Bat Speed Quotes

In the split second from the time the ball leaves the pitcher's hand until it reaches the plate you have to think about your stride, your hip action, your wrist action, determine how much, if any the ball is going to break and then decide whether to swing at it.

There is no doubt that because I am a switch hitter I have one of the best offensive advantages that a hitter can have.

The offseason after the 2014 season, I worked with hitting coach Damon Mashore. I always had power in batting practice but couldn't take it into a game consistently. We made a little adjustment with my hands, lowered them a bit to get a consistent path to the ball, a natural uppercut to elevate the ball and backspin some balls.

You can't see the bat hit the ball if you're generating any bat speed. If you're just laying the bat through the strike zone, sure, maybe.

I am an arm hitter. When you snap the bat with your wrists just as you meet the ball, you give the bat tremendous speed for a few inches of its course. The speed with which the bat meets the ball is the thing that counts.

I am happy with the way I hit the ball. There is a certain element of power into it but not completely. It is like 80 per cent timing and 20 per cent power. Why do I need power hitting when I can clear the ropes with timing?

You know when you've hit a good shot. I use a bat that weighs two pounds and nine ounces, and it makes a reassuringly solid sound when I connect properly. The ball pings off the middle.

Hitters are too big, too strong, and their bats are too quick. I have to go inside to have success.

I'm 5-foot-9, 180 pounds. I don't have much else to work with, so I just try to use my bat speed and get the most out of what I've got.

People always ask me how I can hit the ball so far, and I say, 'I just swing.' It's the coaches who first told me I had good bat speed. I was just swinging, and I guess it was fast. I'm pretty fast at everything.

He (Eric Davis) gets power from his bat speed.....it's like he has cork in his arms.

Even on home runs that I hit in the past, guys were like, 'Man, you need to slow down. You've got that one.

Well I can't rightly say (which player hit the ball hardest), but the ones (home runs by) Ruth hit got smaller quicker.

I try to keep it real simple. I try not to add a lot of frosting on what I'm doing. Just take the swing and don't muscle the swing, because if you get in the hitting position and you take the swing, I generate a lot more bat speed, and that works for me.

I think my size sometimes catches people off guard, but I don't think size matters when it comes to power. Mechanics and technique and bat speed matter more.

Some batters, and good ones too, scoff at the whole theory of place hitting, calling it a myth. They are wrong, however.

There are certain things I can't do, certain pitches I can't hit. You stay away from them. You try to wait for pitches you can hit. The bat speed isn't what it used to be. You make up for it by using your head, working counts, getting ahead in counts and getting pitches to hit and hitting them hard.

I always talk about it like I'm a hitter first and if I'm doing things right and my body's in the right place, I drive the baseball.

The great hitters use the whole field, and that's a goal of mine.

I want to be able to drive the ball to all fields.

Used to be bats had thick handles and a big barrel. Then they found it's not the size of the bat that gets home runs - it's the speed with which you can swing it.