Important analysis of the "softball" picture

[Bucky]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100511&content_id=9967722&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb">Kagan knows importance of strong stance
Players break down Supreme Court nominee's plate approach

Without taking sides on the matter, we at MLB.com thought it would be fun to look closely at another stance. A 1993 black-and-white photo of Kagan, from the University of Chicago Law School, was published on the front of Tuesday's Wall Street Journal with the headline, "Court Nominee Comes to the Plate." It shows her standing in the right-hand batter's box choking up on a bat and waiting with a smile for the pitch.

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"It actually looks good," Mets catcher Rod Barajas said, holding the newspaper at his locker. "It looks like her weight's distributed evenly. Her hands are up. She's holding the bat the right way. That's something you could work with. That's something I could go out there and feel comfortable getting in the batter's box, looking like that."

Ryan Zimmerman was sitting in front of his locker before batting practice, clearly not prepared to adopt that form. "I don't know. She's got the Barry Bonds choke-up working, maybe that's two strikes on her. I don't know. She doesn't look too aggressive. She doesn't have a very intimidating face working, either. It looks like she's friends with the pitcher or something.

"It's not terrible, though. It's not great, but it's not terrible. It's not looking too aggressive. She's not looking ready to hit. She definitely looks like a Punch-and-Judy hitter, not really a power hitter."

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The newspaper was passed down several lockers to that of Ivan Rodriguez, who has seen every kind of stance possible from his squatting position behind home plate. He took a long look at the image in front of him and pronounced it worthy of a true hitter.

"It doesn't look that bad," he said. "You've got two eyes to the pitcher. You've got good balance. All the balance is on the back leg. It doesn't look that bad. Batting stance looks OK -- but I don't know the swing.

"I think the batting stance is perfect, right there. Maybe she brings the bat a little longer. It looks good so far."

What would he tell her if he were squatting behind the plate during that at-bat?

"I don't know, you've got to play the game serious, I can't tell her what's coming," he said. "The only thing I could tell her would be, 'Be ready. Be ready to swing.'"

Mets outfielder Jeff Francoeur dismissed the positive reviews of both starting catchers in that evening's game.

"They're catchers," he said, grinning.

"First of all," he continued, "I'll say that she's choked way too far up on the bat. It looks like the lower hand's kind of too much over, knuckles need alignment. You can tell she's gripping the bat way too hard. She's not going to be able to get it there.

"The stance is not very good. Her feet are kind of open here. That's not going to make for a real good, powerful stance. Smiling at the pitcher is probably not a great idea.

"I do like how the head is turned. Her shoulders are nice. She's balanced. But it's not a very strong stance and you can't smile at the pitcher or you're gonna get hit. You're gonna get hit."

When told that she is a Mets fan, Francoeur shifted his position. "Is she?" he asked. "Well, tell her I like her then. Tell her she's got a good stance."

Nationals closer Matt Capps seems to have as good a read on batting stances today as anyone, winning the Majors' top reliever award for the month of April. He said it is a "good stance" overall, but added: "Even the good hitters are pitchable."

"It looks like she's choking up there and she's locked down, so it looks like she's going to give you an aggressive fight -- which is probably a good thing in the position she's going to be in," Capps said. "But with the bat head going up like that, I'm probably going to try and throw the ball on the inner part of the plate and see if I can't jam her.

"I'm going to go hard in and soft away, and try to mix up the timing a little bit. It looks like with her stance, she's going to have a hard time getting to the ball on the inner half of the plate. Anything breaking away from her, with me being a righty, she'll be a little bit in front of.

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