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(Getty Images) |
Thanks to an article by
Sports Illustrated's
Michael Beller, it seems as if
Andrew Benintendi's resurgence since May 12th of this year
may be due to a clear change in batting stance. In the first six weeks of the season,
Benny Ballgame struggled—hitting just .243 with 2 HRs, despite sitting near the top of the most dynamic line-up in baseball. Then, he adopted a more
open stance, lowered his hands and started using a more prominent leg-kick.
Since May 12th, these three alterations have resulted in him hitting almost .380 with 9 HRs and 26 RBIs. Not bad. Overall now, he's at .299 with 11 HRs and 44 RBIs, with a .932 OPS. Clearly, he has figured out how to overcome an early "sophomore slump" and is back on track as a dominating force in the Boston line-up. In his article, Beller goes into far more detail about the changes—citing geeky stuff like "swing rates". We don't care. Benny is back. That's all we need to know.