Really? There's that much of a difference between swing to produce a line drive and swinging to drive a ball?
Bat plane? Pitch selection? Stride? I'm serious here. I can see a difference between trying to get a pitch to hit on the ground, maybe getting a little flat-footed for balance, and just trying to get a ball in play. Are you saying it is more "hit the ball hard where it is pitched and don't just try to pull in the air?"
If you're Frank Howard you swing for a line drive and often it ends up a homerun, but few of us are Frank Howard. Or if you have a superhuman physique like Mantle, who often swung for line drives, that ended up homeruns (and Mantle also sometimes swung for the fences, and if he connected it was a 500 foot homerun but usually it was a strikeout). And maybe Harper is in that superhuman category, I don't know, but I do know that Desmond isn't. In order for Desmond to hit a homerun he has to go into near-uncontollable-swing mode. When he does that, which is nearly every time he swings, then if he is lucky to make solid contact it's a homerun. But by swinging like that, he lowers his chances of making solid contact (or even any contact at all).
No I'm not saying Desmod should try to place the ball nor am I saying it's pitch selection in his case/ He isn't that type of player. For Desmond, I suppose as you say don't try to put it in the air would be a good start. I would be even happier if he would concentrate more on making hard contact with two strikes.
