As it turns out, part of my charge with the Twins is to scout Mainland China. Ethical conundrums aside for a moment, since baseball in the mainland is in its nymph stages of development, I thought using video to show players out there the best examples of MLB-worthy swings would be a good way to get things rolling. So the question is: If you had to choose one players swing as an example, whose would you use? Actually, forget it, let’s keep it even more simple: Your favorite MLB swings. My short list: Will Clark, Mattingly, Strawberry, Sheffield, Puckett, Wade Boggs, and of course, the forever praise-worthy Julio Franco. Let’s hear it readers…
11 responses so far ↓
1 Ted // Apr 18, 2008 at 3:56 am
Lance Berkman. I’m a homer, but his lefty swing is a work of art, and one broadcaster called him “The Gentleman Slugger” for the way he sets the bat down gently when he hits a bomb from the left side.
more:
Gary Sheffield (unimaginable strength)
Mike Piazza (head stillness)
Mark Grace (smooth)
Ichiro (of a particular style)
Ryan Braun (pure bat speed)
Ryan Doumit (pure chaos)
Magglio Ordonez (bat control + power)
2 John M // Apr 18, 2008 at 4:20 am
Dude, get the slo-mo footage of Ted Williams. Loop it. They won’t need anything else.
3 Tix // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:51 am
Gotta be Boggs guys. Come on.
4 yoshi // Apr 18, 2008 at 10:26 am
im not a fan but how about raffy palmeiro? you have to admit he had a nice stroke.
5 bigdaub // Apr 18, 2008 at 11:49 am
griffey jr.
still don’t understand why teams are trying to find talent in china. just a waste of time imo. stick to japan, taiwan, and korea i say.
6 jackson // Apr 18, 2008 at 12:40 pm
With over 2 billion people, the odds that one of them can throw a ball over 95 MPH or hit a ball really far with a wood stick are pretty good.
7 IronChef // Apr 18, 2008 at 2:06 pm
On the left, Johnny Olerud. On the right, Manny.
My favourite ugly swing of all time is 2004 Playoff Hero Mark Bellhorn. Man it was ugly.
8 Shinsano // Apr 18, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I have to go with the guy right there in the photo. Will Clark.
I can honestly say, that even as a kid, seeing Clark swing was almost chilling. It just looked so pitch perfect. The follow through might have been the best part.
That swing alone ought to count for something when people consider him for the HOF. Just to have that swing on a loop somewhere in Cooperstown.
9 EW // Apr 19, 2008 at 8:49 am
As a Cardinals fan, I’ve gotta go with Jim Edmonds. His swing is such that it looks ridiculous when he misses, yet sublime when he goes yard.
10 Gary Garland // Apr 19, 2008 at 1:56 pm
For sheer use of just the hands, George Brett and Rod Carew.
For textbook power hitting, Barry Bonds is it. Tremendous batspeed melded with a very still head, rapid hip rotation, perfect weight transfer and a short stroke.
I hate the guy, but you gotta give the devil his due as a hitter. He was just a machine.
For rather odd, Hiromitsu Ochiai. Put his foot in the bucket and still could torch pitches that were down and away off of the rightcenterfield wall.
For switch hitting, well, do I need to mention Mickey Mantle? Holy moly! And with perpetually sore knees to boot!
Manny Sanguillen or Roberto Clemente for bad ball hitting and Vlad for being less a hitter than a force of nature.
Not many people think about Fred McGriff as a great hitter, but he used his bat like a bullwhip. Richie Allen could really buggywhip it, too.
For insideouting the ball, Manny Ramirez and Edgar Martinez. Edgar combined that with a very high finish that was pretty to watch. Manny has more of a golf swing when he goes the other way, but a real destructive one.
However, back in my youth, I used to emulate the hitting style of Yaz, even with all the damage he did against my Angels.
11 DJ // Apr 21, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Griffey Jr.
And for contact hitters: T. Gwynn (Sr.)
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