In 2016 and 2017, I worked with the hitters at Harris-Stowe State University, a small Historically Black College in St. Louis.

At the facility where we did our off-season workouts, we had access to a HitTrax system.

For FREE.

And we never used it.

Why?

Because of the importance of Swing Length, which HitTrax doesn't measure and, thus, can worsen.

Related topics and articles include...

• High Level Swing
• Short to the Ball
• Bat Drag

Problem with HitTrax

Despite — or, I'd argue, BECAUSE of — my lack of faith in HitTrax, HSSU was one of the top offenses in all of NAIA, especially in 2017.

That wasn't a coincidence.

Why?

Much as, "Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics," newbie hitting coaches talk Bat Speed/Exit Velocity but veterans talk Swing Length.

That's because hitting is a Drag Race.

And, in a Drag Race, Acceleration is paramount. And HitTrax doesn't measure Acceleration.

HitTrax only measures speed.

Of the ball.

Not the bat.

Or the hands.