Got teeth? Keith doesn't.
JoeHawks is a fine gent
- Joined:
- May 24, 2010
- Posts:
- 1,666
- Liked Posts:
- 220
There is no way to sugar coat it: This season has been a disastrous one for Gordon Beckham. Coming off a strong first year, Beckham was expected to make the leap from Rookie of the Year to possible All-Star, especially when you consider he moved to a position—second base—where premium bats are scarce.
Heading into the All-Star break, Beckham's OPS placed him close to the bottom in the American League in slugging percentage. Now, I have to point out that Beckham has come back from the break on fire and, in looking at some very recent video of him, he seems to have fixed the mechanical problems that plagued his swing in the first half of the season.
While I may follow up with an article on the adjustments Beckham has made to get his old swing back, this article will focus on what went awry with his swing for much of this season. Below we see him from the center field camera angle. The clips below are in their entirety and are both synchronized to the pitcher's release of the ball and to the point of contact. On the left is Beckham in 2009 on an 81 mph pitch, while on the right you see Beckham in 2010 on an 80 mph pitch.
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
Let's break down his swing in segments. The first segment is from the pitcher in mid-windup until the pitcher's release. The 2009 version is on the left and the 2010 version is on the right:
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
What I want you to notice first is the angle of the bat at the start of the clip. It's more upright in 2009. Then you look at the arms in the same graphic, and they're also a little closer to the body.
Take note of how the bat loads in each swing. See how much more movement he has now compared to 2009, how the load is much deeper? And then notice the angle and position of the bat at the point of the pitcher's release—which version's swing takes the longest path to get into his hitting zone? Here's a hint: it's not 2009.
Now let's look at the next segment of Beckham's swing, which is from the release of the ball out of the pitcher's hand through contact. Again, 2009 version is on the left, 2010 version on the right:
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
I pause each clip at frames 10 and 11. You can see in the 2010 clip that Beckham's hips have already opened and because his swing is longer, he's forced to start his swing earlier.
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
Looking at Beckham from the side, we see similar elements. You see a deeper load with a longer swing and more complicated movements. The timing doesn't seem to all be there. Instead of a quick-trigger hitch, which he had in 2009, he now has a long, deep load that in theory might be better for his power production, but in actuality seems to have impeded his overall timing and made his swing longer as well.
He used to just uncoil on the ball with a whip-like swing helped in part by that quick-trigger hitch. But since Beckham's timing had been disrupted, he didn't trigger the same bat speed he generated in 2009. Unless Beckham could restore that whip-like swing, the ball would continue to come off his bat less crisply and the power he supplied would continue to be less than sufficient. Luckily for the White Sox, Beckham seems to have made the proper adjustments at just the right time.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...gordon-beckham/
Interesting article, some of us probably knew this already that he's just having a lot more body movement before the pitch comes compared to last year.
Heading into the All-Star break, Beckham's OPS placed him close to the bottom in the American League in slugging percentage. Now, I have to point out that Beckham has come back from the break on fire and, in looking at some very recent video of him, he seems to have fixed the mechanical problems that plagued his swing in the first half of the season.
While I may follow up with an article on the adjustments Beckham has made to get his old swing back, this article will focus on what went awry with his swing for much of this season. Below we see him from the center field camera angle. The clips below are in their entirety and are both synchronized to the pitcher's release of the ball and to the point of contact. On the left is Beckham in 2009 on an 81 mph pitch, while on the right you see Beckham in 2010 on an 80 mph pitch.
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
Let's break down his swing in segments. The first segment is from the pitcher in mid-windup until the pitcher's release. The 2009 version is on the left and the 2010 version is on the right:
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
What I want you to notice first is the angle of the bat at the start of the clip. It's more upright in 2009. Then you look at the arms in the same graphic, and they're also a little closer to the body.
Take note of how the bat loads in each swing. See how much more movement he has now compared to 2009, how the load is much deeper? And then notice the angle and position of the bat at the point of the pitcher's release—which version's swing takes the longest path to get into his hitting zone? Here's a hint: it's not 2009.
Now let's look at the next segment of Beckham's swing, which is from the release of the ball out of the pitcher's hand through contact. Again, 2009 version is on the left, 2010 version on the right:
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
I pause each clip at frames 10 and 11. You can see in the 2010 clip that Beckham's hips have already opened and because his swing is longer, he's forced to start his swing earlier.
*Credit to MLB Advanced Media
Looking at Beckham from the side, we see similar elements. You see a deeper load with a longer swing and more complicated movements. The timing doesn't seem to all be there. Instead of a quick-trigger hitch, which he had in 2009, he now has a long, deep load that in theory might be better for his power production, but in actuality seems to have impeded his overall timing and made his swing longer as well.
He used to just uncoil on the ball with a whip-like swing helped in part by that quick-trigger hitch. But since Beckham's timing had been disrupted, he didn't trigger the same bat speed he generated in 2009. Unless Beckham could restore that whip-like swing, the ball would continue to come off his bat less crisply and the power he supplied would continue to be less than sufficient. Luckily for the White Sox, Beckham seems to have made the proper adjustments at just the right time.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...gordon-beckham/
Interesting article, some of us probably knew this already that he's just having a lot more body movement before the pitch comes compared to last year.
