In theory, it makes sense- if a swing was unbalanced in favor of vertical force, it would probably make for more flyouts than linedrives. If they were balanced (or slightly favoring horizontal), it might give an idea launch angle for home runs.

Googling around, it appears that the ideal launch angle for a homerun is 40 degrees (which is interesting to me, because 45 degrees without spin and wind is the ideal launch angle for the range equation) so I guess preference to horizontal force might be in order…. Interesting.

Also, this inning was a great example of how high OBP can score a lot of runs without much power. Can’t wait to see this lineup in action all summer.

Of course it helps when the opposing pitcher makes even Lopez look like a high-OBP guy. But yeah: having a chain of guys each getting on base for the next guy not only enables you to score runs without HRs, it also makes for interesting, exciting, fun-to-watch baseball.

No, I am not old enough to actually have seen this. I just read about it in “Glory of Their Times”.

French said he’s worked on the change-up all spring, but today was when he truly got to throw it enough to gauge its level of success.

Well, like a player arriving “in the best shape of his life,” pitchers coming into Spring Training claiming to have “a new pitch” always make me look for my Mr Skeptical™ hip waders. However, when it’s accompanied by data (like atypical FB/GB rates) that suggests something is different, we have reason to take it a little more seriously. Of course, anything can happen over the course of a single game (Jarod Washburn almost threw a perfect game last year, right?) But if French can keep it up, and hitters don’t adjust…. how nice would that be?

Also, this inning was a great example of how high OBP can score a lot of runs without much power. Can’t wait to see this lineup in action all summer.