re: New LSU Pitching Coach, Jason Kelley interview w/ T-Bob

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No. It's not. Launch angle is a measurement. It is one of the outputs of a batted ball. Every batted ball has a launch angle and some are more optimal than others.

You're trying to shorthand it into being something that it isn't which means you likely don't understand it.

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Project, I know you think of yourself as some kind of genius, but I've probably been watching and studying the game of baseball longer than you have. I know exactly what launch angle is, and what it means. I've already described exactly what it is. And what I'm telling you, is that while launch angle is a measurement that only tells you things you already know after the fact, there are a lot of hitting coaches, Eddie Smith included, who teach their hitters to swing at a certain angle to produce a desired result. Totally not understanding that the location of the pitch is what determines your launch angle, and that it doesn't matter how you swing if you can't recognize spin and location.

That's my whole point. We've got a head coach who is going to teach an actual approach, rather than being concerned with numbers that only tell you a story after the fact. Launch angle takes care of itself when you do everything else right.

I have listened to, and read, many saber-fanatics go on about "this guy will do this or that if he improves his launch angle". People treat it as though it's something that's static, where you just do this one simple thing, and suddenly you're going to start driving the ball. As if every pitch comes in at the same location.

And when I bring this up to people, they just shrug it off and say "you don't understand it". That's what everyone says when they don't have a clue how to defend their own point of view.

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Launch angles is how Alex bregman goes from a metal bat career high of 9 HR’s in a season to 40 homeruns in an mlb season. He didn’t become Thor in one offseason. He was taught to hit the ball on a line or down at LSU, then change to hitting the ball in the air once he got to the minors. I can promise you JJ teaches the same.

Also, Zona struck out a decent amount last year, so even tho the overall approach might change, we aren’t going back to nobody on the team having more than 40 k’s in a season.

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Alex Bregman's power improved by his own work. Albert Pujols is close to 700 home runs, and he has said that all he tries to do is hit line drives. When you improve your ability to get to balls in different locations, you're going to hit some home runs. It's not something where you wake up and say "I'm going to change my launch angle today". It either happens naturally, or it doesn't. Most guys who try to force different angles on themselves end up like Ryan Schimpf. He started to hit some homers, got to the majors, he continued to hit homers, but had a low average, and then he suddenly couldn't hit anything because he was locked into one swing.

The ability to adjust from pitch to pitch is what makes great hitters.

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None of what you said changes that launch angle is a measurement and not a philosophy.

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I said that it was Eddie Smith's "philosophy". Meaning it is taught as a philosophy. The quotation marks I put should have been a clear indication to you, if you had bothered to try to understand the concept, that I think making it a philosophy is bogus. But that is exactly what has happened. It's a style of coaching to tell your hitters to hit the ball at a certain angle, as opposed to just hitting the ball hard, and letting the rest take care of itself.

Telling someone to hit the ball at X angle is not a measurement. The measurement is after the fact. The instruction is not a measurement. It is an emphasis, and in my opinion, it has been overly emphasized. If you think I'm wrong, go listen to Chipper Jones, who is currently a hitting assistant with the Braves, talk about it. His remarks, whenever he's been asked about it, almost mirror mine. If he's not credible, then I guess you can hire yourself as the king of baseball.

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Well you better get used to the idea of trying to produce the most optimum swing that makes the ball go the furthest in the air

Because that is what Johnson wants. And that is what all great players strive for & achieve

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This is not what he has said. He is about approach, and hitting line drives. Hasn't said anything about hitting the ball farther. We're all fine with hitting the ball farther, if that's the end result of hitting the ball where it's pitched.

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Based on reading your posts I don’t think you quite understand the mental side of hitting if you think they are stepping in the box on the fly & trying to uppercut the baseball every single swing, no matter where the pitch is at

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I didn't say straight upper cut. That's quite the angle that is being taught. And I also didn't say that every player does it. But you can see a lot of guys who look like they never adjust to where the ball is pitched.

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This is not what he has said.

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In his first interview, he literally said he wants to hit HRs & doubles

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But you can see a lot of guys who look like they never adjust to where the ball is pitched.

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Well yea, maybe the players just weren’t good.

Some players don’t need a lesson on how to hit like that. But because of new technology, they can come up with tangible data that shows exactly what those good hitters are doing. Why don’t you want that taught to the guys that don’t hit like that?

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This makes no sense. Launch angle isn’t the only variable to a successful hit.

Take a home run, the launch angle required to send the ball over the wall is going to change based on the speed of the ball coming off the bat. There is no “magical” launch angle without taking into account other factors.

No successful hitting coach is going to instruct their hitters to swing at every ball in such a way to produce a single specific launch angle. That is just asinine.

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They have charts that show specific degrees of angle for different trajectories. And I didn't say that launch angle was the only variable to a successful hit. That is just exactly the point I'm trying to drive home, is that there are many factors that go into it, and you can't think about specific angles. When you're adjusting to a ball that is riding in, you can't think about that chart that told what degree of angle you should be swinging at. You just want to pull your hands in and get to that ball as fast as you can. Your pitch recognition and eye-hand coordination will do the rest. At the end of your at bat, some machine will measure your angle. Does it matter what it says? If the end result is a home run, then you know your angle was somewhere in the area of what is taught. Does every hitter think about that as they are swinging?

I think the good one's don't. Your brain will tell your hands what to do if you're reading the spin and flight of the baseball correctly. I think we have lacked coaches who teach all the facets of hitting properly. In listening to JJ's philosophy, he sounds like a level-headed guy who understands the whole process of being a great hitter. And the results have shown for him.

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In his first interview, he literally said he wants to hit HRs & doubles

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The results of line drives are going to include home runs and doubles. He had a shirt that was posted here that said "it's a ball or it's a line drive".

I think that sums it up pretty succinctly.

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The results of line drives are going to include home runs and doubles.

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The results of home runs are going to be line drives


That’s why that’s being taught. Only fat travel ball coaches complain about it because they don’t understand it

Don’t be “level swing” guy

I'm not gonna argue too much with you but you are ignorant

Plain and simple when we talk launch angle we are talking about how to practice to get on plane with the ball and hit the ball at the best angle based on your specific exit velocities.

We aren't talking about your 1 hitter coming up and hitting at a 30 degree angle while weighing 165 and having an exit velocity of 80.

read this

Anyone in this day and age that doesn't understand what launch angle is, how it corresponds to extra base hits doesn't understand baseball.

Everything is about the numbers. Sure you can get lucky snd hit a ground ball at negative angle and get it through but it's rare and you better not be depending on the next 3 batters to do the same because the chances of that happening at LSU level is about zero.

Hierarchy of hitting are

1) bat speed
2) getting on plane
3) launch angle

Launch angle came about because now we have the tech to quantify things and learn what angles the base hits are happening at.

As far as the philosophy in practice they hang targets at the angles and they work on hitting the ball hard in between those angles.

Why do we want to do that? Because not only does the science and stats show that is the best angle to get the ball out the infield snd get a hit, it is also the angle of the pitch. Trying to get on plane early and makes us better hitters.

In other words anyone who doesn't believe in the science of launch angle and exit velocity doesn't know shite about baseball. It's the same shite Ted Williams was teaching 40-50 years ago.