Albert Pujols' Stride: It's Baaack...
Updated 10/22/2011
Albert Pujols had an unprecedentedly -- for him at least --
poor first two months of the season. Then he quickly turned
things around and was having a quite Pujolsian June until he broke his arm (and I mean arm, not wrist).
Since people are understandably interested in
what Albert Pujols' April and May performance, and June
turn-around, say about his future
prospects, I thought I'd give my two cents about what happened
and
why, the small role I might have played in the process, and where Pujols is likely to go from here.
Hitting 101: Basic Concepts
In order to understand why Albert Pujols struggled during
April and May, and was able to bounce back so quickly in June,
you first have to understand a number of geeky, semi-technical things
about the swing, the role of the stride, and hitting in general.
It's going to take me a couple of minutes to tie this back to
Albert Pujols' swing, but please be patient.
This is important.
Heel Plant
In a good swing, the planting of the front heel -- and I mean the planting
of the heel of the front foot and not just the first contact of the
front foot with the ground -- is the thing that starts the rotation of the hips.
Let me say that again.
The planting of the front heel initiates the swing.
I'm not sure why that is, but it's true of both hitting and
pitching and presumably has something to do with walking.
Basically, the planting of the front heel triggers a series of
events farther up in the hips and the core that rotate the hips
(and then the shoulders).
Stretch Shortening Cycle
In order to maximize the power output of a muscle, it
is best to stretch that muscle just before you contract it.
That can boost the power output of the muscle by 10 or more
percent and is the reason why many athletic movements involve a
counter-movement where the athlete first moves in the opposite
direction of their target direction. Examples of
athletic activities with counter-movements include the golf
swing and the basketball jump shot.
Timing
In order to consistently hit 90+ MPH pitching, hitters have
to start their swings early enough to be
able to get everything done in time in order to hit the ball
squarely, but not too early.
If the batter starts their
swing too late, then they will not be able to catch up to the
fastball and will be late and swing behind it; the bat will be
passing through the hitting zone at the moment the ball is
entering the catcher's mitt. Similarly, if the batter starts
their swing too early, then they will be out in front of the
pitch and the bat will pass through the hitting zone before the
ball is even there.
However, in
order to be able to hit the pitcher's fastest pitch, and because
it is easier to slow a swing down than it is to speed a swing
up, good hitters start their swing in time to
handle the fastest pitch that they think they will see from a
pitcher.
Adjustability
In order to make life as hard as possible on the hitter, good pitchers do not throw every pitch at the same speed.
Instead, good pitchers throw different pitches at
different speeds, and the best ones throw their pitches
in such a way that it's not immediately obvious whether the
pitch is a fastball or an off-speed pitch out of the hand.
They do this
because, if they can fool the hitter into thinking that a pitch
is a fastball when it is actually a change-up, then they will force the
hitter to swing with their arms and not with their whole body
(and in particular their hips). As I explain in my piece on
Rotational Hitting, an
arm-y swing is much less powerful than a swing that is driven by
the hips and the core.
As a result, good hitters
have to develop a way of adjusting to the speed of the pitch
and, most importantly, delaying the planting of their front heel if
they get an off-speed pitch (e.g. a breaking ball or a
change-up).
Different hitters do this differently,
but most do it by incorporating a number of places that they can
briefly pause during their leg lift and their stride and make a
timing adjustment to an off-speed pitch.[1]
Get The Front Foot Down Early?
No, Not Really.
One of the most common pieces of hitting advice is to get
your front foot down early. The problem is that getting the
front foot down too early can hurt a hitter's power by keeping
them from taking advantage of the Stretch Shortening Cycle. If a
hitter gets their front foot down early, and then gets an off-speed
pitch and has to make a timing adjustment, then all they can do
is sit there and wait until it's time to fire their hips. The
longer the pause between the planting of the front heel and the
firing of the hips, the less the hitter will be able to take
advantage of the Stretch Shortening Cycle. The result is a swing
that
will "work," but -- and remember this for later --
getting the front foot down to early
can rob a hitter of power and turn home run power into
warning track power. In truth, you want to get the front foot
-- and really the front heel -- down right on time,
and by that I mean the moment when you want to start rotating your
hips and your shoulders.
