In this interview with Andruw Jones we get in depth on the term "launch angle". Launch angle is a term that has become popular in baseball and softball in regards to the plane of the bat coming through the hitting zone and making contact with the ball. "Old School" mentality is that you bring your hands straight down to the baseball and then level out through the hitting zone. A popular term has always been "short to, long through". In recent years, with the rise of analytics in the game the term "launch angle" has become a popular "New School" approach to teaching hitting. Launch angle refers to when your swing initially starts, you drop your hands down quickly and then your swing starts going up to match the plane of the pitch being thrown. There is a lot of heated debate inside the highest levels of the game as to which approach should be taught to hitters.
Andruw Jones is a former Major League Baseball player and Nippon Professional Baseball Player. Andruw spent 17 seasons with the Atlanta Braves (where he is an Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer), Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Andruw is widely regarded as one of, if not the best defensive outfielders to ever play in Major League Baseball. Andruw won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and astonishing 10 times as the best defensive outfielder in baseball. Andruw also won the Silver Slugger Award and the Hank Aaron award in 2005. He was voted an MLB All-Star five times during his career.
Our goal at Hit Run Steal is to have every child play baseball / softball at the highest level they choose. Over the past few weeks I hit the road and talked to people at all levels of the game. MLB Coaches, MLB Gold Glove Winners, Elite Travel Coaches and Top Instructors to get their thoughts on youth sports. We cover Fundamentals, Coaching, Parent Involvement, Multi Sport Vs One Sport and Much, Much, More. I hope the you enjoy the interviews.
