Today I began looking into some video that I have on my computer and I came across a video of Dave Sappelt from 2009 and watched it for a minute and it looked like a completely different hitter than I had remembered him being. I thought it warranted a comparison from last season in Dayton to this season in Louisville. The two videos were shot 16 months apart. Each clip was started at the point in which his bat was parallel with the front of home plate and I went backwards 54 frames and then took a still of each fifth frame to create the two GIF”s side by side.
Things to look for:
- In 2009, Sappelt had a lot going on with his hands prior to getting set, waving his bat around before setting his hands. In 2010, there is nearly no movement at all.
- In 2009, Sappelt used a “toe-tap” timing mechanism where he didn’t raise his front foot much but tapped his toe and turned to load his swing. In 2010 he uses the more commonly used “lift and set down” approach.
- In 2009, Sappelt’s front foot is nearly pointing toward the catcher, while in 2010 it is in a much more traditional position.
There is a lot less movement going on with Sappelt in 2010 and you can’t help but think that it has a lot to do with going from a solid hitter in 2009 who had some things he needed to work on to an outstanding hitter in 2010 who did nearly everything well at the plate.
I think this is something I am going to try and do each Tuesday between now and the start of the season if I can. Try to compare guys from 2009 to 2010 and see if we can spot any changes that they have made from one season to the next. Dave Sappelt was a nice starting point given the differences that were found.