Houston third baseman Morgan Ensberg...





He had a pretty good season in 2005 (.283 36HR 101RBI). Any thoughts on his swing?

Jason

P.S. This particular swing resulted in a single to left field.

Seems like his front knee fans open early. Also appears to me he has some bat drag. I don't really like this swing too much. I wonder if he was fooled by an offspeed pitch or something? Does appear to have good rotation around his middle though.

Ensberg is very inconsistent. And, this swing is a good example. Very arm dominant in this swing. Rolls over very quickly. Some disconnection between upper and lower body. although his lower body action is decent it doesn't flow into his upper body. Arms take over.

Certainly not his best swing.

When he puts it together I like what he brings to the table. But as Linear stated very inconsistant as his performance suggests.

FYI... The pitch was a 95mph fastball.

Jason

Anyone would be happy with that swing.

Timing is great considering 95MPH FB.

He has great reaction ability in pitch recognition which cannot be taught> it's a gift.

Shep Knows

He's a major league all-star. Enough said. One in 750 in this world on any given day during the season.

The swing shown here is horrible.

He has a good swing. It isn't always there.

This one is not it.

He flares open, pauses then swings with his arms. Maybe just reaction to the pitch.....but it's bad.

Next pitch, maybe he didn't flare open, pause and swing with his arms. But on this pitch he did. Rolls over way too early.

That being said.....nice to get a base hit on a bad swing.

Glove Man,

What do you think of "this" swing by Ensberg?

Jason

I’m no p a u l n y m a n but my check list would look like this:

1. Grip: Where fingers join the hands (Great)
2. Wrists: Cupped and flexible (Great)
3. Stance: Balanced on balls of feet. Easy movement. Both eyes on the pitcher (Great)
4. Trunk move back: Inward shoulder and hip turn when pitcher separates hands. (Clip starts too late to tell)
5. Stride: Hands move back while foot moves forward. Lands gently on the ball of foot (Great).
6. Hip Turn: Powerful pull back of front cheek while hands are still back (AWESOME)
7. Un-kock wrists and hands underneath (Palm up/palm down). (Great)

Looks like a good swing at a good pitch to me.

He missed pulling a 400-foot home run by what ¼ to 3/8” on the bat barrel? Shoot him.

THop

quote:

Originally posted by THop:

Looks like a good swing at a good pitch to me.

This doesn't surprise anyone.

Look at pitch location up and in and fast.

He hid his hands at toe touch.

He hit this where it was pitched and got the ball on the ground.

His lower body shows why it is foolish to teach foot landing closed. That front foot had to take him to the ball and allow the hips to clear early.

He was making adjustments to this pitch. Maybe 2-2 count and he had to take a shot at this pitch or maybe he knew he could pull this ball on the ground hard.

I don't care for the swing personally and think it was top hand dominant all the way.

Compare him to pujols jason and you will see how far this guy lets his hands get away from the core


http://home.comcast.net/~karla.mcnurlin/2b1b.gif

weak hip coil compared to pujols too.

Not a picutre perfect swing, but it was a knock and possibly with an RBI attached. Even Pujos rolls over sometimes. It is not easy to stay perfect on every at-bat. And sometimes the perfect swings end up as outs. And sometimes the horrible swings end up as bases clearing doubles down the line. Work hard on being consistant as you can gentlemen, do your cage and tee work and then when the game comes around do your best to see the ball and get the barrel to it. Don't worry about having the perfect swing. See it and hit it. I would rather have a kid with an ugly swing that got the barrel on the ball consistantly then a kid with a perfect swing who couldn't make contact. Hitting and swinging are different. Keep that in mind. Hitting is survival. That dude was probably pounding Morgan inside and he was trying to figure out a way to get him out of there, and so he cheated and rolled over a bit, it was a knock, he battled and won. Not with a perfect swing, but by seeing the ball and getting the barrel to it.

Living in St. Louis I see Pujols take some terrible swings.....and get hits.

No question it happens.

Key is for those terrible swings to come as a result of adjustments to timing mistakes as compared to just coming for no reason at all.

And, you don't have the adjustment capability if you swing with your hands/arms. Your best swing better come from your center so last second "life rafts" can come from your arms.

Much of my interest here revolves around what my son's are being taught by a competent ( i think) instructor. On this swing, one thing I think he would comment on what he calls "reverse pivot".... The shoulders back and the weight moving to the back 60-40? rather than 50-50 at contact. This is not uncommon amoung MLB hitters...but would they consider this a flaw? A-Rod for example is almost amazing at remaining 50-50. My kids are taught it is important to stay 50-50. What do the various Guru's think of what my kids are being taught? Is it an important swing trait? Thanks

Flipp, I think it's a swing that helped the Astros get to the World Series last year.

283 36HR 101RBI, if production is anywhere near this next year, I don't care if he swings the bat with his feet.

I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

What were his post season numbers?

Glove Man......Ichiro has great numbers also...that doesn't mean we should teach our kids to hit like him. The purpose of analyzing the swing is to establish the goal we should be striving for.... Of course the guy can hit...he's a MLB Allstar. That doesn't mean every swing he takes is worth emulating. I don't expect my kids to have perfect swings...but it comforts me to think we are at least striving toward the right goal.

So what, he had a bad post season. The Astros would not have gotten to the playoffs without the year he had. Your criticism is of players is unacceptable. Either grab a bat and head to a try out, or back off. It is not as easy as A+B+C+D= basehit. If it were, then guys like you would be in the big leagues. Morgan Ensberg isn't criticizing how you run your pool hall is he?