Physics in hitting, and why the Yankees are the best

Batters know from experience that there is a sweet spot on the bat, about 17 cm from the end of the barrel, where the shock of the impact, felt by the hands, is reduced to such an extent that the batter is almost unaware of the collision. At other impact points, the impact is usually felt as a sting or jarring of the hands and forearm, particularly if the impact occurs at a point well removed from the sweet spot. The sweet spot of a bat exists because bat vibrations are not excited significantly at that spot. The spot is close to the center of percussion (COP) for a freely supported bat, so it was thought at one time that the sweet spot might be associated with the COP. However, the COP shifts a long way toward the handle when a batter holds the handle, and plays only a minor role in the feel of the bat for an impact at the sweet spot.

Knowing about this sweet spot, and considering how the Yankees are better at baseball than any other team, we can see why the Yankees have league leaders in RBI’s and homeruns almost every year. When Teixeira has gone 7 seasons in a row hitting 30+ homeruns not only does it show the depth the Yankees have in their hitting line up, but it also tells us that it is not particularly how hard you hit the ball, but where on the bat it is hit. The physics of hitting a baseball are really easy as they come down to the fact that if you hit it at the right angle, or in the right direction, and you use enough force than it is a homerun, but if you use that same force and hit the ball at a bad angle than the ball will go nowhere.

We can see that while hitting it greatly depends on the angle that the ball is hit at, and then the force behind the bat, but along with that we can see that as shown in conservation of momentum equation that it is easier to hit a ball farther with a metal bat than with one of wood. A metal bat is much better at taking the force of the oncoming ball and diverting it in the opposite direction, it makes the collision much more elastic and because of that less energy is used and absorbed by the bat, and more by the ball. Just like how Cerminator recommends rubber for football, a metal bat strengthens the collision btw ball and bat, and sends the ball farther off. On the other hand a wooden bat absorbs more energy, it takes in more force from the ball and makes the collision not as elastic and because of that the force of the ball is completely converted into the opposite direction, and with that the ball is harder to hit out of the park. While that may be true we see that even using wooden bats, the yanks know what they are doing.

Whether they are hitting against Halladay, Lincecum, or Lee the Yankees use wooden bats to hit it out of the park. Whether it is Granderson, Cano, Rodriguez, Teixeria, or Swish the Yankees get the job done and are the best at it. All of them have power behind their swing, but the trick is to hit the ball at the correct angle, right on the sweet spot, so that it sends the ball right out of the park.