Hitting the ball

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.

Another one of the hardest parts of baseball is hitting the ball.

To get the most out of a hit when batting, it is important to knew where the center of percussion is on your bat (COP). "Cop is a point conjugate to the point on the handle of the bat... A ball that hits the COP will have no effect on the handle" (Adair, 79). To get the most power out of the hit on the ball while batting you must strike the COP dead center, though the chance of this are very low, it is the best way to hit the ball. "For a well-hit ball, the bat-ball collision takes place in a 'Sweet spot' region that is near the center of percussion of the bat and near the nodes of lowest vibrational amplitude of the bat" (Adair, 79). Knowing this information I practiced hitting low speed balls with a big wooden bat to find the COP, it took me a while bat after an hour or so I finally started hitting the ball without any effect on the grip.