseball team in the late ’60s. He left to participate more actively in the life and beaches of the 60’s. It was not until several years later when his brother asked for help with hitting that Wallenbrock took the bat to ball thing seriously. He found he was good at it and has worked for many years as a hitting consultant with athletes and teams. He has been labeled, the “Oracle of Santa Clarita” by some.
“Craig is the godfather of the hitting revolution,” his partner Von Scoyoc says.
Outfielder Raúl Ibañez joined the Dodgers as a special assistant in 2016. He had been a student of Wallenbrock’s and persuaded the Dodgers to hire his mentor as a consultant. After the regular season, while Los Angeles was in the playoffs, the club sent Chris Taylor to work with Wallenbrock and Van Scoyoc in Glendale, Arizona so he could be ready if needed in the play-offs. He continued to work with them over the winter and produced his magical season in 2017.
Wallenbrock likens the bat to a Samurai sword when a warrior is attacked by three. He identifies the “three warriors” in baseball as the fastball, slider and changeup. The “warrior” that gets to the hitter first is the fastball.
“We have to be in position to fight him first,” Wallenbrock says, “and yet continue through to get the other two.”
Justin Turner is one of those players whose career was rescued by a new hitting approach. To be fair, the new approach was accompanied by a whole new attitude supported by confidence and takes into consideration much more than just an upswing.
Turner’s transformation started way back in 2013 when he was with the New York Mets and a teammate of outfielder Marlin Byrd. He was impressed by Byrd’s apparent knowledge of hitting and lamented about his own situation in which he felt he had good at bats with poor results.
Byrd invited Turner to spend the winter with him and his hitting guru, Doug Latta, who ran a facility in Chatsworth, California in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles.
Latta suggested an overhaul of his swing that spanned both mechanics and philosophy. Turner had always tried to keep his weight back and slap grounders. Latta encouraged him to lower his hands and transfer his body forward to launch the baseball.
“Before launch angle was a big deal,it was constant talk with Doug about getting the ball in the air,” Turner says. “I don’t think about east and west anymore. I think about north and south. I don’t care where it goes, as long as it goes up.”
When Turner finished his first session, Latta was more than a bit impressed with his hand speed. “Does he know what an impact player he can be?” he asked Byrd. Within a month, Turner started to feel comfortable with the adjustment. He could begin to see himself as a slugger.
“I think the biggest component being missed is looking at all these result stats,” Latta said of air-ball revolution talk. “Basically, the proper swing mechanics will always [give] a hitter a longer swing path in the zone through the pitch. What that will allow for is for increase in exit velocity, as a hitter can square up more pitches, and, depending where contact is made, can change launch angle. [The process] is also predicated on a hitter’s setup, making the right move first, and importantly, timing… Poor mechanics and body movements compromise timing.”
In 2017 Max Muncy spent the entire season with Triple-A Oklahoma City. Shawn Wooten was the hitting coach who worked with Muncy as did hitting consultant Craig Wallenbrock. Together they gave Muncy a better timing mechanism with a small leg kick and a slight upturn to his swing changing his launch angle. The changes not only increased his bat speed but added lift to his swing. For at least one season in MLB Muncy has been the recipient of the launch angle revolution.
Doug Latta warns against falling love with exit velocity.
“I love the idea of quantifying [the swing],” Latta said. “But if everyone is thinking about exit velocity, guys are going to start over swinging, which is going to create bad body movement and breakdowns, inefficient swings that are not going to be consistent at the major-league level.”
Those same analysts that have been able to pinpoint the range of 25-35 degrees as the sweet spot for home runs agree that it must be paired with an exit velocity of 95 mph or greater. The exit velocity is crucial. At lower velocities, those fly balls become warning track or less outs.
Pitchers are not going to simply accept launch angle as a death knell and are already making adjustments to try to neutralize the growing threat. As evidenced in the World Series pitchers are elevating their fastball as a way of forcing hitters to swing down on the ball. So, what can be done to adjust to the pitcher’s adjustments?
“If it’s a four-seam pitcher who throws the ball higher in the strike zone, we’re going to work on hitting the ball a little lower that day because otherwise we’re going to have problems swinging and missing at it,” Van Scoyoc says. “If it’s a guy who sinks the ball, we’re going to work on hitting it higher. The pitcher is always going to dictate it.”
Launch angle – fad or fashion? I expect it is a bit of both, a fad for some and a fashion for others such as Justin Turner, Josh Donaldson, J.D. Martinez and Logan Morrison. One size does not fit all and it is most likely just one more step in the evolution of trying to master the most difficult task in all of professional sports. That is, using a round bat to hit a round ball hurled from 60’6” away and traveling at 90 mph while bending sideways, up or down.
