Jim Thome talks Trout and swinging on a level plane

[@AntonelliBaseball]

Thome could rake!

[@dainland432]

He was an absolute beast!

[@patrickgoodman4576]

What do you see that made his Swing so good?

[@jayelbee1111]

This is why Thome was able to hit over 500 home runs. His home runs were taped measured around 480 to 500 feet. He was just a monster.

[@wesleyturner1979]

So cold Matt!

[@tedgey4286]

Jim Thome is doing a great job showing us how Jim Thome swings

[@southafricanizationofsociety20]

Yes, a pitch at your chest you’ll have a “level” swing. A fastball at the knees, you’re dropping the barrel. Trout is working on balls up in the zone because he’s a notorious low ball hitter. Still the best player in the league.

[@dylansdad987]

Jimmy is my all time favourite player. A true legend

[@devonhellett4308]

I saw him drop a bomb first swing of the “bad” swing 😂

[@futuregohan4837]

LOL Trout Fucked That Ball Up Good One Trout

[@patrickgoodman4576]

But the next swing he Missed...What he's saying is basically it's harder to be more consistent with the backside dropping on the high pitch

[@OptimusPurp]

Instincts

[@patrickgoodman4576]

@@lukepuffinbarger5022 when you’re late you’re under the ball and when you’re early you’re on top according to Ted Williams theories on hitting

[@dainland432]

I love how good these guys are. Harold says that he'll move out front because he waved Jim to pull the ball and he knows he will.

[@krakenmetzger]

I never realize how bad I am at baseball until I see out-of-shape 50-year-old Jim Thome in a suit hitting better than I could ever hope to.

[@rebeltvr6046]

Thome hit over 600 home runs. He could hit a ball in his sleep in his 70s.

[@LinkRocks]

I love listening to Thome talk hitting.

[@DirtyMikeMichigan]

Thome had the biggest upper cut swing I've ever seen

[@nickcardona951]

great video. I've always loved Harold you da man

[@GKboards]

Thome is bringing the same level of analysis to MLB Network that Pedro Martinez is... absolutely love it.

[@Pr0gamingelite]

Todd Gack Thomes wrong and he’s not analyzing anything

[@stevenygabbyperez695]

I like Thome but you can't compare him to Pedro. Pedro is a pitching genius.

[@thesenate5245]

@@stevenygabbyperez695 thome is one of the best power hitters of our generation. Well he is a hitting genius

[@jockoadams3377]

@@Pr0gamingelite Thome was correct over 600 times more than you.

[@bremms1]

We were just talking about this with my son's coach. Nice swing Thome.

[@vincentrobinson3078]

Just loved when HOF’er Big Jim was with the Phillies !!! ⚾️

[@CCDRaydiance]

Watching this right after the "Attacking Launch Angle Hitters" video where Pedro mentions Trout. XD

[@krakenmetzger]

Could MLB Network be just Harold, Thome, and Pedro from now on?

[@MrJking065]

Jim Thome Seems like a good guy. And NO way I would be pitching to him without a suiit of armour!

[@kingflipp82]

Thome is a G. The dude was n is legit.

[@jaycribb3809]

Timing is everything...that being said...being able to hit any ball has to to do with adjusting the upper body...outside pitches typically have a lean over, and the hitter usually pull back more with his back elbow or shoulder to allow the ball to get deeper and also creat the angle for your shoulder to hit the ball to opposite field...low balls have more of a shoulder tilt...back shoulder down, front shoulder up...outside and low with be a little bit of lean over, more counter rotation with shoulders and a "dip " of the back shoulder

[@jaycribb3809]

Swings on high pitches are more level bc of plane of the pitch...the lower the pitch, the more " uppercut"..but none of that matters if u don't time everything correctly

[@arthurkorff]

Hows that shirt staying tucked?

[@messerthomas1]

Why is you tie so long Harold

[@mes98yng22]

Thomas Messer 😂 just notice that

[@daw162]

That's his backup plan if he forgets to zip his pants. Screen door, if you will.

[@zacharycrick9530]

Love ya vids

[@MrGarretto100]

I don't think they mean level swing as in the angle of the bat to the ground but more so the way the bat is traveling when it makes contact with the ball. So hitting the ball with a level swing would mean when your bat is traveling the flattest through your swing. Not when your bat is moving down like you're trying to slap the ball straight into the ground or up when you're trying to pop the ball up. Think of the strike zone as a 3 dimensional space. Level swings being as little movement through the back (closest to the catcher) to the front (closest to the pitcher) as possible. I'm probably completely wrong though as I hardly ever watch baseball anymore. If it was obvious that is what they meant then sorry, refer to my previous sentence about how much I watch baseball. I just saw Jim Thome talking about batting and clicked.

[@Jjkano]

Best example of this is look at Roberto Clemente's home run in the All Star game

[@brycereese2002]

This ladies and gentlemen is how you hit 32 of 42 not with launch angle swings

[@aklb370]

A pitch at shoulder height is not a strike

[@Mookus5150]

It’s also because he’s hitting flips which is no where near the same angle of a pitched ball in a game.

[@Bc232klm]

Love Thome, but he's way too stubborn on this launch angle stuff

[@jaycribb3809]

Rotation of the shoulders is what " pulls the knob through"...not pushing the knob with hands

[@jaycribb3809]

Lauch angle is just the angle that the bat hits the ball...has nothing to do with level, uppercuts, or swinging down

[@subg8858]

Yeah but your talking about launch angle on good contact, which is generally center barrel, so the angle of the swing does determine it in that case. If you are talking poor contact, then the angle will be determined more by the angle of the ball to that bat.

