The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [182]
For 70.08 mph (102.78 ft./sec.), distance is 214 ft. (a 35.4% increase)4
What follows are the fundamental principles and exercises we focused on in our 45 minutes.
Picking Your Angles
THE BIG THREE
The Cushion
The Cushion occurs when the front heel has landed, prior to the forward swing. In the Cushion, it is best to have optimal torque created between the shoulders and hips. Jaime calls this Angle S. A good Angle S measurement is 25 degrees.
Increasing Angle S is also one of the ways to “buy” time if the pitch is off-speed (“off-speed” means it’s a curveball, changeup, knuckleball, or any pitch that is significantly slower than a fastball). Off-speed pitches are meant to lure the hitter into opening up the front shoulder and losing the torque between his hips and shoulders. The battle between pitcher and hitter is really a fight for the hitter’s form. The pitcher’s job is to (1) throw strikes and (2) lure the hitter into weak hitting positions.
The Slot
The “Slot” position of Babe Ruth.
Two things define a proper Slot position: (1) the back elbow drops to the player’s side, and (2) the spine angle stays vertical. The Slot is the kinetic link in action: the arms deferring to the more powerful legs and hips in order to work as a whip through the strike zone.
See the picture of Ben Zobrist on the first day he filmed with Jaime in the winter of 2007. Next to it is Ben during the All-Star break midseason in 2008. His much-improved Slot position is obvious. Zobrist went on a tear from that point in the season, averaging one home run every 18 at-bats (prior to that, it had been one home run for every 101 at-bats). He later made the 2009 All-Star team and was named Rays’ team MVP.
Ben before, Ben after
Impact Position
The Impact position is the thumbprint of the swing. In this case, it tells you the ability of a hitter rather than their identity. There are two components to the Impact position: the E and W angles. E is the angle between the upper arm and forearm, which we want as small as possible (aim for 80 degrees), and W is the angle between the top wrist and the bat, which needs to be as large as possible (aim for 180 degrees). This one position paints the entire picture of a player’s swing. The Impact position correlation to great hitting is extraordinary.
Good impact (left) and bad impact (right). We want E small and W big.
But Impact position becomes more actionable when we convert it to a number, the 80/20 metric to focus on: CSR.
Before and after, with CSR overlaid: 265 before vs. 345 after.
Babe Ruth, the reigning king of CSR.
CSR (Cevallos Swing Rating) = 3 (180 – E) + W. The CSR number contains unusual insight involving two simple-to-measure angles at the point of impact: the first at the elbow (E), and the second between the forearm and the bat itself (W). Here are just two benefits of a high CSR swing:
1. A high CSR swing is naturally a tighter swing. Since the swing is closer to the torso, thanks to the elbow-in Slot position, pitches that are too far outside of the strike zone are unreachable. The hitter with the tighter swing is forced into better pitch selection because he can’t physically swing at pitches outside of the strike zone.
It’s analogous to how novice boxers will sometimes practice proper chin position (down) by holding a wallet between their chin and chest. If the boxer keeps his chin down and makes this position instinctual, it will be hard to knock him out. If a batter doesn’t let his elbow leave the Slot position through the strike zone, he can’t reach for bad pitches, and it will be harder to strike him out.
2. In a high-CSR swing, contact with the ball is made further back, closer to the catcher. This naturally gives the batter more time to assess the pitch before initiating the swing.
Jaime elaborates:
“A high CSR is not just indicative of power (mass × acceleration). A high CSR is also a sign of consistency, as the back arm remains passive, allowing the body to whip the bat into the hitting zone early and keep it there for a long time,