DK Willardson was a researcher before he was a baseball dad but when his son developed a passion for the sport, he put his background to work and took a quantitative look at swing path metrics.

After releasing his book on the subject, Quantitative Hitting, the industry’s response highlighted just how effective integrating proven swing angle combinations could be. Today, his company Hitting Tech helps players further understand and model the same swing paths used by the best hitters in the game.

Hear DK ’s journey from researcher and baseball parent to writer and inventor. He highlights which metrics matter most when using Quant Tee, his subsequent invention, that measures swing angles down to the slightest degree. All this and more, today on the #robcrewspodcast.

“The data is very clear on certain things that work and it doesn't necessarily mean that as a coach that everybody has to do what works for the entire group overall... but as a general rule there are certain things that work much better than others.” -DK Willardson [10:36]

“There's a certain level of humility that you have to have as a coach to go to your kids and say yeah we did that, I know, I understand but here's a better way to do it and here's why.” -Rob Crews [20:20]

Key Takeaways: DK Willardson’s breakdown on the tech behind the Quant Tee. The difference between implicit and explicit loft. Industry terminology and metrics to utilize the Quant Tee effectively. How Hitting Tech is helping baseball and softball players to improve.

Episode Timeline:

[00:30] CG Plus [01:23] Intro [01:40] Meet DK Willardson of Hitting Tech [02:40] His background in swing research [05:48] The inspiration behind his book, Quantitative Hitting [09:01] Why hitting should be looked at quantitatively [12:31] Swing path and key angle combinations [17:23] Hitting language [19:25] Training with the Quant Tee [20:59] Vertical and horizontal bat angle [23:08] Quan-tee and intentional tee work [26:51] Getting on the right plane [31:00] The difference between Implicit v.s explicit loft [36:38] The difference between vertical bat angle and attack angle [40:29] Why the book and the tee work hand in hand [43:34] Square hitters v.s backspin hitters [52:00] Direction bias [54:09] The difference in data between baseball and softball [59:08] Adjustments a softball player would have to make [1:05:55] Finding Quant-Tee [1:09:02] Body metrics coming soon [1:09:23] Outro

Resources Mentioned: CG Plus, Swinggraphs.com, HittingTech.com

Connect:

Find | Rob Crews At Complete.game On Instagram: @completegame On Twitter: @completegame On Facebook: @completegame

Find | Quant Tee At hittingtech.com On Twitter: @quanttee

Subscribe: On Apple Podcasts On Spotify On Stitcher On iHeart Radio

Credit: IggyBeats, DT Productions, and Ali the Greatest for background music.