In the other articles in this series I have looked at differences from year to year or with pitchers on a pitch to pitch basis, but today I thought it would be interesting to look at a switch hitter from each side of the plate. Henry Rodriguez uses two pretty different set ups at the plate depending on which side he sets up on.
I set up the clips by finding the point at which he makes contact, then going backwards two full seconds (60 frames) and using that as the start point for each clip. I then took a still from each 5th frame and laid them side by side. Here is the result:
There are two big differences:
- Hand positioning.
- Stride.
As a right handed hitter, he starts out with his hands much lower though he does set his hands in a similar position when he loads his swing. His stride is incredibly different from each side of the plate. As a right hander, he employs a noticeable leg kick while as a left hander it is merely a small step forward.
What do you guys see with the two clips that you like/dislike? See any other large differences between the two approaches?