One day I was doing some research into the differences
between baseball and cricket, and I came across this video on Youtube.
While the baseball and cricket comparisons were interesting,
what really caught my eye was the swing of the baseball player,
Mark Reynolds, and what looked like a pretty typical case of
Bat Drag.
Mark Reynolds
In the clip above, notice how, just after Heel Plant, Mark Reynolds gets to a
position where his elbows are stacked; where his back elbow is
pretty much directly below his front elbow and his forearms are
forming a sideways V shape.
Mark Reynolds
Mark Reynolds
You can see the same stacked elbows and sideways V in the two game
clips of Mark Reynolds. Although it's not as dramatic as in the
first clip, notice how Mark Reynolds' back elbow leaks well
forward of his hands and his back hip and ends up under his
front elbow.
Mark Reynolds
The sliding forward of Mark Reynolds' back elbow forces him
to make contact much farther forward toward the pitcher than is
typical.
Mark Reynolds 2013.09.10
While, over the years, Mark Reynolds has made some
improvement to his swing, you can still see significant Bat
Drag, and a forward contact position against fastballs, in his
most recent swings.
Unless and until he completely fixes this problem, Mark Reynolds is
unlikely to be anything other than what he currently is; a
strikeout machine with remarkable power when he happens to get
lucky and guess right on the pitch.
Mark Reynolds and the Problem with Extension
Mark Reynolds' problems as a hitter point out the problem
with trying to achieve
full extension at the Point Of Contact on every pitch. While
he likely isn't trying to hitting everything at full extension
(although he might be), the Bat Drag is forcing him to do so. As
a result, his ability to adjust to pitches is limited and he is
a veritable strike out machine.
