02-20-2025, 02:43 AM
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/headlines/elly-de-la-cruz-news-tweaks-batting-stance-949863
Standing taller at the plate at 6'5" is an interesting plan to help his struggle against the bottom of the strike zone.
Last Red I remember them talking about changing his stance by opening it up and making him stand taller was Aquino, who was 6'4". He went to (and failed in) Japan the next season.
Honestly the thing he needs to do is just drop being a switch hitter. He is a career .209/.280/.320 hitter as a righty. Drives me crazy to see guys stick with trying to switch hit while it clearly isn't paying off. Hamilton comes to mind '16-'18 where he just couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag while batting righty and while he wasn't great as a lefty, he was at least competent enough those years that you probably could have lived with it when factoring in his speed on the bases and defense in CF.
Quote:De La Cruz has opened up his stance a bit and is standing taller at the plate, with the goal of "being more in control with his forward movement," per Reds hitting coach Chris Valaika.
Standing taller at the plate at 6'5" is an interesting plan to help his struggle against the bottom of the strike zone.
Last Red I remember them talking about changing his stance by opening it up and making him stand taller was Aquino, who was 6'4". He went to (and failed in) Japan the next season.
Honestly the thing he needs to do is just drop being a switch hitter. He is a career .209/.280/.320 hitter as a righty. Drives me crazy to see guys stick with trying to switch hit while it clearly isn't paying off. Hamilton comes to mind '16-'18 where he just couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag while batting righty and while he wasn't great as a lefty, he was at least competent enough those years that you probably could have lived with it when factoring in his speed on the bases and defense in CF.
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