Testing the X Factor Hitting System
After having written the algorithms for my X Factor Hitting System, I needed to capture a hitter’s overall swing time, decision to swing to collision with the ball. Once my swing time capture device was built, I could then begin testing my overall system for coordinating a hitter’s swing with a live pitch.
By happy accident, I had discovered a new, useful metric I called Swing Delay™. Swing Delay™ is a metric that details a hitter’s reaction time as well as negative movements not captured by a swing capture device commercially available. The Swing Delay™ metric is completely separate from the hitter’s mechanical swing time, which is captured by a series of motion sensors. Swing Delay™ is the first truly objective metric a coach or hitter can observe to help them improve swing time.
I was hoping for a similar happy accident discovery when we tested out the Swing Alert™ System. It was anything but that.
My first testing of the system went horribly. Pitches were captured at 92-93mph and the hitter I was testing could barely catch up to these pitches, if at all. Based on his average overall launch to contact metric of 335ms, there was no good reason he wasn’t stroking every pitch. He had plenty of time to see the ball and react to the Swing Alert™. A 93mph pitch released from 55ft arrives at the contact point in 424ms, so event time couldn’t be the issue. The Swing Alert™ seemed to be sounding right when the pitch was released from the machine, which didn’t seem right.
Here is some video from that testing session.
I was really disappointed. I knew the system should have worked perfectly. The algorithm was tested and sound. I thought, possibly, the coding for the system was off. It clearly wasn’t an issue in signal delay compensation, something I learned from my music recording background, since the Swing Alert™ seemed too early, rather than too late.
So, I went over all the data from the night’s testing. Very quickly I realized it was the distance the ball was being released from was where the error resided, not the coding or ineffectiveness of the system! The pitch release + 2 feet for capture distance resulted in a distance to contact point of 45 feet. That meant the time to collision was 344ms (93mph from 45ft = 344ms). My poor test subject, whose launch to contact swing time average was an excellent 335ms had only a 0.09 second margin of error, which resulted in him being pushed to the brink of capacity. That would require the hitter to start swinging almost right when the pitch was released, which explained the early tone.
Having realized this error, the same hitter was tested again the following week. For this test, the pitch velocity ranged from 90-92.5mph at a release capture distance of 55 feet. In between this test and the last test, we made an algorithm adjustment that monitored swing time deviations while testing that would compensate for hitter fatigue by adjusting the Swing Alert™ in the event of swing time change. A standard deviation was programmed to weed out false/positive readings from the swing sensor and the occasional pitch delivered out of location.
Testing went perfectly. Here is a raw video clip of that session.
At this point, we were manually inputting some of the metrics into our database, so you heard numbers being called out. I thought it was important to provide raw, unedited video of the system at work and the consistency of the swing results (other than an errant inside pitch).
Any pitch location can be programmed for hitting sessions. In this instance, we were working on a middle of the plate, belt high and below pitch. We could just as easily set up an inside or outside pitch and the Swing Alert™ would provide a signal for the hitter to pull or hit to the opposite field.
Addendum: There was an happy accident discovery during this testing session. Regardless if you buy into my timing system, despite independent research and studies of the spatial memory center of the brain in relation to deliberate practice, 11 of 12 of these swings, which were perfectly timed due to my Swing Alert™ System, resulted in driven fly balls. The single mis-hit was due to an errantly delivered inside pitch that was not programmed for this session but still resulted in a line drive. Not a single Launch Angle style swing was taken, proving my theory that balls can be consistently lifted without having to take an uppercut swing.
When working with a specific location, i.e., middle, in or out, the pitch velocity can be changed, faster or slower, and the Swing Alert™ will be delivered based on the pitch’s velocity. Using a programmable pitching machine that can sequence different pitch velocity and types, the hitter can practice perfect timing with multiple pitch velocities in a round of hitting.
In our third testing session, I invited out several hitters to test the system on. Towards the end of testing, I invited in a random 12-year-old to try the system. I asked his coach what the fastest pitcher he had ever hit against was throwing and he told me 65mph. I asked the boy if he’d like to hit a 90mph pitch and he said he’d like to try.
Because this 12-year-old was an untrained hitter, he didn’t have the best swing and he struggled getting his foot down to comfortably hit 90mph pitches. However, after I captured his decision to collision swing time, he was able to hit 90mph pitches, something he’d never come close to experiencing before. With a bit of work on his mechanics and stride timing, he would have been able to hit as cleanly and consistently as the other hitters in this session.
Here’s video from test session three, including the 12-year-old.
Something you learn along the way as a hitting coach is, many coaches will adjust mechanics when mechanics were not the problem, it was swing timing. Sometimes your mechanics fall apart because of timing issues.
If you read my article on swing timing, deliberate practice and memory encoding, you will learn about the many practical applications of the X Factor Hitting System.
I am still seeking partners to help get this system and the many scale versions of my hitting system, as well as my professional baseball application, to the retail and professional markets.
No one since the invention of the pitching machine, has created a product that isn’t biased towards subjective hitting philosophies, and no one has created a product that actually solves the most difficult thing to do in sports, hit a pitched ball. Mark my words, my hitting system will change the way hitting is practiced, forever.
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