Image compliments of Baseball Fever
More from Dodger Talk
Dodgers Food Trailer
I did this interview a couple of weeks ago with Chef Mike, who runs the Dodgers Food Trailer for the Great Lakes Loons. They are there for every home and road regular season and playoff game. They prepare three meals a day for approximately 50 people (players and coaches). Since games end late most evenings, they do not prepare breakfast. Many of their hotels have a complimentary breakfast anyway. However,…
Meet LAD 2026 Draft Picks 1-12
3 picks were High School players (2 SS and 1 OF). There was a college OF, college catcher, college SS, and 10 college pitchers. Of all the talk for a need for a catcher, the only catcher the Dodgers selected was Luke Bard, son of LAD bullpen coach Josh Bard. Bard was a 4th year senior from Houston Christian University. He is not a prospect, so the Dodgers are still…
Interview with Paul Beachy – Team Bus Driver For The Great Lakes Loons (LA Dodgers Minor League Team)
It’s been a few days since I did this interview. We have evidently been working my son-in-law (the video guy) like a rented mule at US Water Systems. However, I am taking him to London with me in a few days, so maybe Watford will buy him a pint as a tip, but he’s a dang Red Sox fan, so there is that! I thought that it would be interesting…
Thanks for Your Service: Chris Taylor
I was going to do this post when Chris announced he was retiring, then he changed his mind, but since the chances of him ever playing for the Dodgers again are slim and non-existent, I will go ahead with this post. He unretired, went on the IL, then decided to call it quits on May 24th. Taylor was born in Virginia Beach VA on August 29th, 1990. He attended Great…
Discussion (104)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Before Wallenbrock/Latta/Scoyoc, many of us older fans remember there was Charlie Lau & Walt Hriniak who were also considered two of the best hitting gurus around. I used Charlie Lau’s philosophy to teach my son and LL hitters. I do believe that his way is best at teaching hand/eye coordination as it relates to baseball. It may not be the best as they mature, but it is a foundation to fall back on.
.
Lau developed a list of “Absolutes” about hitting, which included:
• A balanced, workable stance
• Rhythm and movement in the stance (as opposed to standing still)
• A good weight shift from a firm rigid backside to a firm rigid frontside
• Striding with the front toe closed
• Having the bat in the launching position as soon as the front foot touches down
• Making the stride a positive, aggressive motion toward the pitcher
• A tension-free swing
• Hitting through the ball
• Hitting the ball where it is pitched, rather than trying to direct it
.
Walt Hriniak became a Charlie Lau disciple and explained his theory for hitting as basically: Head down on the ball at all times. When beginning the swing, drop the hands so the bat is level with the strike zone. Follow through on the swing, finishing with hands high and one hand on the bat for increased speed. All the while, focus on hitting the ball up the middle.
.
“You keep your head down on the baseball,” per Hriniak. “There’s got to be some movement in your stance. There’s got to be some extension. There’s got to be some balance. There’s a lot of things involved, but those three or four are the most important.”
.
The number of great baseball hitters who followed the tutelage of Lau and Hriniak are some of the best bat to ball hitters this great game has ever seen: Lau – George Brett, Hal McRae, Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines; Hriniak – Carl Yastremski, Wade Boggs, Dewey Evans, Don Baylor. Why wouldn’t batters want to emulate George Brett and Wade Boggs?
.
Below I have linked a 1990 article from the Sun Sentinel about the Hriniak hitting philosophy. It does explain the Hriniak methodology, but to me, more importantly it shows that you cannot simply have a one swing fits all approach. A couple of the more poignant points for me were:
.
After Hriniak changed Mike Greenwall’s swing, and he had a down year, Greenwell did some thinking. He came to spring training and told then- manager John McNamara and (GM Lou) Gorman that he was going back to his old style, drawing the wrath of Red Sox players and Hriniak devotees Don Baylor and Dewey Evans.
“My head was not coming off the ball, and that’s not my style,” Greenwell said. “Walt wanted the head down at all times. That was the basic difference. I just got lost in (the Hriniak style). You can only break hitting down to so many different points before you create bad habits. I agree with him on most points of hitting, but (his style) is not for everyone.
“I had to remember what got me here. Taking his advice can make you a better hitter, but you can’t change your style. It’s too easy to get caught up in it, but you can’t get away from your God-given abilities.
“Wade Boggs is an inside-out hitter. Me, I’m a dead-pull hitter. You can’t try to make Wade Boggs hit like Mike Greenwell or make Mike Greenwell hit like Wade Boggs.”
.
“There’s your problem right there, too many different ideas,” said Vada Pinson, the Detroit Tigers’ respected hitting instructor. “My feeling is that you don’t teach on the major league level. I taught more in the minor leagues. Up here, the styles are established.”
.
.
Ted Williams was hugely opposed to Hriniak’s style. Williams and his followers felt that Hriniak robbed his hitters of extra-base power by teaching them to hit the ball up the middle, “swing down on the ball”, or to take the upper hand off the bat at the end of their swing—which may have been oversimplifications of Hriniak’s philosophies.
.
“I don’t have a problem with Ted Williams”, Hriniak told Yankee Magazine in 1986. “He teaches his way, and I teach mine. I don’t teach a level swing, a downward swing, or an uppercut swing. Hitters are all different, so I teach all three … You don’t have to hit my way, you don’t have to hit his way. Just make up your minds. Don’t keep changing lanes. You can’t hit when you’re confused.”
..
