I understood the article to be saying that Grossman has a good swing and has a lot of potential with the right coaching.

I thought he did an OK job breaking down Grossman, but felt he was way off on the second pitcher. That guy looks like a certain injury to me.

I’m the author of that article. I’m not sure my credentials will be enough for you. I’m a sports writer for a local newspaper in Northern Virginia and I was a Kinesiology major in college and spent much of my college time researching and learning about the biomechanics of baseball from a variety of sources I felt were trustworthy…Tom House, Paul Nyman, Carlos Gomez, Jeff Albert just to name a few. I researched what constitutes a high-level swing and what constitutes major league quality mechanics and I’ve collected and watched hundreds of clips to form my own opinions as well.

I’m sure you’re looking for me to say I am a coach or a former professional player, but I am not. I don’t profess to know with great detail how a player should go about making a change to their swing/wind-up, but I do know what a high-level swing and high level mechanics look like, what inefficiencies to look for, and some adjustments a player could make to improve themselves.

It doesn’t bother me to be questioned, but I do get bothered when people dismiss me because I was never a coach or a high-level player. Much of my college education focused on the body, its movements, and the way it works. I took the steps to incorporate the biomechanics of baseball into my education.

As for Grossman, I do like his tools and I think the potential for a high-level swing is there, but I do think he has some mechanical issues to iron out. I know I sometimes sound overly analytical, but even small inefficiencies can be the difference between a homerun hitter and a doubles hitter. I’m not sure how I was hypocritical…I would be happy to hear your thoughts on his swing. It’s interesting how two people can look at the exact same swing and reach completely opposite conclusions.

I misread the word.

No hitter has the same swing. And I agree that not all characteristics of great hitters are the same. However, there are some characteristics that you will see in most high-level hitters with few exceptions, for example letting the ball travel deep into your hitting zone. There are certain characteristics you look for and these characteristics are an indicator of one’s power potential, one’s ability to make contact, one’s ability to hit the ball in the air, etc.

Now, I’m not sure if by mental approach and knowledge of the strike zone you include superior hand-eye coordination and the ability to put the sweet part of the bat on the ball, the ability to recognize pitch types, and note trends of a pitcher that might give the hitter an advantage, but if it does I definitely agree with that and if you possess these qualities you likely will have a career professional baseball.

I have to completely disagree with the cliched you have to actually play the game at a high-level before knowing what you’re talking about line. That’s like saying you have to play the game at a professional level to know how to put together a winning team. And I know some damn good GMs that have less playing experience than me. Paul Nyman, one of the more influential teachers of modern-day mechanics, never played baseball at a high level.

I searched “Keith Law playing experience” to make sure he didn’t play high-level ball and here is your No. 1 result:

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2008/1/18/20201/0395

It’s clear you don’t trust people who have never played at a high level. If it was up to you, Theo Epstein would not be GM of the Red Sox and Andrew Friedman would not be GM of the Rays. To dismiss people because they didn’t play baseball at a high level is extremely short-sighted.

Now, don’t get me wrong now…playing at the professional level is a completely unique experience and something I cannot draw upon in my writing. But you don’t have to play at the professional level to know what constitutes a high level swing or high level mechanics nor do you have to play at the pro level to know what stats translate best to the next level. This isn’t rocket science.

You definitely do a terrific job with this site.

I have to ask now, what school did you go to?

I think the idea is that the bat is in the strike zone for a large percentage of its swing path, not for a long time in the temporal sense.