A Giant Amongst Legends [Archive] - Baseball Fever
After searching thru this section of the board I was unable to find a thread that celebrated and looked back in depth at the career of Barry Lamar Bonds. It is at this point I decided to start my own. Bonds is at most the greatest player who ever lived, and at the least th...
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Barry Bonds' swing: makes him the most feared hitter in the game
Baseball Digest, Sept, 2003 by Chuck Johnson
COMPACT, QUICK, SELECTIVE, smooth, explosive and sweet are some of the adjectives that describe the bat swing of Barry Bonds. But ask the San Francisco Giants' slugger about it, and that subject is off-limits.
Like a gourmet chef with a secret recipe, Bonds is wary of giving away anything about how he keeps his bat cooking. The five-time National League MVP says he has never talked publicly about his swing and won't until after his career is over.
Bonds' swing isn't unique, says Hall of Fame-bound Tony Gwynn. What separates him from the pack, Gwynn says, is his ability to consistently get his hands and body in optimum position to hit almost any PITCH
fair.
"He can discuss it, and he can describe it anyway he wants to," Gwynn says. "But good hitters have been doing this for years. You read Ted Williams' book, Charlie Lau, Rod Carew, Dusty Baker. I've read them all, and everybody talks about the same thing. You've got to get in a position so that your hands can work so your body can work.
"And that's what Barry Bonds does," Gwynn says. "He gets in position, he lets his hands go and, in letting his hands go, his body goes where it's supposed to go."
Gwynn was the consummate contact hitter during his 20 years in the majors, eight times the National League batting champion. The former San Diego Padres right fielder says the same swing principles APPLY to great home run and contact hitters.
"Once you make contact, it's whatever you are," Gwynn says. "Whatever type of hitter you are, that's what's going to come out. I'm not sitting here saying you're going to do the same things Barry Bonds does. But if you get to the proper position, whatever it is you do, you'll do it better.
"The key is to do it consistently every time, and he's the only one in the game who consistently does it. Ask any pitcher in major league baseball, 'Can you get in on him?' because he's right on top of the plate. The answer is no because he takes the knob of the bat to the ball and keeps his hands inside of the ball. When you try to bust him in, he pulls his hands inside the ball and that's why he doesn't pull the ball foul. He keeps it fair. He takes the knob first and pulls it through the zone. Everybody else wants to get the barrel head there, and they hook it foul."
Gwynn says the problem with trying to teach hitters the proper swing is they focus on the end result: Bonds' record 73 homers in 2001 and his 600-plus career home runs.
"They see the pose and they see how far the ball goes, instead of concentrating on seeing the actual mechanics."
Anatomy of a swing
Barry Bonds has 600-plus lifetime homers, a .430 on-base percentage with more than 1,230 extra-base hits. Here, eight-time National League batting champion Tony Gwynn analyzes his swing.
1. The thing that separates him from most other guys is his ability to do the same thing every time. The thing I've always noticed is that when he comes up, he gives a couple of bat pumps, and then he sets up the same way.
2. He's starting to get his timing mechanism down. There's a cocking of the bat as he lifts his front foot. His head is still. During the start of his swing, Bonds' head stays in the same position with little, if any, movement. The only motion is that his hands are starting to drop and he's starting to get cocked to get into position.
3. He's taken his hands, and he's raised them. He's taken them back to get into the hitting position, and the head has stayed exactly still. The bottom half of his body has moved, his hands have moved, but his head is still the same. After you get 1, 2 and 3 out of the way, here's where you separate the men from the boys.
4. As he's starting to bring the bat through the zone, he takes the bottom hand--the knob-of-the-bat hand--and starts to pull it through the zone. There isn't much arch in it when he starts to pull it through. It's not a downward pull. It's a pull right across his body. The more you can keep your hands inside the baseball, the better hitter you're going to be.
5. People have said you can't pull the bat through the zone on a flat plane and generate any pop. Well, I give you Barry Bonds, because that's exactly what he does. Every time. The top hand is going along for the ride. The palm is up. It's not going over the top.
6. His swing is flat through the zone. People talk about dropping the barrel of the bat on the ball. A lot of guys try to force the lower body through the zone. But all you have to do is get in a good position, take the bottom hand and pull it through the zone on a level plane, and the rest of it goes where it's supposed to go.
Baseball Digest, Sept, 2003 by Chuck Johnson
COMPACT, QUICK, SELECTIVE, smooth, explosive and sweet are some of the adjectives that describe the bat swing of Barry Bonds. But ask the San Francisco Giants' slugger about it, and that subject is off-limits.
Like a gourmet chef with a secret recipe, Bonds is wary of giving away anything about how he keeps his bat cooking. The five-time National League MVP says he has never talked publicly about his swing and won't until after his career is over.
Bonds' swing isn't unique, says Hall of Fame-bound Tony Gwynn. What separates him from the pack, Gwynn says, is his ability to consistently get his hands and body in optimum position to hit almost any PITCH
fair."He can discuss it, and he can describe it anyway he wants to," Gwynn says. "But good hitters have been doing this for years. You read Ted Williams' book, Charlie Lau, Rod Carew, Dusty Baker. I've read them all, and everybody talks about the same thing. You've got to get in a position so that your hands can work so your body can work.
