Posted by: Chris (drluggo@earthlink.net) on Tue Nov 21 08:13:11 2006

I agree with the wide stance, but if you look at Pujols, both of his heels are on the ground, I assume with weight on the balls of his feet and slightly toward the back leg with the front leg somewhat stiff. This I would consider a very balanced stance. I know that there are some major leaguers who do start in that somewhat coiled stance but I cannot think of any off the top of my head (Jeter?).

I guess what I am looking for is what is the benefit to starting in that coiled position and is there any drawback to hitting offspeed pitches when you start that way. And should a kid be instructed to switch to this type of stance if he is already driving the ball. Like I mentioned earlier, the issue I see is that he is behind on some pitches that he should be pulling.


> "At a pracitce the other day he told me that a coach told him to narrow his stance a little and lift his front heel off the ground and turn his front toe and knee inward."
>
> I don't have a problem with the above advice, except for the part about narrowing the stance.
>
> In my experience, a too-narrow stance can lead to a whole host of problems, including balance problems and a swing that is too top-down (e.g. that doesn't involve the lower body enough).
>
> Albert Pujols has a VERY wide stance, and he does just fine.