So, I’ve been getting back into swinging the bat a bit lately. Nothing serious, you know, just messing around at the local park, sometimes with my nephew when he’s visiting. Keeps me feeling young, or tries to anyway.
The other week, I caught some game highlights online. Saw this kid, Mason Fox, playing. Never really paid close attention to him before, but there was this one at-bat. He has this kind of distinct setup at the plate. Not crazy weird, but different from how I learned or usually see.
Trying Something New
I thought, huh, looks like he gets a lot of power from his legs that way. Got me curious. You know how it is, you see something and think, maybe I could try that? So, next time I went out, I decided to give it a shot. Just messing around, really.
First attempts were pretty clumsy. Felt really awkward. My feet felt like they were tangled up, and my timing was all off. I was either way ahead of the pitch or swinging late. It’s funny how ingrained your old habits are. Trying to consciously change something like your batting stance feels like learning to walk again.
- Felt unbalanced at first.
- Hard to get the weight shift right.
- Timing was the biggest issue.
The Process
I didn’t give up right away though. Went back and looked at some clips of Fox hitting again. Tried to break it down, just focusing on his foot placement first. Ignored the hands and everything else. Just trying to get the base feeling okay.
Spent maybe 20 minutes just setting up, feeling the stance, taking some slow practice swings. Didn’t even try to hit hard. Just wanted to see if I could make it feel a bit more natural. It got slightly better, less like I was gonna fall over, but still not comfortable.
It takes time, you know? You see these pros, and they make it look so easy, so smooth. But trying to copy even one little part of what they do? Man, it really makes you appreciate the skill and the thousands of hours they must put in.
What I Learned
So, did I suddenly start hitting like Mason Fox? Haha, not even close. I mostly went back to my old stance after a while because, well, it works better for me. But the whole exercise was interesting.
It reminded me that there’s always different ways to do things in baseball. And just trying something new, even if it doesn’t stick, can teach you something. Maybe it makes you understand your own technique better, why you do it the way you do.
It was just a fun little experiment, trying to see the game through a different stance for an afternoon. Made watching players like Fox more interesting too, now that I’ve tried (and failed!) to mimic a tiny piece of what he does.