"And that's what Barry Bonds does," Gwynn says. "He gets in position, he lets his hands go and, in letting his hands go, his body goes where it's supposed to go."
Gwynn was the consummate contact hitter during his 20 years in the majors, eight times the National League batting champion. The former San Diego Padres right fielder says the same swing principles APPLY
to great home run and contact hitters."Once you make contact, it's whatever you are," Gwynn says. "Whatever type of hitter you are, that's what's going to come out. I'm not sitting here saying you're going to do the same things Barry Bonds does. But if you get to the proper position, whatever it is you do, you'll do it better.
"The key is to do it consistently every time, and he's the only one in the game who consistently does it. Ask any pitcher in major league baseball, 'Can you get in on him?' because he's right on top of the plate. The answer is no because he takes the knob of the bat to the ball and keeps his hands inside of the ball. When you try to bust him in, he pulls his hands inside the ball and that's why he doesn't pull the ball foul. He keeps it fair. He takes the knob first and pulls it through the zone. Everybody else wants to get the barrel head there, and they hook it foul."
Gwynn says the problem with trying to teach hitters the proper swing is they focus on the end result: Bonds' record 73 homers in 2001 and his 600-plus career home runs.
"They see the pose and they see how far the ball goes, instead of concentrating on seeing the actual mechanics."
Anatomy of a swing
Barry Bonds has 600-plus lifetime homers, a .430 on-base percentage with more than 1,230 extra-base hits. Here, eight-time National League batting champion Tony Gwynn analyzes his swing.
1. The thing that separates him from most other guys is his ability to do the same thing every time. The thing I've always noticed is that when he comes up, he gives a couple of bat pumps, and then he sets up the same way.
2. He's starting to get his timing mechanism down. There's a cocking of the bat as he lifts his front foot. His head is still. During the start of his swing, Bonds' head stays in the same position with little, if any, movement. The only motion is that his hands are starting to drop and he's starting to get cocked to get into position.
3. He's taken his hands, and he's raised them. He's taken them back to get into the hitting position, and the head has stayed exactly still. The bottom half of his body has moved, his hands have moved, but his head is still the same. After you get 1, 2 and 3 out of the way, here's where you separate the men from the boys.
4. As he's starting to bring the bat through the zone, he takes the bottom hand--the knob-of-the-bat hand--and starts to pull it through the zone. There isn't much arch in it when he starts to pull it through. It's not a downward pull. It's a pull right across his body. The more you can keep your hands inside the baseball, the better hitter you're going to be.
5. People have said you can't pull the bat through the zone on a flat plane and generate any pop. Well, I give you Barry Bonds, because that's exactly what he does. Every time. The top hand is going along for the ride. The palm is up. It's not going over the top.
6. His swing is flat through the zone. People talk about dropping the barrel of the bat on the ball. A lot of guys try to force the lower body through the zone. But all you have to do is get in a good position, take the bottom hand and pull it through the zone on a level plane, and the rest of it goes where it's supposed to go.
Bonds' swing: Spectacularly consistent
By Chuck Johnson, USA TODAY
 |  |
| By Lenny Ignelzi, AP | |
| Barry Bonds' consistent swing has produced 594 career home runs. | |
|
Compact, quick, selective, smooth, explosive and sweet are some of the adjectives that describe the bat swing of Barry Bonds. But ask the San Francisco Giants' slugger about it, and that subject is off-limits. Like a gourmet chef with a secret recipe, Bonds is wary of giving away anything about how he keeps his bat cooking. The four-time National League MVP says he has never talked publicly about his swing and won't until after his career is over.
I'll add something positive about Bonds. He appears to have the highest WARP3 of any hitter in history:
Bonds - 236.4
Ruth - 227.8
Mays - 220.1
Aaron - 217.6
Wagner - 203.0
Cobb - 194.3
Musial - 191.5
Of the top 7, let's see their WARP3 numbers age 35 and after:
Bonds - 80.7 (34% of total WARP3)
Ruth - 49.7 (22%)
Mays - 55.2 (25%)
Aaron - 47.3 (21%)
Wagner - 79.3 (39%)
Cobb - 40.9 (21%)
Musial - 43.2 (23%)
Looks like everyone put up similar impacts as they got older except for Wagner and Bonds.
Bonds - 236.4
Ruth - 227.8
Mays - 220.1
Aaron - 217.6
Wagner - 203.0
Cobb - 194.3
Musial - 191.5
Of the top 7, let's see their WARP3 numbers age 35 and after:
Bonds - 80.7 (34% of total WARP3)
Ruth - 49.7 (22%)
Mays - 55.2 (25%)
Aaron - 47.3 (21%)
Wagner - 79.3 (39%)
Cobb - 40.9 (21%)
Musial - 43.2 (23%)
Looks like everyone put up similar impacts as they got older except for Wagner and Bonds.
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