Choke Up is a term used in Baseball to describe how the hitter adjusted the bat by sliding his hands up. By doing so, the hitter can have total control over the bat, especially when he positioned his hands away from the knob. Apart from overall control, its main purpose is to increase bat speed, so the batter can have two strikes to prevent strikeouts. As an example, choke up is another tactic to ensure contact so the batter can extend the game.
The Physics in Choking Up
Doing this technique has principles in physics, so the player can perfect the execution and the expected outcome. First, they need to learn about the push, a movement where they have to estimate to get the object moving. The second factor upon a successful choking up is knowing the ball's inertia, torque, and rotation. Lastly, upon knowing all these factors, then the player can take the bat's grip on the easier level. Adding all these together, the player can reduce the bat's inertia while speeding up the bat's speed.
The Concept of Choke Up
Relating this to the physics of choking up, the player has to remember that when pushing for an object to move at a particular rate, they have to consider that these massive objects are the most difficult ones to move. Therefore, the player has to move the ball's weight closer to his shoulder, which is the center of rotation to equalize the rotational inertia. Then, the baseball bat would focus on the mass toward the top end and will be set to perform a rotational motion. While the rotation's concentration would mainly focus on the batter's body, one of the inhibiting factors is the player's wrist, so choking up would be done successfully.
The Analogy of Choking Up
Choke Up is usually compared to a large earthquake, where the Earth's crust could settle until it created a slight decrease in the Earth's radius. When this decrease happens because the mass is nearer to the rotational inertia, then the outcome would result in a rapid Earth rotation that caused a shorter length of the day.
