As we approach the end of the NL West and the NL itself, the Rockies were the team I covered yesterday. Following up on Colorado, we now get to the San Diego Padres home run swings. I think you might be surprised by how many players I cover from the Padres, but they have quite a bit of pop on their team and it comes in various forms. There are legacy picks, up-and-coming players and in-their-prime stars among the selections. Let’s get to it, starting with Manny Machado.
San Diego Padres Home Run Swings
Manny Machado
Grade: A+
Analysis: Manny Machado gets the A+ here even if maybe I could nitpick the slightest little bit. I think he could leave the bat a little more on his shoulder during the setup, and maybe fall a little more over home plate on the follow through, but really this re-creation is spot on. He has a minor leg kick, and from there swings the bat through the zone while dropping his back leg a bit. The follow through is a relatively standard one where the right arm pulls in to the body as he fully extends the left arm with the bat to stare at his damage.
With the celebration, it’s absolutely perfect. Machado kisses his hand, then does a sign of the cross, then kisses the hand again and points to the sky. Nothing to improve here and nothing to change.
Fernando Tatis Jr.
Grade: C+
Analysis: With Tatis Jr., it’s just a bunch of small things that add up to take a little away from the swing. In a broad sense, Tatis Jr. needs to look a little more rigid and straight up on his swing and follow through. There’s not much rotation on his swing, instead he generates bat speed from his incredible hands (think someone like Andrew McCutchen). On the setup, his hand placement needs to be moved a little more behind his head. His stance needs to be slightly more open, and then the leg kick closes him down but the lead foot still never points towards the field even after the follow through. Instead, you see his back leg give way and fall out behind him on the follow through. He also doesn’t point the right hand towards the field, instead pulling it in for just a moment before dropping it to his side. Lastly, his follow through does not extend as far behind his back, instead going more out to the side.
Eric Hosmer
Grade: C-
Analysis: Hosmer has had his struggles in San Diego, but he plays every day and did get back above 20 home runs last year. His swing needs to be loosened up a little in The Show. His hands needs to be pulled away from his body, he needs to bend his knees more, he needs a much bigger leg kick, and the stance needs to be opened up a little as well. With the swing, the lean back Hosmer has is spiritually correct, but everything around it is off a little. Hosmer really torques up on his front foot with the follow through, and he really pulls the bat behind himself before then bringing the bat back to neutral to lean back and stare at his destruction for a moment.
With the celebration, The Show has the punch to the chest but does not have Hosmer popping the jersey as he did all of last year. So it’s half credit here as well.
Wil Myers
Grade: B+
Analysis: Wil Myers has a straightforward stance and swing. The Show needs to adjust hand placement to pull them a little more to the earholes on his helmet. Then on the swing, again keeping the knees from bending much would be another slight tweak to make. Lastly, if you watch the back foot, Myers does not really turn it, instead it slides forward a bit but still stays perpendicular to the swing itself.
Tommy Pham
Grade: A
Analysis: Tommy Pham really shrinks himself down to get set for his swing, and that’s mimicked well here. The only real issue comes with the follow through where he swings the bat up and over his shoulder while the real Pham more whips the bat around his back. Both versions of Pham quickly get out of the box though, and that’s very true to real life as Pham doesn’t generally stare at his home runs.
Brian Dozier
Grade: B+
Analysis: Dozier is only on a minor-league deal as of now, but he’s a mainstay in The Show, so I felt the need to include him as a little bonus. With Dozier, while I doubt he will ever get a change now in the game now since he’s nearing the end of his career, he could lean back a little more in his setup and swing. You can see how that really pays off on the swing itself in real life when the back leg drops and the knee bends as he pulls his whole body under the ball to launch it. In The Show, that’s not shown nearly enough as Dozier is more straight up and more straightens the back leg rather than dipping it.
The Padres traded some of their power last year so this list could have been even longer, but I think I covered everyone who deserved a spot here. Tomorrow we get a double dose of switch hitters as we head to Arizona.
