{"id":44120,"date":"2025-04-26T06:17:33","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T06:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=44120"},"modified":"2025-04-26T06:17:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T06:17:33","slug":"how-a-batting-stance-change-sparked-judges-incredible-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=44120","title":{"rendered":"How a batting stance change sparked Judge’s incredible run"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Throughout his emergence as the most prodigious power hitter since Barry Bonds, throughout multiple historic home run seasons,\u00a0Aaron Judge\u00a0set up in the batter’s box more or less the same way — with the same “open” style of batting stance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He had the open stance in 2017, when he hit 52 home runs and set the MLB rookie home run record. He had the open stance in 2022, when he hit 62 home runs, passed Roger Maris and set the American League home run record.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He had that open batting stance, homer after homer, until May 5, 2024. And then, he changed it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That day at Yankee Stadium, facing the eventual AL Cy Young Award winner in Tarik Skubal and having spent the first month of the season mired in one of the worst slumps of his career, Judge started to square up his stance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It was a very subtle change at first, barely discernible to the naked eye. But Judge shifted the placement of his front foot ever so slightly toward the pitcher. He hammered a home run and a double off Skubal that day. He broke out of his slump. So he kept going. Over the coming months, Judge’s stance continued to close. And by the end of the season — 58 home runs later — Judge was almost completely square to the pitcher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s honestly just a feel thing,” Judge told MLB.com. “It just felt good. I felt like I could balance, like I could be in control. And I stuck with it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Now, a month into a new season, Judge has kept that square batting stance. Today is Judge’s 33rd birthday … It’s also been almost a full year since he changed his stance and triggered his latest historic run.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We can show Judge’s evolution with\u00a0Statcast’s new batting stance data<\/a>. In April 2024, Judge was 20 degrees open, his front foot near the outer edge of the batter’s box and his legs angled toward the pull side. In May, that shifted to 9 degrees open. By September, Judge was down to 2 degrees open — an almost perfectly square batting stance, with his feet connecting on a line pointing straight toward the pitcher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This April, Judge’s stance is 5 degrees open, a far more straight-up stance than it was at this same point a year ago. And his start to 2025 is the polar opposite of his start to 2024. Judge is batting .408. He has a 1.222 OPS. Oh, and his last calendar year has\u00a0arguably been the greatest slugging stretch in baseball history. Judge has been a force equal to Babe Ruth at his peak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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