Objective Approach: Attack Angle Part 1.
“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice” — Brian Herbert
“ … the greatest effect on student learning occurs when the teacher becomes a learner of his own teaching and when students become their own teachers”
Last week I had a hitter of mine ask a question that prompted my typical response; we want to swing like this because “it gets us on plane”. Her question was simple “ Coach, you want me to elevate the ball but you also want me to match plane, is that possible?”. I proceeded to regurgitate information I most likely stole off twitter or other social media sites, information that I’m sure confused her even more. It was in that moment I realized I needed to be better, not for me, but for my kids.
During my study of this information I also was reminded of advice from Jeff Albert (Cardinals Hitting Coach) as it pertains to technology in baseball, “your knowledge is only as good as it is decoded by your hitters, you have to be able to turn information into a system”. Although I want to take a holistic approach towards learning I also know I need to keep in simple and digestible.
I’ve taken the last week to read every Alan Nathan publication, watch a ton of film, study baseball savant religiously, and take a deeper dive into pitch design. From a pitch design perspective it is imperative that we understand what the pitch is actually doing and how we counter that as hitters.
Pitch Design
Baseball: I eliminated the anomalies and determined that the range of descent of pitches thrown in between 7–12 degrees. Guys are focused on high spin rates due to the extreme attack angle(s) that hitters are taking to hit the ball out of the yard.
Softball: Including the rise ball, softball descent angles range between 1–9 degrees. The photo below was created using Alan Nathan’s pitch trajectory calculator and shows a rise ball thrown at 2000 RPM and 65 MPH. The red line reflects the path of the pitch without the effect of gravity, the blue line is the actual path of the pitch. You will see the ball actually planes out and starts descent. For years this pitch has been the focal point for hitting coaches teaching a downward path. Hopefully the information below dispels that myth.
Before we dive into it deeper I wanted to provide some statistics that I found interesting via Baseball Savant. A detailed look into metrics that are success predictors in the MLB. What you are going to see in the graph below is averages per Exit Velocity and Launch Angle. It is pretty clear that hitting the ball harder has a direct impact on our success but so does the angle at which the ball leaves the bat, combine hitting it hard with hitting the ball in the air your basically guaranteed success.
Per the latest contracts signed in MLB guys that SLUG at a higher clip are rewarded with huge contracts. Really it is simple, pitching in softball and baseball is too good to play station to station. Knowing that I wanted to know the launch angles in which guys are slugging at, here are some results.
Mike Trout & Alex Bregman
A couple things stood out to me after reviewing the information above. These guys are doing the majority of their damage at higher launch angles and to the pull side. This makes sense as we know that the attack angle increases as the bat naturally progresses through the swing. Another thing that stood out is the lack of XBH in the (0–10) degrees launch angle bucket which leads me to my next bit of research.
Is “matching plane” advantageous?
This is a multifaceted question that needs exit velocity to be complete but for the sake of this blog I am going to assume all players have adequate EV. What we know so far is that softball and baseball descent angles range from 1–12 but Bregman and Trout had very little SLUG success in that range. If we simply match the attack angle to the descent angle of the pitch in theory we would be squaring it up (is this actually the goal). This objective statement can be proven by the graph below where you the x-axis subtracts (Launch Angle — Attack Angle) and predicts the exit velocity of the pitch. The closer the difference is to zero the harder the ball was hit due to the a square collision (attack and descent).
However, taking into account pitch descent (1–12 degrees) and Trout and Bregman launch angles we know that these players are not exactly matching plane. What I have found is matching plane will decrease swing and miss but is not best if you are seeking SLUG. If you took this approach of matching plane your hardest hit balls would leave at (1–12 degrees) and that is not what the best players in the world are doing.
3 Different Swing Planes. What is ideal?
Pretty self explanatory.
The Equator of the Ball & Swinging Down (Negative Attack Angle)
Another example of common teaching is that we want to swing down on the ball to create backspin. In other blog’s I have mentioned various reasons this is not ideal but for the sake of Attack Angle this image is telling.
As the ball’s descent angle increases the ball”s equator moves lower on the ball making to harder to “find the center” with a flat or negative attack angle. A descending blow has tons of flaws but quite possibly the volatility of the collision outweighs them all. Depending on contact point and the balls equator (descent) players are going to notice extremely high range of launch angles due to inconsistent contact. The steeper the (descent) the more likely the player hits the top of the ball etc.
Flat Attack Angle (1–12)
Per the information above you can summarize that matching descent angle is attractive if your goal is simply to hit the ball hard. However, from what we know in the baseball/softball industry coaches are putting a premium on hitting the ball out of the park. This approach does provide more adjustability in the swing but will result in low line drives unless the ball is hit extremely out front.
Positive Attack Angle (15+)
Aaron Judge spends considerable time talking about the amount of time he spends on plane, but is this true? Due to his spray chart we can conclude that he is still focused on making contact out front allowing him to maximize attack angle however due to the bat path his attack angle is becoming positive deeper in the zone. The photo/video below illustrates an attack angle that climbs rather rapidly, less time on plane but better results when on time.
So what is the goal?
Using attack angle can be extremely beneficial if you know your swing profile. If you have a low avg. exit velocity you would rather spend more time in the (1–12) attack angle range as this is going to ensure that you swing and miss less. For the majority of higher level hitters you should be training attack angle that will yield a higher launch angle due to your “miss-hits” potentially resulting in SLUG. I still think the optimal swing makes contact out front knowing that the bat has reach maxed speed and attack angle is maxed out. (Spray charts prove this)
Conclusion and Rise Ball
So as we continue to learn about the effects of attack angle it’s important to learn how these metrics impact your teaching. Not to go into detail but I am a firm believer of keeping the hands high and adjusting with torso, THIS EFFECTS ATTACK ANGLE, see below. You will see his hands plunge and therefore the barrel troughs over the plate, just an example of how metrics paired with video can assist.
The rise ball when swung at in the zone can be the best pitch to SLUG. The path requires the lowest attack angle and least amount of side bend. The balls equator is very close to flat meaning it should be much easier to create a positive AA and match the center line.
Look forward to part two; how to train attack angle.