Albert Pujols' Classic Stride
And what exactly does this have to do with Albert Pujols'
swing, his stride, and his struggles during April and May of
2011? If you look at Albert Pujols' swing from circa 2005, you
can see that he has -- or more accurately had, but I'll get to
that in a second -- an effective adjustment mechanism built into his
stride.
Albert Pujols
2005 NLCS Game 5
Small Timing Adjustment
60 Frames
Per Second
Notice how, in the clip above, Albert Pujols internally
rotates his front leg, points his front knee down, and sits and
pauses on
his front toe for 2 or 3 frames before he drops his front heel. That
allows him to delay the start of his swing, not short-circuit
the Stretch Shortening Cycle, and still hit an off-speed
pitch -- in this case a hanging Brad Lidge slider in Game 5 of
the 2005 NLCS -- hard.
Albert Pujols
Circa 2005
Large Timing Adjustment
60 Frames
Per Second
You can see the same thing in the clip above but to a larger
degree, perhaps because the pitch was a change-up and not a faster
off-speed pitch like a slider. Notice how Albert Pujols
internally rotates his front leg, pauses on his front toe, and
then pauses and holds that position
for 7 or so frames before dropping his front heel and firing his
hips.
Albert Pujols
May 20, 2010
Small Timing Adjustment
60 Frames
Per Second
You can also see the same basic movement pattern in the clip
above, which shows a swing from early 2010. Notice how he holds
on his front toe for a few frames before dropping his heel and firing his hips.
What it Means
In each of these clips, what Albert Pujols is doing is reading the
pitch and holding his hands back until the pitch is close enough
for him to start his swing. He doesn't want to drop his front
heel too soon, because doing that would short-circuit the
Stretch Shortening Cycle and reduce his power.
Once Albert Pujols does decide to swing, he drops
his front heel. That stretches the muscles of his core by
rotating his hips slightly ahead of his shoulders. The muscles
of his hips and core then fire, bringing his shoulders and the
bat around with tremendous force.
Oh, it's Very Nice. Very Romantic.
We Change it All, Though.
I wasn't able to see the Cardinals play during 2011 Spring
Training. However, I did manage to get tickets to the first few
Cardinals games of the season. As I watched those games, I quickly noticed
that Albert Pujols' stride was different.
Albert Pujols
4/2/2011
First Home Run of 2011
60 Frames Per
Second
The clip above shows Albert Pujols' first home run of the
year, hit on April 4, 2011. The thing to pay attention to is his
stride; it is more conventional and is both higher and longer
than his 2005 stride. Also, and more importantly, Albert
Pujols doesn't rotate up onto the toe of his front foot any more
and he doesn't pause on his front toe before launching his
swing.
This wasn't just a
one-time thing. If you look at other clips of Albert Pujols
from April and May of 2011, you will see the same basic stride.
Albert Pujols
May 3, 2011
Ground Out to Second
Base
60 Frames Per
Second
Albert Pujols
May 3, 2011
Fly Out to Right Center
Field Warning Track
60 Frames Per
Second
The thing to notice is the same lack of internal rotation of
the front leg, the height that his front foot gets off the
ground, the lack of a pause on the front toe,
and the immediate planting of his front heel.
What's Going On?
I have seen Albert Pujols use this same basic stride and
leg lift before, but only during home run derbies when he is trying to put on a show and hit the ball out of the park.
As I point out in my overview piece on
Albert Pujols' swing, Albert Pujols is forced to use a
higher leg lift and a longer stride when he's trying to hit home
runs in order to compensate for the reduced velocity -- and
energy -- of batting practice pitches. Albert Pujols' bat speed
is "only" a rather modest 87 MPH and not the 100+
MPH number that some hitters like Prince Fielder put up. As a result, he doesn't
generate as much energy as some higher-bat speed hitters do.
That isn't an issue for Pujols during games because he is a
fastball/hanging slider hitter and gets the energy he needs from
the pitch itself. That allows him to swing slower than many
hitters and enables him to hit for both power and average.
However, during home run derbies the ball isn't coming in as fast (70
MPH vs. 90+ MPH), and so Albert Pujols doesn't have as much
energy to work with. He makes up for that energy deficit by
using a higher leg lift and a longer stride, which enable
him to generate more energy himself.
