Steroids aside, Barry Bonds has some powerful hitting mechanics. In the following analysis I point out a couple of the parts to his swing that allows him to generate such bat speed.
1. I need you to grab a pencil and hold it up to your computer screen right in the center of Bonds’ body at the beginning of his swing before you push play. Next, start the clip and leave the pencil on the screen. I want you to watch how far forward his hips move in front of your pencil as he is striding. This momentum gain by Bonds allows him to generate an incredible amount of power. Allowing your hips to settle forward on your stride essentially jumpstarts your swing.
Many coaches promote sitting back on the back leg once the front foot lands and then rotating with the weight fully on the back leg, ie squishing the bug. This of course limits power as I explain below.
2. You’ll see that Bonds’ hitting mechanics are such that he doesn’t keep very much weight at all on his back foot on contact much like all good hitters. His momentum with his hips allow him so much movement into the pitch and he continues that movement into his rotation.
I need to mention that on contact you see Bonds and others hitting mechanics you can find keeping their balance and rarely, unless fooled, get their weight fully on their front side on contact. I stress the “contact” position because if you watch many of these hitters AFTER contact is made, you will see more weight on the back foot because their weight has settled backward. This is because their weight is only allowed to be middle-front on contact for a fraction of a second. The natural recoil will center the body back a bit.