[@crandonwallace8355]

Your angle changes with the location of the pitch. All big leaguers can cover the whole strike zone. Jim thome was a big on hitting HR’s. If you go watch his swings they aren’t all level meaning zero degrees.

[@gallennorris782]

I just watched 3 minutes of his post season home runs alone and they were all level swings.

[@DirtyMikeMichigan]

Keep your front elbow above the plane of the pitch and your bat will magically be on plane and will appear to be flat through the zone

[@paulyp9853]

Thome didn't do on the field what he talks about in studio. He was classic back leg hitter and talks like he hit like Ichiro. Some guys can do and cant explain it. Thome is a great guy but he cant teach it at all. Trout is one of the best back shoulder hitters in the league with an incredible horizontal bat angle. They took a video of Trout working on high pitches where you cant back shoulder the pitch and telling you that's how trout hits. Find a video of Trout on middle to down pitch. Thome..ssssshhhhhhhhhh

[@wesleyturner1979]

Thome had the same swing as Trout on balls down. The key is being able to adjust the amount of back shoulder drop to the pitch height. The optimal bat path is staying on line with the angle of the pitch which is usually 5 percent down.

[@mikeyoung9810]

This new generation of uppercuts while swinging as hard as you can is hurting the game. We end up with lots of players hitting .250 with 20 homers before the break which will cause pitchers to adapt and maybe turn them into .220 hitters with 30 homers at the end of the season with 200 strikeouts.

[@Puruvian]

biggest thing in todays game is ops

[@user-ck5hp1cy8o]

why does harold look like he never sleeps

[@baileysmith4744]

trout of course gets the 420

[@teddyballgameway]

Same plane as the pitch! Trout is matching the plane of the pitch. Tome is showing a down and through it swing. That down and through it swing is garbage. That's Charlie Laus method that came about in the late 70s and early 80s and ran through the 90s is not the way to go if you want to hit 300. That swing leads to a lot of ground balls and pop ups to the infield. Matching the plane of the pitch has been around long before this down and through it swing came about. Ted Williams has a whole book about it.

[@BulletDiscipline]

poor Harold trying not 2 be a target 😂

[@acgmedical9129]

Next time, you use trouts name for click bait taggery, make sure trout is present.

[@michaelgmeiner7449]

confusing as hell to the casual fan.

[@patrickgoodman4576]

The Baseball Swing is a pretty complex set of movements...

[@patrickgoodman4576]

But basically though he's saying it's harder to have an Upswing on a higher pitch because of the way the pitch is coming in the strike zone

[@Pr0gamingelite]

No No No No No No No No No

[@jacksonvance7404]

XxXxXxXx found you again dude😂the same people that say today’s pitchers can’t locate are saying that pitchers are locating well enough to keep it in 1/8 of the zone

[@Pr0gamingelite]

Jackson Vance lmao imma have to unsubscribe

[@EthnHayabusa]

Those "level" swings look like outs, to me. The good swings weren't level.

[@jibbo123]

EthnHayabusa Its to practice being quick to the ball. Can't hit a high pitch dropping your bat.

[@jacksonvance7404]

jibbo123 if your bar starts above the ball you literally havevto

[@PurpleRanger69]

Who should we listen to???? Those in the show? Or some bum on the internet??? 🤔🤔🤔

[@Nathan-wh9fn]

Moron

[@jacksonvance7404]

BaseballGuy 24 would you ask a bird how to fly? These guys don’t even know what they’re doing and can still do it at a high level

[@skippygus73]

Oh no, now you're just hitting line drives and getting a higher batting avg. So boring.

[@rhumphrey13921]

This whole level swing, knob to the ball stuff is just so wrong haha these guys don't know how to teach what they are really doing.

[@metsdiehard8066]

Ryan Humphrey Hall of Fame

[@rhumphrey13921]

Mets Diehard just because someone is Hof , doesn't meant they can teach it. Level swings and knob to th ball are fake news. It's getting the bat into the same plane as the pitch. Knob to the ball creates a downward swing, which results in either a ground ball or a pop up. How does one hit a low pitch with a level swing? Can't happen.

[@Nathan-wh9fn]

Lol what makes you able to explain it better than these pro ball players?

[@rhumphrey13921]

Nathan Perona watch slow-mo video of all these guys swinging, none of them are level swings. Go watch Josh Donaldson explain it on MLB Network. This is the old school way of hitting. It's not level, it's getting your hands in the plane of the pitch. This^ only applies to high pitches. PS. He is a hall of famer, but struck out a ton.

[@rhumphrey13921]

Caleb Dicken the knob to the ball some what makes sense but it depends on how you explain it. As long as you aren't directing your hands straight to the ball

[@ryanfuller8024]

Thome is terrible. This information is why kids stop playing baseball.

[@owens9587]

Ryan Fuller so a player with 600+ homeruns doesn’t know what he’s talking about

[@mikestarr6634]

He doesn't really know what he's talking about with the level swing stuff...watch Trout (or Thome himself!) on their home run swings and tell me how many are actually "level"....very few. Thome gets confused the difference between "trying" to swing level and what he actually did when playing.

[@patrickgoodman4576]

Hardest thing to do it sport. It ain't for everyone even when you try really hard...

[@jacobrichardson1952]

I like Thome he ain't no joke though.