Like a slow pitch softball player, he's basically just timing
out the pitch and smacking it. This works during batting
practice because there are no change-ups in batting practice. If the BP pitcher
does accidentally throw a change-up and
fools him, it's no big deal.
So What?
What happened during April and May of 2011 is that Albert
Pujols started
using his home run derby swing as his game swing, probably in an
effort to hit more home runs and increase the AAV of his next
contract. That worked
for a few games, but advance scouts, coaches, and pitchers quickly realized that Pujols
wasn't able to adjust to off-speed pitches as well as he used to be able to.
Albert Pujols
May 3, 2011
Ground Out to Second
Base
60 Frames Per
Second
Albert Pujols wasn't able to adjust as well because, by not
internally rotating his front knee and getting up onto the toe
of his front foot, he was no longer able to delay the planting
of his front heel.
Try it out for
yourself.
Set up in an extra-wide,
extra-low stance like Albert Pujols does, with your back hip
well forward -- 12 to 18 inches -- of your back foot. Then pick
up your front foot and try to just hang in the air for a second
or so.
I know I can't do it.
Instead, the wide stance forces you to put your front foot down
pretty much immediately after you pick it up.
Albert Pujols
May 3, 2011
Fly Out to Right Center
Field Warning Track
60 Frames Per
Second
The result is that, if Albert Pujols got an off-speed pitch,
he would be unable to delay the planting of his front heel.
Instead, his front heel would plant too early and he would
have to just sit and wait for a few frames -- bleeding off
energy and reducing the effectiveness of the Stretch Shortening
Cycle with each passing frame -- until it was time to fire his
hips. The result, like the clip above which shows a fly out to
the Right Center Field Warning Track, would be a swing that
wasn't all that it needed to be.
But What About the Fastball?
One of the things that you saw when Pujols was struggling was
that he wasn't able to hit his bread and butter pitch -- the
fastball -- nearly as well. That could be because, in an effort
to improve his ability to handle off-speed pitching, he delayed
the start of his swing. Of course, starting his swing later
would hurt his ability to handle the fastball.
My Dinner with Andres
When the San Francisco Giants were in town from May 30 to
June 2, I had an
after-game meal with
Andres Torres and a conversation about his stride. During
the course of our conversation the topic of Albert Pujols'
stride, how it had changed from 2010 to 2011, and Pujols'
struggles came up.
Andres is a big
fan of Albert Pujols and his swing and knows it almost as well
as I do. We spent some time talking about the changes that
Pujols had made to his stride and how they might be impacting
him. We also talked about how Torres should consider
incorporating some Classic Albert elements into his own stride.
Two days later, I went down to the ballpark to talk to
Andres before the game. While I was down there, Andres told Pujols
about our conversation and the two of them then proceeded to
discuss Pujols' stride.
Back to the Old Ways
Albert Pujols hit his most recent home run on June 19, 2011
and I happened to be at the game with my videocamera.
Albert Pujols
6/19/2011
Line Drive Home Run to Left Field
Corner
60 Frames Per Second
The thing to notice in this clip is that Albert Pujols seems
to have returned to where he started; it looks like he has abandoned the experiment
that he conducted in April and May and is back to using the same stride
that he used in 2005. I don't think it's a coincidence that, in
the last few weeks prior to his injury, Albert Pujols was putting up numbers that were much more
typical for him.
Update 9/12/2011
While Albert Pujols' numbers have improved significantly
relative to the pace he was on in April and May, he has still
struggled to get his batting average above .300. Some of that is
due to the hole he dug himself into, but a large part of the
problem is that Albert Pujols' stride isn't completely
-- or consistently -- back.
Looking at Albert Pujols' at-bats over the past few weeks, I can
see significant variability in his stride.
Albert Pujols
Home Run Derby Stride
Foul Ball
9/2/2011
Sometimes, as in the clip above, Albert Pujols uses his
home run derby stride. Notice how, rather than just rotating up
onto the point of his front toe, his front foot comes completely
up into the air. Other times, as in the clip below, he uses his
classic
stride.
Albert Pujols
Classic Stride
Single to Left Field
9/2/2011
What's worse, Albert Pujols' stride isn't just varying from
game to game. Instead, Albert
Pujols' stride is varying from one swing to the next.
