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Yet1....
....each of the above HOF quality players, clearly drop the shoulder to get an 'under' appearance to their swing. The rear shoulder definitely works 'under'. In fact, that action is how they develop their 'Pinwheel Swing' (as compared to a merry go round). Pinwheel meaning the swing's arc is a vertical clock face with barrel speed down the back of the arc. A merry go round would mean the swing plane is a horizontal clock face.
You hear the coaches complaint often when an amateur hitter pops up. What gives? Why does the amateur pop up, yet the high level hitter drive the ball?
Here's the answer.
AMATEUR HIITTER: The amateur hitter flattens his bat then swings. He has a slop move that is not part of the launch, yet he can't launch until he does it. He has two moves to his launch. That flattening move happens first, then he launches. Therefore, if he flattens his barrel and drops his rear shoulder THEN launches, the acceleration of his bat will be upward and forward. And that technique will pop the ball up a lot.
HIGH LEVEL HITTER: The high level hitter does not flatten his bat before swinging. He swings from 'up'. The dropping of the shoulder that you see in the clips above IS AN ACCELERATION MOVE. He is turning the barrel rearward with his forearms and the lateral tilt of the torso enhances that action. It adds great power to the acceleration. The lateral tilt of the torso is maybe THE MOST EXPLOSIVE thing the body can do. That action is critical to the suddenness needed to hit at high levels. In fact, the acceleration of the bat is DOWNWARD, not up. The high level hitter swings down with a PINWHEEL action. Which means the barrel will turn up, but only as a result of the downward acceleration reaching the bottom of the arc. The hitter can hit the ball on the downstroke, or just at the bottom of the arc, or, preferably, just as the barrel turns upward.
When a coach tells a hitter to not drop his shoulder, he is guaranteeing an arm driven swing that lacks the suddenness and adjustibility that the hitter needs to hit high level pitching.
The shoulder drop is actually a result, not a cause. The shoulders are what you see. But the action is in the rear hip socket. The fused torso is pivoting, laterally tilting, over the back of the ball of the femur. This is a HUGE energy producer as it stretches the system to the max and results in great suddenness.
Here is a kid who recently defied the old coaching mantra of swinging down to hit ground balls....
Notice that at a pitch at his knees....or....at a pitch above the waist.....he still laterally tilts his torso aggressively....all in....over the back of the ball of the femur....to launch his swing. He knows the advantages of that move.
Why can't you see the lateral tilt of the torso over the back of the ball of the femur? Because that stretches against the rear leg so much that the leg INSTANTLY turns forward, grabbing the torso, yanking the balance point forward keeping the hitter from falling over backward.
It is absolute truth....that you will deny until you do it. Then, you will feel it. Then you will see it. Will you swing a bat to duplicate?
The lateral tilt instruction leads to aha moments instantly.
Dropping the shoulder, in high level hitters, has literally NOTHING to do with whether you pop up or not.