Jackson Holliday 2024

[OnlyOneOriole]

15 minutes ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

They may lower the leg kick but it’s mainly his timing mechanism. I think Elias saw something more in his swing path that is keeping him from hitting high fastballs. Teams attack Mike Trout the same way. 

Yeah I wonder what they are thinking now?  Probably not much has changed since his leg is still much higher than it was before. 

 

I noticed he rarely ever hits a high fastball and tends to really over swing and pull towards first base when faced with one. 

[Frobby]

27 minutes ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

They may lower the leg kick but it’s mainly his timing mechanism. I think Elias saw something more in his swing path that is keeping him from hitting high fastballs. Teams attack Mike Trout the same way. 

I distinctly recall reading reports (pre-call-up) that Holliday was particularly adept at covering high fastballs.  So, who knows?

Edited May 7 by Frobby

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

I think the truth, as is with most things, is somewhere in the middle.  

He doesn't need to "overhaul" anything.  He's also got to work on a few things.

Now, what those few things are, none of us know right now.  Ben McDonald makes one comment about his leg kick and everyone here seems to have taken it as gospel.  

I'm sure we'll learn after he comes back up and plays well.  But the rampant speculation about the leg kick being the thing that held him back in the majors is silly.  It might be true in the end, but right now some of you guys would believe that Mark Teixiera was at a Ravens game.

You mean Holliday believing the leg kick is beneficial to him is worth more than the swing mechanics experts on OH?

[RZNJ]

17 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

You mean Holliday believing the leg kick is beneficial to him is worth more than the swing mechanics experts on OH?

What’s funnier than Branch Dickey making fun of people who think they know something?    
 

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

What’s funnier than Branch Dickey making fun of people who think they know something?    
 

Branch Dickey is classic.  Well struck.

[Tony-OH]

On 5/2/2024 at 8:05 AM, DrungoHazewood said:

For most of baseball history there were weird, idiosyncratic things players did and for the most part they were left alone. Because whatever strange stance, windup, delivery or technique that they had, they were in the majors. Clearly it was working.

HOFer Al Simmons was known as Bucketfoot Al because he stepped towards 3rd when batting. If the internet had existed in 1924, the first time he went into a slump the screaming and gnashing of teeth would have been unrelenting. Send this idiot back to the minors, he's never going to hit like that against real pitchers! 

Mel Ott, another HOFer, 2nd guy to get to 500 homers, had a leg kick that puts Holliday to shame. Disco Dan Ford batted with his back to the pitcher. He was so oddly situated in the box that teams would play him (a RHH) like a left-handed pull hitter. Luis Tiant had that windup that ended up with his back to the batter in mid-delivery.

The internet coaches would have savaged all of them at the first 3-game slump. I'm half convinced that all those kind of things mostly disappeared just to stop the wailing from the peanut gallery.

John Wockenfuss had one of the strangest stances. He used to have both feet facing away from the pitcher. 

[OnlyOneOriole]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I distinctly recall reading reports (pre-call-up) that Holliday was particularly adept at covering high fastballs.  So, who knows?

Well again if you compare him to that video I posted from about 5 months ago, his leg kick went from kind of an inch off the ground slide to a foot high raise, hold, float, levitate, and step forward.  I would guess they did that to get him ready to swing sooner but it seems to be having the opposite effect as he seems late on a lot of pitches.   To me it doesn't look natural.  Almost like he has to think about holding the foot up.  And you never want to think when hitting.

 

You just, as the Joker said, "DO".

Edited May 7 by OnlyOneOriole

[OnlyOneOriole]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

John Wockenfuss had one of the strangest stances. He used to have both feet facing away from the pitcher. 

Yeah I grew up in MI and would watch him on tv all of the time.

 

Very strange stance to say the least. 

[Hallas]

55 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I would not expect a player who’s been as successful as Holliday to start overhauling his mechanics based on a couple of bad weeks in his major league debut.  

Shohei changed from a leg kick to a toe tap during his first US spring training, because he was late on everything when he got here.

[lfallo1]

4 minutes ago, OnlyOneOriole said:

Well again if you compare him to that video I posted from about 5 months ago, his leg kick went from kind of an inch off the ground slide to a foot high raise, hold, float, levitate, and step forward.  I would guess they did that to get him ready to swing sooner but it seems to be having the opposite effect as he seems late on a lot of pitches.   To me it doesn't look natural.  Almost like he has to think about holding the foot up.  And you never want to think when hitting.

fwiw, in the clips before his HR derby swings, he's got the leg kick in the highlights.  Dunno if it's "the same" leg kick we're seeing today, but it's pronounced.. possible he was "cheating" his swing in the derby, but i dunno. 

[OnlyOneOriole]

22 minutes ago, Hallas said:

Shohei changed from a leg kick to a toe tap during his first US spring training, because he was late on everything when he got here.

Great  point.  If he can adjust, I would think JH can.

[Sports Guy]

2 hours ago, OnlyOneOriole said:

Great  point.  If he can adjust, I would think JH can.

…if JH has to adjust.

[Rbiggs2525]

Was on base 4 more times tonight. Funny we are talking about a 20 year old struggling with a 953 OPS in triple A.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Since we're talking about unusual batting stances it gives me an excuse to post Julio Franco batting. It worked for Franco, but I don't know how he got his bat through the zone in time to make decent contact and also hit the ball hard.

Plus his knees were buckling in addition. I don't think today's coaches would allow him to use this stance even if the results in MILB were good.

Edited May 8 by OsFanSinceThe80s

[accinfo]

1 minute ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Since we're talking about unusual batting stances it gives me an excuse to post Julio Franco batting. It worked for Franco, but I don't know how he got his bat through the zone in time to make decent contact and also hit the ball hard.

I remember many of those players that had unusual stances like Franco would stand like that and shift into a someone normal posture right as the pitch was being thrown.