Ahead of the HR derby tonight, allow me to present my Mt Rushmore of batted balls. I keep it to the Statcast era only
A🧵on what makes each of these uniquely absurd
Clement put his elite Bat-to-Ball skills on display this Postseason with a record 30 hits
His ability to adjust his Tilt allowed him to do so across a range of locations, both in and out of the zone
Ernie Clement has elite Bat-to-Ball skills, fueled by a unique ability to adjust his Bat Path - specifically his Tilt - across a WIDE range of pitch locations
🧵How a combo of increased Bat Speed + better leveraging his contact ability would lead to a huge increase in production
🧵Matt Thaiss🧵
The former 1st-rounder has made some mechanical adjustments & transformed his profile in 2025 by improving contact, but at the cost of power 📉
If he can maintain his contact gains & return to his previous power production, his value could skyrocket
Nathan Lukes is among the best in the world at adjusting his Tilt / VBA to different pitch locations - leading to excellent Bat-to-Ball skills
He faces a critical offseason ahead of his age 31 season
🧵on how he can fight against the aging curve & even become MORE productive
What % of Peak Bat Speed leads to the best production?
Contact quality is maximized in the 82-86% range
Batted ball production is maximized at a higher range - 90-93%
The 7% INCREASE is Bat Speed is worth more than the 2.14% decrease in Contact Quality
Over 60% of MLB swings occur at 80-90% of peak bat speed
Bat speed training isn't about swinging with absurd intent in games—it's about raising your ceiling so you swing faster WITHOUT changing your level of intent
90% of 85 > 90% of 75
More info: youtube.com/watch?v=WUDQLO…
Volpe needs to get back to pulling the ball in the air more often — a major reason for his struggles has been that far too many of his barrels are wasted dying in CF
A promising sign is he's shown the ability to do so in the past
Anthony Volpe is a player that stands out as someone who would benefit from adjusting his bat path
Interestingly, it appears he's already tried to - with mixed results
🧵Let's take a deeper look
Anthony Volpe is a player that stands out as someone who would benefit from adjusting his bat path
Interestingly, it appears he's already tried to - with mixed results
🧵Let's take a deeper look
A really impressive display of using posture to adjust his bat path from Ernie Clement
49° Tilt on a pitch 7.5" below the zone
11° Tilt on a pitch 16" above the zone
Most hitters are not capable of both ends of the spectrum
Short 🧵showing some other movement solutions
Why use angled training environments?
Using an Open or Closed Angle is an easy way to create changes in a hitter's bat path
In general, to create flush contact:
• Open Angle requires a more oppo direction
• Closed Angle requires a more pull-side direction
An example:
Over 60% of MLB swings occur at 80-90% of peak bat speed
Bat speed training isn't about swinging with absurd intent in games—it's about raising your ceiling so you swing faster WITHOUT changing your level of intent
90% of 85 > 90% of 75
More info: youtube.com/watch?v=WUDQLO…
How a hitter's center of mass moves gives you a lot of insights.
It's going to be very difficult to create/maintain space if your weight is crashing towards HP. Momentum is pulling you into early extending.
⬅️Hitter creating space vs losing space➡️
How Timing & Point of Intercept (relative to average) impacts performance:
xBA has a much wider range where it's above avg than xwOBACON & xSLG
xSLG changes very quickly compared to xBA
Damage is done out front - the most productive batted balls occur when hitters are earlier