That is my concern with Scoyoc. He knows one way. Is he going to make Verdugo a launch angle hitter, or let him stay true to his natural style? Or is he going to try to change Alex when he goes into a slump (as they all do)? That is how he “teaches”, but that is not how you coach.
.
Some of you may get tired of me using my son in some of these discussions, but I know what he has gone through to get his trip to Show and an eventual WS ring. While my son learned the Charlie Lau way, as he grew his swing adapted and he was more of a Ted Williams advocate than Charlie Lau/Walt Hriniak. It was more natural for him. When he got to college he soon got a reputation as a power hitting 3B with a long swing through the zone. As a freshman he had a lot of early success. He was at a tournament in CS Fresno and in the championship game he came up with two outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd. Fresno brought in one of their best pitchers (I believe Jared Fernandez) to face my son and his rep as a pull happy fly ball hitter especially with balls up in the zone. This RHP had a monster slider, a pitch that my son had never really seen thrown well. Yes, he proceeded to strike out, and the Big West Conference got the news. My son was devastated after that game, but John Savage (now UCLA Head Coach), put his arm around his shoulder and said let’s go back home and learn how to hit that slider. They never changed his natural swing, although the head coach tried. Instead he went back to some of his Charlie Lau fundamentals. He knew his swing. He was still a dead pull hitter, but when he took a slider low and away and hit the scoreboard in RF, he knew he could hit a good slider. He went on to become an All American and hit 30 HRs his senior year in college and struck out 45 times in 300 PA (15%). He would have been a consensus AA, but there was another 3B who garnered his share of AA awards…Troy Glaus.
.
Open on www.sun-sentinel.comhttps://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1990-08-06-9002070593-story.htmlI like Verdugo but very probably less than anybody else here.
Fly on the wall, I’d love to know what the organization thinks of Alex Verdugo. It seems there are a wide range of options from:
A. Everyday RF for many years, necessitating trade of Puig
B. Potential corner starter.
C. LF platoon partner
D. Major league depth piece
E. Just another sucker on the vine
*
I feel like we don’t know what the F.O. thinks of him.
Jon Heyman says we’ve made an offer to Garrett Richards. I’ll let others handle the analysis.
That news about the Yankees with Arenado might be a negotiation tactic concerning Boras, and Machado.
Especially after Rosenthal is talking about 6 year deals from the Yankees for Corbin.
I am less interested in “launch angle” than I am with swing plane. The longer that the bat stays through the hitting plane, the more likely you are to make good contact. Uppercut swings lead to strikeouts and pop-ups.
–
I am one of the world’s worst golfers. I remember starting out trying to uppercut the swing to get loft. I learned that if you hit the ball properly, loft will come (as the clubs are already lofted).
–
Ted Williams believed in a swing plane with 12 degrees of loft. He reasoned that was the approximate angle that the ball came in (a 12 degree downward plane). This would give him the best chance to hit the ball hard. Williams believed that “What is most important, is that you hit consistently with authority. ” (from an article in the Washington Post on launch angle.) You want to maximize your swing plane and you want a quick bat, to generate bat speed and hit it hard.
–
Williams taught:
Hips before hands – keep the hands back, generate power through the lower body
Be quick to the ball – choke up if necessary, generate bat speed and wait on the ball
Hit it on the sweet spot
Wait for a good pitch
–
An exaggerated uppercut leads to heartache.
–
I suggest you look at this website
Open on www.hitterish.comhttps://www.hitterish.com/single-post/Ted-Williams-Swing-AnalysisThey have some interesting GIFs of hitters. They have side-by-side of Aaron, Ruth, Williams and Barry Bonds. Very interesting.
Mets and M’s are close (significant progress) to a deal sending Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to NY. I think one of the hangups is the Cano waiver of his no trade rights. The return has not been speculated yet. Things are starting to heat up…for some.
As most here would surmise on coaches I have no clue whatsoever (which is no different from most Baseball subjects.) Let’s just hope they all do great.
`
As per news:
`
The great Jeff Passan chimes in on the catcher market:
`
An already-crowded catching market is growing even more saturated, as the Toronto Blue Jays have discussed trading Russell Martin and the Pittsburgh Pirates are open to dealing Francisco Cervelli, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Both are drawing interest from a number of teams. Martin has one year at $20M left on his deal. The Blue Jays are willing to pay down a significant amount of that, per sources. Cervelli is likewise in the final year of his contract, at $11.5M. Teams love his OBP and makeup, and Pirates have Elias Díaz to play every day. The free agent market is still unusually deep for catchers. Yasmani Grandal, Wilson Ramos, Martín Maldonado, Robinson Chirinos, Evan Gattis, Matt Wieters, Devin Mesoraco, Jonathan Lucroy, among others. And that’s after Kurt Suzuki, Brian McCann and Jeff Mathis signed.
`
The sometimes reliable Jon Morosi reported on MLB Radio that trade talks between Dodgers and Indians involving Yasiel Puig and Corey Kluber are still very much on-going.
DC is probably the most progressive thinker on this board. His acceptance of new ideas is astounding, but he’s not a sucker.