The Wade Boggs Curve

Wade Boggs was in the MLB for 18yrs. He did not have overwhelming power numbers, but was good at stroking the ball to all fields and finding gaps. Studying my Alien Crop Circles and the Baseball Swing I found Boggs as the first anomaly to my theory that most "good"big league hitters are similar at the Launch position (when the stride heel plants). Again, the theory was that hands and knob path for high level hitters was very similar from player to player at Launch, and that the descending path to approach was consistent. Boggs main difference was that he had no descending path in the beginning as his hands were low enough to take a more direct approach to the ball.  Unlike the descending path of modern day players.


notice the descending marks from the top of the swing...this pattern is consistent for most modern hitters. Russell Martin (Left) is a career .255 hitter. His path to contact is a little more direct, and while he still has a ton of power, his consistency suffers. 

Bogg's hands were lower than his shoulders at Launch which, in my opinion, is a better starting position for contact hitters. However, the start of his swing was not what caught my attention. But it was the path in which he worked to the ball. >.300 hitters have a distinct move to contact, in which they get on plane with the on-coming pitch and do not concern themselves with driving their hands to the ball. So, Boggs demonstrates this move to perfection.

 

Hands at Launch. A little more classic posture here

 

The Boggs curve. Descending path is non-existent compared to modern players. There are two planes, the hands work on one which is on top of the oncoming pitch plane.

 If Boggs were merely trying to take his hands to the ball, the path would be down to contact, as the ball is traveling down. However, You can see he is working to get the hands above the barrel in order to stay on plane. This I have found is the main difference for the >.300 hitter. I don't think >.300 hitters have the better hand eye coordination or quicker bat, but their path to the ball gives them a more consistent chance at solid contact.

 The sub, or  <.300 hitters have the intent to get their hands to the ball more directly while the >.300's have a completely different idea or concept. I am not trying to make an argument that .300 path "produces" more than .270 path, as its obvious the concern with batting average has dwindled somewhat these days as the focus seems to be Slugging % (or total bases per at bat). So, contact does not overtake power in most cases...however, as we decide which mechanics are more useful for emulation we must focus on which mechanics drive us to more consistent contact and from that develop ourselves, whether we are a put the bat on the ball or swing for the fences type. Either style, requires contact...So from a hitting instructors point of view, I need to give players the tools to drive the ball consistently.

I have drills for helping players match the Boggs Curve, as do many instructors. My goal today isn't to give a new drill to achieve this as there are literally hundreds of drills that are useful and one drill will not create the next Wade Boggs. But this research I hope helps others when scouting new recruits, evaluating talent or helping you look at your players swing in a different light.

I think there is a graphical pattern that allows you to make certain predictions about a swing, given the data/stats that currently exist combined with video of these players swings. If a player leads the league in infield pop-up %...and the next 5 in line behind him show the same graphic pattern in the swing (Alien Crop Circles) then we can make certain predictions about other players with the same pattern.

In my opinion, there is a consistent path in the descending path to Approach for the modern day hitter. Also, there is a path that appears to be consistent with the high average hitters that is not visible in most sub .300 hitters as they move through Approach (before the player gives the barrel, or the final stages of bat lag). But what if there was a wealth of information beyond contact and average in these patterns? This is where I will go in the next blog as I'll compare "Alien Crop Circles" for  players that lead the league in IFFB% (Infield Fly Ball %), compared to Joey Votto's almost non-existent pop-up swing. Infield pop-ups are, in my opinion, the worst contact possible. So lets research what the worst compared to the  best look like in different hitting categories and see if there is a trend that is seen through each players graphical swing pattern.