On the left we have rookie first baseman Freddie Freeman. On the right we have eight billion-time All Star catcher Brian McCann. These pictures brilliantly illustrate why Brian McCann is a much better hitter than Freddie Freeman (currently, at least).
Look at the difference in their hips and legs on the follow-through. Freeman is still totally closed off, almost in the same stance as before he hit. McCann's hips are open, meaning that he turned on his back foot and used his legs to hit the ball instead of just his arms. I swear I tell my U12 team this every day. Your legs are stronger than your arms. When you turn your hips, you use your legs, and you're just going to get a better swing. It's, like, science or something.
Exhibit 2: Upper body. Ideally, you'd want to be upright. McCann is leaned in a little, which is probably why it was a double and not a homerun. But check out Freeman. His legs are just hanging out, all useless and stuff, and he's lunging for the ball with just his upper body. Rather than take his entire body to the ball, thus giving him the ability to hit any pitch anywhere in the park, Freeman is only using his arms. This is why he only hit a single and not a homerun: he can't possibly get enough power with just his arms.
Exhibit 3: The bat. This just illustrates my previous point. On the left we have Freeman lunging at the ball with his upper body, which gives him no range of motion to complete his swing. Instead it's a weak little swing with just his arms where he doesn't even follow his bat through. It kind of looks like some of the people I play softball with. Or Jeff Francoeur. And of course on the right we have McCann with his huge follow-through, which means he got his entire body and the bat through the ball.
I just thought these two pictures were great because they so clearly show the difference in the hitters. Guess whose batting average is about 50 points higher.
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