Launch Angle
The vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat, used with exit velocity to describe what kind of batted ball a swing produced.
Launch angle describes the trajectory off the bat: negative numbers are ground balls, low positive numbers are line drives, higher ones are fly balls, and very high ones are pop-ups. Paired with exit velocity it classifies a batted ball more honestly than the result does.
The useful youth application is not chasing a number, it is noticing a pattern. A hitter whose contact is consistently on the ground has something identifiable to work on, and so does one who is constantly under the ball. That is a coaching observation that happens to have a measurement attached.
The unhelpful application is teaching young hitters to lift the ball deliberately. Youth defences do not turn line drives into outs reliably, and hard contact of any trajectory is worth far more at these ages than optimised trajectory.
What is launch angle?
The vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat. Negative values are ground balls, low positive values line drives, higher values fly balls.
Should youth hitters work on launch angle?
Not directly. Noticing that a hitter is consistently on top of or under the ball is useful; teaching a young player to lift deliberately usually is not, because hard contact of any trajectory plays better against youth defences.
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