Sports

5 Weirdest Batting Stances in MLB History

By June 12, 2015June 18th, 2018No Comments
weird-batting-stances-mlb

weird-batting-stances-mlb

One of my personal sayings is, “You can tell a lot about people from their Chipotle orders.” Brown rice and veggies? Health nut. Double steak burrito? Bro. Salad with no meat? Weirdo. Similarly, you can tell a lot about a baseball player from his batting stance. Some are strong and structured, like Albert Pujols. Others have more moving parts, like Gary Sheffield. And then some are just plain weird. Here are the five weirdos who reinvented the batting stance.

1. Craig Counsell

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I think the saddest thing about Craig’s giraffe-like stance is that it wasn’t even effective. Dude’s a career .255 hitter who hit a whopping 42 home runs in 16-year career. Even Jason Kendall hit more dingers than that.

2. Julio Franco

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For some reason, Julio Franco really liked to point the top of the bat right at the pitcher’s face. I don’t know if this was an intimidation technique or what, but it’s one of the weirdest stances I’ve ever seen. As someone who’s tried to emulate it, I can honestly say I have no clue how he ever got his hands to the ball.

3. Kevin Youkilis

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Why are his hands so far apart? Why is he trying to be Julio Franco with the pointy bat syndrome? Why doesn’t he bend his knees? So many questions. Basically, this stance bothers me, and I do not like it. Ok, I feel better after my mini rant.

4. Chuck Knoblauch

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His bat is literally three feet behind his head. I can’t even. Stop it, Chuck.

5. Moisés Alou

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Moisés Alou will always be remembered for two things: his childish meltdown when Steve Bartman reached for that infamous foul ball, and his weird-ass, duck-esque batting stance. His knees were basically touching, yet his feet were about two yards apart. I don’t understand how the man hit 332 home runs from that stance. It defies science.

Those five renegades are the dudes I think have the weirdest batting stances ever. From the awkwardly upright, to the creepily duck-like, there’s something for everyone in these stances. But seriously, some of these dudes were actually good hitters. How?

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Rebecca Ramos

Rebecca Ramos

Business casual by week, sports chic by weekend. Originally from Pittsburgh, Rebecca bleeds Black and Gold and cites Casey Hampton as her all-time favorite Steeler. Warning: do not approach her directly after a Steelers loss.