Troy Tulowitzki Added a New Leg Kick to His Swing
Spring Training is the time for tinkering, adjustments and experimentation. If a player is going to introduce a new batting stance or work on a new secondary pitch, now would be the time to do it.
One such case is Troy Tulowitzki, who appears to be sporting a slightly different batting stance in 2016. Most notably, it looks like he’s added a leg kick to his swing; something which Tulo’s teammates in Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson have used with great success.
Over the weekend, there was an Instagram video posted by the “Stance Doctor” which featured a much different pre-swing routine by Troy Tulowitzki. It may be hard to pick up, but only once you compare Tulowitzki’s old swing to his new one do you really notice the difference.
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It may not be a Bautista or Donaldson-sized leg kick, but it’s much more pronounced than before. In Tulo’s old swing, he very clearly uses the “toe tap” method to get his timing down. In the right side of the GIF, Troy Tulowitzki makes a very pronounced leg kick, which seems to help with his bat speed.
Again, this was a tactic employed by two of the best hitters in all of baseball (Donaldson & Bautista), so in the case of Troy Tulowitzki, why wouldn’t they try to incorporate a leg kick into his swing and perhaps generate some more power?
Although Tulowitzki initially struggled upon his arrival in Toronto just prior to the 2015 trade deadline, he was one of the Blue Jays’ most valuable hitters throughout the playoffs.
So it’s not like Tulo needed to reinvent the wheel with a brand new swing for 2016, but a baseball player can never have too much power.
Hat tip to /r/TorontoBlueJays for the heads up and Stance Doctor for the new Tulo video.
This makes me far more excited than it should.
IIRC, Jose and Josh’s leg kicks were less about adding power as they were about improving timing and seeing the ball longer before deciding to swing.
Tulo`s problem last year was that he was constantly behind fast-balls. His timing was clearly off. Using a leg kick to slow down his mechanics, and time things better, makes a ton of sense. Look at his core balance, it looks much better now. I`m kinda excited about this.
The leg kick is simply a timing ‘style’ that give guys like tulo a more athletic feeling load. Power is not generated by the leg lift itself, rather the forward move/weight transfer the body makes into the launch position.
What’s interesting is the noticeable improvements tulo made to his bat path. His new patterns allows more depth to the path which results in more bat speed. Additionally this let’s him make contact deeper in the swing path which allows him more time before deciding whether or not to swing at a pitch.
Really excited to see how this translates vs a pitcher.
Dean
Thanks for the input, Dean! I’ll fully admit, I’m not 100% knowledgeable in that department, but Tulo’s new swing looks much more fluid. I think a lot of people are expecting him to have a huge season for the Jays.
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