The sweetest swing in baseball belongs to Carlos Gonzalez, a choreographed dance of verve and force and style. When the Rockies right fielder whirls his bat at a pitch, even his big-league peers admire the movements.

“I say, ‘You look sexy. You look beautiful,’ ” Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said in a TV interview this season.

The 30-year-old Gonzalez is a two-time all-star, a Silver Slugger Award winner and, when his swing is hot, like it was over the second half a season ago, he is among the best in the game. But his swing exists outside a spreadsheet. When he was a kid in Venezuela visiting relatives, he would sneak away to closets and unscrew brooms for a makeshift bat.

“I am telling you, I always loved hitting. Since I was a little, little boy,” he said.

CarGo’s swing is not just for show. All that motion leads to an incredible force. He is ranked among the top four hardest-hitters in baseball the past two seasons, with the ball leaving his bat topping out at 117 mph. His 40 home runs last season trailed only teammate Nolan Arenado (42) and Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper (41) in the National League.

Gonzalez looks like he was born to hit even in batting practice, launching baseballs to the second deck at Coors Field with the ease of a breeze.

But it’s not as easy as it looks. CarGo sat down with The Denver Post to dissect video of some of his most memorable hits and to talk about the art of his swing.

1. THE KICK

Gonzalez begins his swing when he lifts his front, right leg. When his foot returns to the dirt, all that momentum recoils into power. But his swing is more smooth than violent. His hands come through quickly, then sweep away in a long, looping follow-through.

Is there one thing that’s key to your swing?

The key is always to be on time with the leg kick. Because if one thing doesn’t match, it could be a disaster. My leg is down first. I go up, I’ve got all this going on in the back and when the leg goes down, everything is in the same spot and I can get to the ball. That’s the biggest key. If the leg doesn’t work, I don’t care if everything else is the same, it will be hard to make good contact. If you want to make hard contact, you have to be on time. So you can use your hands.

Hitting is hands. You’ve got to have good hands. If you’re on time, you can let your hands do the work. If you’re not on time, you create a different angle. And it doesn’t work.

You will change your front leg. Sometimes you bring it up to your ribs, sometimes just a small step.

That’s more timing than anything. If you’re facing a knuckleball (pitcher), it’s hard because you don’t know when the ball will be there. If you’re facing Aroldis Chapman, you know it’s coming in hot. So you have to be shorter and quicker. If the leg goes too high, the ball will get there so fast, you’ll get in trouble.

Why do you use a leg kick? For power?

It’s funny. I’ve done the leg kick since I was a little kid. My mom has some videos when I was younger and I had the leg kick going. When I started playing professionally, I got away from it.

But the one person who got me doing it again was Don Baylor, in 2009, my first year here. He said, “This should help you.” I said, “Well, that’s how I used to hit.” So I got back to where I used to hit.

Rockies hitting coach Blake Doyle said he would never teach your swing to an 8-year-old because it’s too difficult.

Everything that I do is more natural. I don’t look at myself in the mirror and say, “Oh, I have to move my hands back and do this and do that.” It’s just me. You might find another guy who has a similar swing, but it’s probably natural. He’s not trying to copy anything.

When I was younger, I wanted to hit like Ken Griffey Jr. He was my favorite player. But Griffey didn’t have a leg kick. I was trying to hit like him. And this is the result.

HE SAID IT: “The leg kick is the problem with his swing. It makes the head move forward, so you have a baseball coming at you and you’re moving toward it. Now 90 mph looks like 95 and 95 looks like 98. But it produces the power that he has. And he’s one of the best in the game because he has timing and rhythm.”

— Blake Doyle, Rockies hitting coach

2. THE LAUNCH

June 5, 2013, at Cincinnati, Gonzalez hammered three home runs and had six RBIs, in a 12-8 victory over the Reds. His second home run that night nearly left Great American Ball Park, going 476 feet deep in right field.

Where does the raw power come from? You’re a strong guy, but it’s not all in the arms.

It’s funny. I always say the harder I want to hit the ball, the softer I’ll hit it. It’s better for me to take nice and easy swings and make good contact. I was always a little guy when I was young. I was skinny. But I could throw hard and I could hit the ball hard. It’s just a natural thing.

You have muscled out a home run, now and then.

Sometimes. I’ve done that before. But the hardest balls, like that one in Cincinnati, it’s true — the more relaxed and quicker I am, it’s better. I create power by being smooth. Not like Mark McGwire and those guys who just crush the ball, they just stand there and the ball goes 450 feet. That’s not me. I always try to make good contact, be smooth, and good things happen.

They say hitters are at war with pitchers. But when you talk about being in a rhythm, having to time your movements with a pitcher’s, that sounds more like a dance.

You might be right. I am a good dancer. I tried to hit like Griffey, but he has a different rhythm. This is how it came out for me. You have to find your own way. To be a good hitter, you pick some things from different good hitters. But you have to be yourself. You can’t be somebody else. You can’t try to hit like Albert Pujols. You have to find your own swing. It might turn out that it looks like some other guy, but it’ll never be the same.

Even through slumps, your swing looks basically the same. You’re really married to it.

That’s why I was against Tulo this year when he was trying to hit like Josh Donaldson in spring training. I’m like, why are you trying to hit like Josh Donaldson? Because he won the MVP? Well Josh Donaldson doesn’t have the same numbers you do. He raked for what, two years? You’ve been Troy Tulowitzki since 2007. You’re a great player.

HE SAID IT: “The ball makes a different sound off his bat. It’s loud. Really, really loud.”

— Vinny Castilla, former Rockies third baseman



3. THE SETUP

Trailing 7-4 against Arizona on Sept. 2 last season at Coors Field, Gonzalez nailed a 1-1 slider from Keith Hessler for a go-ahead grand slam to right field. He added two-run shot in a 9-4 victory.

A single here gives you a lead. It’s not a bad pitch. Slider away. Are you really only looking for contact and it just happens to go out?

Absolutely. About 99 percent of the time I hit a home run, I’m not looking for a home run. I’ve probably done it once or twice in my life, when I said to myself, “I’m going to hit a home run” and then I hit a home run. Sometimes I can feel something. Like, “I might go deep in this at-bat.” But that doesn’t mean when I get in the box, I’m trying to hit a home run. No. You might feel it, but you don’t go for it. You go back to your approach, look for a good pitch, try to drive the ball. And if it happens, then you can say I did it.

Hessler did not want to throw you a fastball.

I can tell you that entire at-bat. Bases loaded, against a lefty. He threw me three sliders. First one was a ball, down and away. He threw me another one down and out and I swung at it and missed. Now it’s 1-1. So I’m looking slider, trying to drive it away. But he made a mistake. I pulled it. Home run. Great.

The strike pitch helped you. It got him to think he can throw you another slider and you knew it was coming.

It’s instincts. I know what he’s trying to do. And it shows. It’s a great pitch. I was just able to get out there and extend my arms. But in that situation, I’m not trying to bring in four runs. I’m just trying to make sure the guy on third base scores. At least tie the game.

HE SAID IT: “With CarGo, it’s like a dance with the pitcher.

He finds a rhythm and he goes.”

— Rockies manager Walt Weiss

4. THE STREAK

In 2012, Gonzalez hit three home runs in three at-bats against Houston. In his first at-bat the following game, he homered again — four in four consecutive at-bats.

This is locked in. Are you thinking, “OK, today I’m hitting homers?”

Absolutely not. Not even when I hit four home runs in four straight at-bats. The first one was against a lefty, I drove it away. The next one I went dead center. The third one, he threw me a slider and I pulled it to right field. The next day, I faced a righty, he goes away, so I went away. And the ball barely got out. When home runs come, they come in bunches. But you don’t look for it.

When you look back at it, did you know you were on fire that week?

Oh, yeah. When you’re hot, it’s because you own everything. You can write a list and start marking every pitch. OK, I got that guy on a fastball. He’s not going to throw me another fastball. Then he throws a slider, like you saw, and I took it upper tank. Now what are you going to do? Up and away, I’ll hit it the other way. You’re locked in and not missing pitches, then you know what the pitcher is trying to do.

How do you play cat-and-mouse games with a pitcher when there’s a new pitcher every inning?

The hardest thing to do is hit. Especially at this level. You can be good. But you don’t face the same pitchers every day. These days, it’s even harder. That’s why you don’t see guys hitting .400 anymore. It’s hard to keep that going. You might face Clayton Kershaw and he goes nine. Then the next day, you might face a guy you got a hit off, but everybody else did too, so you’ll face somebody else the next time up.

Back in the day, Juan Marichal pitched 16, 17 innings. That’s a joke. I can’t imagine going for 16 innings. Tell me how much energy you’re going to have. You might be a good pitcher now, but what are you going to do next time? You’re facing the best hitters in the world. So they switch pitchers all the time. That’s why today it’s hard to hit.

HE SAID IT: “He’s not a guy who needs to focus on mechanics. That’s not him. There’s fluidity, how easily he gets to maximum bat speed. And his follow-through is pretty.”

— Dante Bichette, former Rockies outfielder

5. THE WALK-OFF CYCLE

Gonzalez’s most memorable moment with the Rockies happened July 31, 2010, when he completed a cycle — a single, double, triple and home run — with a game-winning homer against the Chicago Cubs in the ninth inning.

Everybody remembers that game. You hit to every part of the field in that cycle.

The single was supposed to be a double. I stopped. And the triple could have been a home run. It hit the yellow on top of the wall. It should have been an inside-the-park home run, but I thought it was gone. I was going so easy to third base. If I was running hard, it would have been a home run. And then the double was supposed to be a triple, but I shut it down. Because I had a triple and a single.

It’s a two-run lead. You’re locked in. You know you’ll get up again with a cycle in play.

I got up again and I hit a bullet to center field and it was a sacrifice fly. I’ll take that. But I’m thinking, “Today is not the day I’m hitting for the cycle.” And then they tied the game, so I’m thinking I have a chance.

And now you’re really in a zone.

That’s probably the one time in my life I was looking for a home run. One of the few. But that’s the thing. I faced lefties all night. Tom Gorzelanny started that game. He threw me everything except fastballs in. Then I’m facing Sean Marshall. He has a good arm, a good sidearm lefty. I’m thinking he’s going fastball in. And if he does, I’m going to try to pull it in the air. And then, boom, home run.

But he’s not an idiot. He knows you’re looking for a cycle.

He’s not an idiot. But look at it again. On my first hit, it was a pitch away. Boom. Second hit, he tries to go down with a slider. But he missed it. Boom. Don’t hang it, because I’m hitting the ball hard. In my third at-bat, he goes fastball in, misses middle and I go the other way.

So where are they going to go? In four at-bats, the one time they got me out was a fastball in, even though I hit a bullet to center, they got me out. It was a good hit. But they got me out. They don’t care, they’ll take outs. So they’re not going away. If they go away, I’m going to keep hitting. And I’m leading off the inning and they don’t want me on base. So fastball in. And boom.

Are you surprised he gave you anything to hit?

If you call that anything! That’s nothing to hit. Look at that pitch. That’s up and in. It was a tough pitch. But I was ready for it. That’s the thing. You can’t just go to the plate and expect a fastball over the middle. Pitchers have to eat too. They’re trying to get you out.

That’s why in the big leagues, you have to make adjustments. It’s a continuous cycle. That’s why there are so many scouts behind the plate. They’re writing, “Oh, he can’t hit sliders right now.” That doesn’t mean I can’t hit sliders. But maybe right now I’m not. So they mark it down. That’s the way it works. They’ll pick on you until you make an adjustment.

David Ortiz called your swing sexy. How would you describe it?

A lot of people like my swing. A lot of people like Robinson Cano’s swing. Lefty swings look better for some reason. If you’re a righty, you look at yourself in the mirror and you say, “Now I look lefty and my swing looks better.” It’s the way it is.

People like smooth swings. Cano is smooth. Griffey was smooth. I guess that’s why they say these swings look sexy. Papi is more muscle. His swing is good, but it has muscle to it. I like his swing. But I can’t do that. I can’t go out and try to hit like Papi.

You don’t try to be somebody else. You might pick something from another guy. But don’t change your swing. Because your swing is who you are.

HE SAID IT: “Every time I see him do what he does, it gives me goose bumps. This guy has the sweetest, most beautiful swing from a left-hander. What a sexy swing.”

— David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox slugger