One of the best stories of this season (non-Vogelsong category) is Nate Schierholtz’ magical transformation into a serviceable everyday player. For a large part of his career, let’s say all of it, Schierholtz has been somewhat of an afterthought. There was a time way back in the day where I was of the mind that John Bowker was the solution in right field and that Nate would be doomed to a career as Pat Burrell’s late-inning defensive replacement. Now Schierholtz is hitting .293/.343/.464 and as of now is the second best hitter on the team behind Pablo Sandoval. What makes a guy who couldn’t take a walk to save his life one day a decidedly average the next? The folks over at Splashing Pumpkins did a pretty cool piece about how Nate’s closed up his batting stance which has led to some modicum of success. I’d like to take that a step further and examine what exactly this tweak has done for his swing.
Let’s compare some photos. The first ...
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