All that said though, it’s clear that Doyle is a very advanced hitter, with highly consistent mechanics at the plate, who know exactly what he wants to do, and how. He exudes confidence, and whether it’s an Oz attitude or more him he clearly thinks it’s the pitcher who’s in trouble when Doyle has a bat in his hands—and he’s right.

Your description of Raul seem dead on. He definitely ’sits on the back leg and swings up,’ really a very different approach than Doyle, or more accurately a more extreme version of hip rotation. The interesting thing about Ibanez with that swing is how much contact he makes with that swing. He seldom swings through a pitch, especially on the inside of the plate; he’s very disciplined with it. Doyle making good contact doesn’t surprise me, but Raul making such good contact with a more extreme rotation is just hard work and talent coming together.

In that respect, compare the picture of Doyle’s swing (linked above) with this one of Ibanez hitting his grand slam The Ibanez one is obviously taken slightly earlier in the swing (can’t see the ball) but in terms of stance they look pretty darn similar to me. Hip rotation makes sense; and if Doyle’s leg can take running in the outfield I would think it’s up to whatever’s necessary to swing the bat with power. Edgar could barely walk when he tore that ACL or whatever it was and he was still hitting with authority (I remember thinking he was clearly planing to hit HRs so that he didn’t have to worry about running on the basepaths).

“The scene reminded longtime Mariners fans of a similar scare 16 seasons ago when pitcher Bill Swift was struck on the forehead by a line drive by the Minnesota Twins’ Gary Gaetti in the Kingdome. Swift spent a night in the hospital for tests and was released, then pitched six days later.”

What Bela thinks Raul is doing is actually defined as “sitting” on the back leg. The axis of rotation goes straight down from the head through the back upper leg which is pointed straight at the ground. The Ted Williams school of hitting says that the axis should actually lean back a little bit for more power, but biomechanical experiments have demonstrated this to be misleading. Leaning back does not generate more power, but may help some players “clear the hips” so that rotational forces can apply torque to the bat.

Doyle is a rotational hitter; he just stays more balanced during the swing. NO hitter uses legs to generate bat speed. Bat speed is SOLELY a function of torso rotation accelerating the bat simultaneously with the arms and hands.

If you really watch Doyle swing – he slots his back elbow and keeps his hands “inside” the ball. At the point of impact, you would be amazed at how similar most good hitters are.

Some camps, notably Peavy’s, teach top hand release. Others, such as Mankin and Epstein, teach the “sit on back leg” and swing “up”. They ALL teach rotational mechanics. Doyle is a rotational hitter. His uppercut is actually a good thing, allowing the bat to stay in the plane of the pitch longer than those with a level swing.

Oh, and get well soon Raffie (but not soon enough for Hargrove to further abuse you).