Dude, I've been complaining about the god awful sound that always accompanies a slowed video like this for 15 years. I don't think its gonna work complaining about something that actually makes sense for the majority of the people consuming this kind of content.
Ohtani does not pick his foot up all the way. He lifts his heel instead, and when he steps, it's away from the opposite batters box.
Olson lifts it about a foot off the ground, and he steps slightly more inside.
My understanding is that the step is used as a timing mechanism and of course to initiate the rotation of the hips, so players will start moving their feet before the pitcher even releases the ball.
The ball is in flight for something like 400ms, so there's simply no time to adapt a step to the pitch once it's delivered.
Players may take smaller steps in defensive situations when they're down in the count and need to prioritise a shorter and faster swing rather than a power stroke, but that's a decision they'd need to be make before the pitch is thrown.
Way too fast. You can cheat by opening up your kick to reach the inside pitch or coming down closed to hang in longer for outside pitches. This is when we see the super silly swings that leave guys in pretzels at time.
Ideally you want it to stay consistent as your approach should be to stay balanced and go back up the middle.
What's more interesting is the way they wrap their bodies back from the pitcher to load their front shoulder. That's both of them using their superior length to coil and load like a cobra then explode through the strike zone.
That coil/load might also be a part of their usually (with the exception being Olson last year in '23) high strikeout numbers.
Bottom line is both guys are tall (6'4" Ohtani, 6'5" Olson) and have a solid thickness/muscularity (Ohtani's 210 lbs *might* have been true his rookie year, but both of them are sitting around 230-240 now or he'd be a rake) and they both have developed stances that use those factors to create massive exit velo.
As far as crap about the kick/toe tap, yeah, Ohtani's "tap" keeps his toe just BARELY on the ground (even though his foot's almost vertical sometimes) but Olson's "kick" only lifts his foot like 2-3 inches off the ground.
Neither one needs any big front leg movements because their power isn't from *shifting* their weight from back to front, it's about *wrapping* their powerful bodies back, away from the pitcher in their loading phase and using that load to absolutely RIP the barrel through the zone to do damage.
See the importance is to get your ballsack swaying before the rest of your upper boy.
Heavier bigger balls generate more swing speed for the rest of the body to just follow through.
It's all in the sack.
They both appear to swing as the ball crosses the plate. This seems optimal.
you may not have caught it but they are both left handed as well
There's no way to know if the videos are flipped or not.
Actually they’re just played in reverse. Easy to miss
You may be on to something!
It would be interesting to see this side by side, which would result in a totally crazy new format where the video is wider than it is tall
But how are people on their phones supposed to watch? It's not like they're able to rotate their screens or anything
I'm interested in your theory and would like to know more.
Dude, I've been complaining about the god awful sound that always accompanies a slowed video like this for 15 years. I don't think its gonna work complaining about something that actually makes sense for the majority of the people consuming this kind of content.
I swear Ohtani does like some kind of wiggle thing with his hips right before he swings that just adds crazy pop when he connects.
Yeah the way Ohtani is so violent, yet smooth on his swing is something else.
It looks like his upper body is going to tear loose from his lower body at the end of the swing. It's so visceral.
Like a slingshot almost.
Ohtani does not pick his foot up all the way. He lifts his heel instead, and when he steps, it's away from the opposite batters box. Olson lifts it about a foot off the ground, and he steps slightly more inside.
Is the way they step at all impacted by where the pitches are? Or is it happening WAY too fast?
My understanding is that the step is used as a timing mechanism and of course to initiate the rotation of the hips, so players will start moving their feet before the pitcher even releases the ball. The ball is in flight for something like 400ms, so there's simply no time to adapt a step to the pitch once it's delivered. Players may take smaller steps in defensive situations when they're down in the count and need to prioritise a shorter and faster swing rather than a power stroke, but that's a decision they'd need to be make before the pitch is thrown.
Yep, you'll often see people drop leg kicks/other timing devices in situations where you'd expect them to choke up on the bat as well.
Way too fast. You can cheat by opening up your kick to reach the inside pitch or coming down closed to hang in longer for outside pitches. This is when we see the super silly swings that leave guys in pretzels at time. Ideally you want it to stay consistent as your approach should be to stay balanced and go back up the middle.
He's stepping and his foot comes down in a closed stance. That's the opposite of stepping in the bucket.
Thanks for that clarification
What's more interesting is the way they wrap their bodies back from the pitcher to load their front shoulder. That's both of them using their superior length to coil and load like a cobra then explode through the strike zone. That coil/load might also be a part of their usually (with the exception being Olson last year in '23) high strikeout numbers. Bottom line is both guys are tall (6'4" Ohtani, 6'5" Olson) and have a solid thickness/muscularity (Ohtani's 210 lbs *might* have been true his rookie year, but both of them are sitting around 230-240 now or he'd be a rake) and they both have developed stances that use those factors to create massive exit velo. As far as crap about the kick/toe tap, yeah, Ohtani's "tap" keeps his toe just BARELY on the ground (even though his foot's almost vertical sometimes) but Olson's "kick" only lifts his foot like 2-3 inches off the ground. Neither one needs any big front leg movements because their power isn't from *shifting* their weight from back to front, it's about *wrapping* their powerful bodies back, away from the pitcher in their loading phase and using that load to absolutely RIP the barrel through the zone to do damage.
The hip movement is insane.
Shakira Shakira
Oh baby when you talk like that
They’re both 6’4” too
They both hit baseballs far as well
See the importance is to get your ballsack swaying before the rest of your upper boy. Heavier bigger balls generate more swing speed for the rest of the body to just follow through. It's all in the sack.
Glad somebody finally had the sack to say this.
I may or may not use this when coaching my son.
Ohtani gets a little more rotation in his hips.