[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Oh don't even get me started on Clark's swing!!! So so sweet. He had the most fluid hips, and yes, always seemed to get great extension, and sweet spot, even on inside pitches.

During the height of the roid era, announcers would always marvel at how Sosa or McGwire had "muscled" a ball out the other way, etc, or go on about pretty Pujols' swing was. I wasn't having that then, and I'm not now. Aestheitcally to me, there's still nothing like a regular human being looking guy who's able to generate his power and bat speed through the hips, wrists, etc, as opposed to "muscling" balls. It just looks so much better.

I'd also rate Clark and Griffey's swings one and two visually... giving Clark the slight edge because he had the bigger more dramatic upper cut and a classic follow through (though Griffey's was $$ too). I think Griffey wins out of effeciency though. I was heartbroken when Clark left, but was happy to see him continue to have success in the AL... then call it a day after that awesome late season run with the Cards. One guy who probably wasn't happy was Rafeal Palmeiro though. Clark seemed to just follow and outshine him everywhere... first at MSU, then he took his job in Texas and again in Baltimore. Great Clark quote when someone asked him how he felt about his old college teammate testing positive for PEDs- "ya got caught partner!". Something makes me think Will didn't think highly of Raffy.

Others from our era with swings that stood out to me- Shawn Green, David Justice, even Michael Tucker had a great stroke. Currently, I really like Braun's (we've talked about that) and Posey's, both from the right side.

There was a snide little comment on Braun's ESPN page about how "all in all he's been conspicuously ordinary since returning from his Biogenesis suspension." Then in the next sentence, it mentions "he's struggled with some injuries." Exactly! He's had a thumb issue and a pulled abdominal muscle. That is cutting down on his power, because Braun is a guy that generates his power with his entire body. He's not some muscle bound guy, he has to generate bat speed to hit the ball deep, and he can't do that right now. Trying to generate torque when your abdominal muscles are not working correctly is next to impossible.

A month ago when Braun's OPS was .965, ESPN was gushing about how well he was playing. The guy's human. He's allowed to have an off month.

I seriously think the people at ESPN understand nothing about baseball. They certainly don't understand anything about hitting mechanics.