About Batting Stances

Many fans recognize their favorite players' batting stances. but there is more to a batting stance than just being different from all the other batters. Various types of batting stances have their own advantages and disadvantages. Read on to learn more about how your favorite players excel through their batting stances.

Significance

The most important aspect of a batting stance is being comfortable. A batter might have to tweak the mechanics in his swing, but he shouldn't be told to completely change his batting stance. Batting stance should be whatever is comfortable to the player.
The correct batting stance is also important for strategic reasons. Different batting stances will help a player to hit the ball in a certain direction, thus enabling a player to precisely hit the ball according to what the game demands at that instant.

Features

Batting stances may vary, but there are a few aspects they all have in common. Right-handed batters will stand with their left front as the front foot and the right foot as the back foot. When they hold the bat, they will put the right hand on top of the left hand.
Left-handed batters will have their right foot out in front and their left foot in the back. They will hold the bat with their left hand on top of their right hand.
Most batting stances will also include bending your knees and keeping your feet apart.

Types

Different batters will hold their head in a different position, bend their knees more or less or hold their bat in a different position, but all batting stances ultimately fall under three categories: closed, even and the open batting stance.
In a closed batting stance, the batter will have his back foot farther from the plate than the front foot.
In an even batting stance, the front and back foot will be the same distance from the plate.
In an open batting stance, the front foot will be farther from the plate than the back foot.

Benefits

Closed batting stance--The advantage of a closed batting stance is that a player can reach farther across the plate. The ability to reach across the plate and the fact that the batter is angled in will result in many more hits to the opposite field.
Even batting stance--The even batting stance is the compromise between the two. Basically, the advantage of an even batting stance is that it doesn't have the disadvantages of the other two stances.
Open batting stance--The advantage of the open batting stance is that the front foot is farther from the plate than the back foot, so the batter's body is angled towards the pitcher. The batter can see the pitch a lot better this way.

Warning

Closed batting stance--The disadvantage of the closed batting stance is the batter is angled away from the pitcher. It will be difficult to pick up some pitches, especially pitches on the inside corner.
Even batting stance--The advantage of the even batting stance is that it doesn't have the disadvantages of the other two batting stances; the disadvantage of the even batting stance is that it doesn't have the advantages of the other two batting stances.
Open batting stance--If a batter's front foot is farther from the plate than the back foot and he is angled toward the pitcher, then the batter cannot reach as far. If a pitcher can pitch the ball on the outside corner, it will be hard to hit with an open batting stance.