What Happened to Jason Bay?

by Charlie on Mar 25, 2008 11:41 PM EDT in News Comment 2 comments

Via Primer, this is a cool article that attempts to explain the differences between Jason Bay in 2006 and Bay in 2007 by using video to demonstrate differences in his swing. It's all very anecdotal, but the general idea is believable, and here it is: the 2007 Bay was having mechanical problems in that he wasn't planting his foot and rotating his hips in a seamless way.

I don't feel overly qualified to comment too much on this kind of thing, but you should take a look at the video and let me know what you think. The author never really makes the connection, but his observation about Bay's alleged mechanical problems is consistent with the possibility that most of Bay's struggles resulted from his left knee injury. If the knee was bothering him, it might have caused a hitch in his foot plant that would prevent him from generating power with his hips.

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Interesting viddy

It's not stated, but I guess we have to assume that all his 2007 swings were somewhat similar to the one shown. I'm not an expert either, but with Tivo I've often watched swings frame-by-frame. Bay never had a smooth, classic swing, but relied more on timing and his hands. I think Bay's mechanics go through subtle fluctuations. Maybe last year he had a prolonged change in mechanics because of the knee, but I don't think it was just one thing at work in his slump. The knee, the loss of confidence noted in the article, the absolute refusal to swing at an inside fastball, mechanics. Some of those things are probably related. I think he's as good a candidate as any to return to form.

by azibuck on Mar 26, 2008 8:29 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs