Numerous my ideas on hitting are rooted in my very own experiences taking part in, for higher or for worse. Once I was in class taking part in ball, I used to be consistently working by means of a specific mechanical situation. Historically, it’s known as “getting caught on the again aspect,” however I at all times stated I obtained caught on a pedestal. Once I obtained to the best level of my leg kick (which was reasonably excessive), I generally transferred an excessive amount of of my weight over my again foot – it was a swing path killer. Due to my intensive expertise with it, I’ve at all times been eager on figuring out hitters who’ve an identical situation.
Rotational actions like hitting and pitching have linear parts, however hitters have to do extra than simply transfer on the coronal airplane (from left to proper or proper to left) as a way to have a deep entry into the hitting zone. A hitter has to rotate along with his hips and/or backbone whereas shifting alongside that linear airplane to create rotational energy and a perfect bat path. Within the case of pedestal hitters, they attain their peak leg carry whereas generally neglecting these different elements of motion.
Take Will Smith, for instance. He makes use of a excessive leg kick to create area in his swing and fell into the pedestal hitting behavior in the course of the second half of final season:
October ninth
September twenty second
September seventh
A couple of hittable pitches within the coronary heart of the zone with no barrels to point out for it. On the middle-middle heaters, his path was reduce off and he solely skimmed the underside of the ball, fairly than hitting it flush. That led to can-of-corn fly balls to proper area as a substitute of barreled line drives. This was a persistent situation for Smith all through 2023 – the worst offensive season of his five-year profession and the primary with an ISO under .200.
Once you switch an excessive amount of weight over your again foot, you both get caught and create a path which ends up in lazy fly balls to the alternative area otherwise you fall too heavy in your entrance aspect and hit grounders like Smith did in opposition to Manaea. You lose depth in your bat path and might’t cowl as a lot of the zone together with your barrel. For Smith, that negatively impacted his wOBA on outer third pitches. For the majority of his profession, he has been capable of cowl these pitches, so this must be one thing he can repair. To try this, he’ll must get again to his early 2023 swings the place he was balanced and creating area for his bat to work by means of the zone.
April thirtieth
Smith is an effective sufficient hitter that he nonetheless posted a 119 wRC+ final 12 months regardless of his mechanical flaw. Not everybody has that a lot room for error, although. Enrique Hernández has had a wRC+ under 75 in consecutive seasons after operating a 109 mark in 2021. Like Smith, he sometimes depends on a giant leg kick to create area, rhythm, and timing in his swing. And whereas the scale of his leg kick fluctuates greater than Smith’s, it’s nonetheless a key driver in his course of. Listed here are a number of swings from 2023 earlier than he was traded to the Dodgers:
April eleventh
June twenty fifth
July 2nd
Even if you wish to reduce Hernández some slack on the prime quality changeup from Shane McClanahan, that swing continues to be instance of how his lack of stability causes him to land closely on his lead leg. The heavy touchdown is much more apparent in his swing in opposition to Jesse Scholtens within the second clip. With that swing specifically, his leg kick works straight up and down, which causes him to power a lead hip exterior rotation.
What do I imply by that? When you’re making an attempt to blow up your lead leg open, you’ll create the counter motion (inside hip rotation) first. That method, you’re making a reciprocal sample that results in easy exterior rotation. Staying impartial originally of the swing creates an imbalance, inflicting the hitter to face on the pedestal as a substitute of rotating into after which out of it as he swings. Hernández has hyper cell exterior rotation, which is seen by his tendency to stride open. To manage it, he must create enough counter rotation along with his hips. Unsurprisingly, when he went to Los Angeles, he made a transparent change in his leg carry that allowed him to stack his heart of mass over his midpoint as a substitute of his again leg. Take note of the course he works his leg kick:
August nineteenth
September ninth
His leg carry began engaged on an angle in direction of his again leg, which allowed him to have a managed explosion and balanced swing. With the Dodgers, he had a 96 wRC+ – far more consistent with his profession 94 mark. Sure, it was over a pattern of 185 plate appearances, however the motion high quality enchancment is simple.
The final instance I’ll use to painting pedestal hitters is Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan. His case is a little more difficult. In his rookie season, he splashed onto the scene with a 126 wRC+. Nonetheless, his peripherals instructed there would probably be a regression – his .341 wOBA was significantly increased than his .312 xwOBA. In 2023, these numbers virtually fully converged. He had a .313 wOBA and .318 xwOBA. From a mechanical viewpoint, this wasn’t fully stunning.
His huge leg kick is a vital part of his swing. It retains him steady, which performs a key function in his nice plate self-discipline. Nonetheless, the motion additionally makes him closely reliant on his arms to do a lot of the work to get on airplane. Given his elite bat-to-ball expertise, he can efficiently do this greater than different gamers, however he doesn’t have a lot room for error. If he will get caught on his again aspect, his arms can solely accomplish that a lot. If he identifies a pitch too late, even simply barely, then he places himself in a tricky place to make flush contact. Listed here are a number of swings exhibiting that:
July ninth
August thirtieth
September twenty second
Every of those fastballs had been thrown between 96 and 97 mph, however had been proper down the center. Kwan couldn’t get his arms on airplane regardless of the hittable places. This was a pattern for him all 12 months. In 2023, he noticed 190 four-seamers with a velocity of not less than 96 mph and had a .155 wOBA in opposition to them. That is one other instance of why rotational hitters like Kwan, Hernández and Smith should be on prime of their mechanics always. Pedestal hitting provides batters even much less margin for error than different hitters in opposition to excessive velocity.
Each hitter has his weak point, and for this trio of gamers, theirs is straight associated to how they load with their leg kick. As I watch every of them in 2024, I’ll be in search of any potential changes they could have revamped the offseason, or may make because the season progresses.
