Iqaluit slugger offers batting advice to Blue Jays

Iqaluit softball player Ted Schabell has some free advice for the Toronto Blue Jays as Canada’s only Major League Baseball team prepares to host Game 1 of the American League Championship on Sunday. 

“Strength times speed equals power,” Schabell said, as he unpacked the mechanics of his swing for Nunatsiaq News in an interview at his Iqaluit home on Friday. “You must incorporate both strength and speed to be successful.”

After Schabell went 11-for-14 at a recent tournament, the Jays just might want to take a peek at what he has to teach. His tournament batting average of .785 was more than twice as high as the 22-year career average of legend Babe Ruth.

To be fair, Schabell, a 58-year-old a safety inspector with the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, accrued his remarkable batting average over 14 at-bats with the Portland, Oregon Raptors in the World Masters Softball Tournament in Bullhead, Ariz., last month. He was named a series all-star for the second year in a row.

“The full movement is like a coiled spring that explodes at the end with the swinging motion,” he said, shoving furniture to the edge of his living room to make space to demonstrate his swing.

After a few half-speed swings, Schabell put down the bat to demonstrate the uncoiled energy of a boxer’s punch, which employs the same principles as a batter’s swing.

Schabell affirmed the reporter’s consent, then showed how a swift swivel of the hips can pack power into a seven-centimetre punch. Schabell’s fist landed on the reporter’s chest, pushing him back on his heels, reaching for the wall for balance.

Suffice it to say, Schabell’s kinetic advice checks out. Here’s how it works.

First, stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, holding the bat with a loose grip, relaxing the forearms. In the ready position, the weight should be on the batter’s rear foot.

The butt of the bat handle is at the top of the strike zone, with the batter’s head out over the plate, looking down the chute to the pitcher, “razor-focused,” Schabell said.

If the pitch looks like a winner, begin swinging when the ball is four and a half metres from home plate, he said.

Weight shifts from back foot to front foot, propelling energy up the rear leg and across the body, down the arms, finishing with a “whip-like” snap of the wrists to propel all that coiled energy into the point where wood meets leather.

The final step, sprint to first base and beyond. 

The Blue Jays play host to the Seattle Mariners in the first game of the American League Championship Series. The Jays are scheduled throw the first pitch in Toronto at 8 p.m. EST.

The winner of the best-of-seven-game series will advance to the World Series.