The two clips above show two of Albert Pujols' swings, just two
pitches apart during the
same at-bat.
The result is that Albert Pujols is varying his timing from one
swing to the next and it's harder for him to square up the ball.
For instance, take the ball that Pujols hit late in the game on
Friday night to score two runs against the Braves.
Albert Pujols
Home Run Derby Stride
Single to
Right Field
9/9/2011
While he did get a hit, this may be the ugliest swing that
I've ever seen Pujols put on a ball.
The reason
the swing is so ugly is because he uses what, at first glance, looks like his classic
stride but, in truth, is no better than his batting practice stride.
The problem is that he can't properly time the planting of his front heel.
In this case, because of the height of his stride he can't just
drop his heel and go when he realizes that the pitch is coming
in fast. Instead, his front foot hangs up in the air for too
long and he's late. He was very lucky that the result was a hit
down the line and not a foul
ball.
I'm not sure what's going on or why.
Either Pujols is pressing,
he's
unaware of what he's doing with his stride, and/or he knows his
swing is off and he's trying different things in an effort to
find his swing again. Regardless, it's
still creating problems for him and holding his batting average
down.
I went to the game yesterday and managed to get a good clip of
Pujols' home run to left field.
Albert Pujols
September 23, 2011
Home Run to Left
Field
60 Frames Per
Second
Albert Pujols
May 3, 2011
Fly Out to Right Center
Field Warning Track
60 Frames Per
Second
The interesting thing is to compare the clip of the home run
to my clip of his fly out to the RCF warning track. Both clips
were shot from the same section of the stadium and very clearly
show the difference in Albert Pujols' stride between earlier on
in the year and now. In particular, notice how, in the clip of
the home run, Pujols does his classic stride and just rotates up
onto the point of his front toe before dropping his heel and
launching his swing.
Albert Pujols had one of the best nights of his career last
night, hitting three back to back home runs during Game 3 of the
2011 World Series.
Albert Pujols
October 22, 2011
Home Run to Left
Field Corner
First Home Run
The thing to notice is that, for this swing and all of Albert
Pujols' swings in the game last night, he used his classic
stride. Notice how he keeps the toe of his front foot on the
ground during his entire stride and just internally rotates his
front leg and rotates up onto the toe of his front foot before
dropping his heel and starting his swing.
Future Prospects
Looking at the last few weeks of Albert Pujols' swings, I
don't see any evidence of degradation of his swing or his
batspeed. Now that he has reverted to his old stride, his swing
and his results have reverted to form. I think Albert Pujols'
April and May were the result of a failed, but understandable,
experiment and don't have much, if anything, to say about his
future prospects. I also don't think that Albert Pujols' broken
wrist, which is really a broken forearm, should affect him
significantly as long as he doesn't try to return too quickly.
Stepping in the Bucket?
A timing problem isn't the only difference that you can
see if you compare clips of Albert Pujols from 2010 and 2011.
Albert Pujols
May 20, 2010
Small Timing Adjustment
60 Frames
Per Second
If you compare the clip above of Albert Pujols from 2010 and
the clip below of Albert Pujols from 2011, there is a suggestion
that he is stepping in the bucket; stepping slightly toward
third base rather than directly at the pitcher.
Albert Pujols
May 3, 2011
Ground Out to Second
Base
60 Frames Per
Second
While this difference, if any, is slight, one thing that
stepping in the bucket can do is pull the bat head out of the
strike zone just enough to cause the hitter to hit the ball more
off of the end of the bat than at the sweet spot. Of course, one
problem with having a stride, and one reason why hitters often move to
a no-stride swing, is to deal with a problem with stepping in
the bucket.
Albert Pujols
6/19/2011
Line Drive Home Run to Left Field
Corner
60 Frames Per Second
Notice his stride in the clip above, which shows Albert
Pujols' most recent home run. Instead of stepping
in the bucket (even a few inches), Albert Pujols sets his front
foot down in line with the pitcher. That will improve the
likelihood that he will hit the ball off of the sweet spot of
the bat.
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Notes
[1] Prior to the 2010 season, Matt Holliday worked with Mark McGwire on his
swing. One thing McGwire had Holliday do was change his
stride. The problem was that this ruined Holliday's
timing and adjustability. He had to abandon this change
in order to return to his old form.
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