Ahead of the 2025 MLB season, Baseball Savant, MLB's Statcast data platform and website, released a new set of stats for the public to use related to batting stances. It tracks foot placement of each batter at stance set, at pitch release and at bat-ball intercept, giving rise to an entirely new way to quantify a previously eye-testy part of the game.
Now, it's easier than ever to correlate a player making stance adjustments with improved performance, and with a significant portion of the season in the rearview mirror here in mid-May, it's worth seeing the early returns of players who have come in with adjusted stances compared to last season.
To do that, we looked at stance data from the last two years where players took at least 100 swings. Then, we looked at OPS, using 100 at-bats as a qualifier. There are seven such players entering Wednesday that changed their stance angle by at least five degrees and have seen a season-long OPS improvement of 0.200 or greater compared to their season average from last year.
Here are those players, with all stats updated entering Wednesday.
Note: While this article used stance angle as a constraint, two batters have also achieved .200 OPS improvement or better with changes (defined as three inches or more) in stance width with similar stance angles to 2024: Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman and Chicago Cubs catcher Carson Kelly.
Kyle Stowers, OF, Miami Marlins
- 2024: 192 AB | .208 BA | .268 OBP | .333 SLG | .601 OPS
- 2025: 136 AB | .287 BA | .365 OBP | .507 SLG | .873 OPS
- OPS Improvement: .272 | Stance Change in Degrees (Abs. Value): 14.34
Kyle Stowers made history with the first-ever Marlins Opening Day walk-off hit and hasn't looked back, already hitting five more home runs than last year (increasing from three to eight) in about 50 fewer plate appearances.
Stowers's batted ball map is much more evenly distributed this year than last, largely because he's doubled the rate at which he barrels the ball. Stowers seems to be seeing the ball better in his new stance as well, with a much-improved walk rate in '25.
It’ll be worth watching how well he can maintain these results as he approaches his career high in plate appearances. So far, it looks like more regular opportunities and a new stance are doing him well.
Trent Grisham, OF, New York Yankees
- 2024: 179 AB | .190 BA | .290 OBP | .385 SLG | .675 OPS
- 2025: 123 AB | .294 BA | .374 OBP | .651 SLG | 1.025 OPS
- OPS Improvement: .350 | Stance Change in Degrees (Abs. Value): 8.73
Though there was palpable pain in the Bronx after Juan Soto relocated in New York to the Mets in free agency, Trent Grisham quickly reminded the Yankees they got more than just Soto in their trade with the San Diego Padres.
Often forgotten last year thanks to the strong play of the marquee piece of that trade, Grisham has waited patiently and shown New York he can be a meaningful piece of a contending team. He only played 76 games last year, and the inconsistent opportunity may have hurt his game, but his offense was poor, slashing .190/.290/.385. This year, that has improved to .294/.374/.651. He, Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice have rotated as leadoff hitters, with Grisham slugging .935 as the lead-off man.
While his stance is more open, he's also added some width with over four more inches between his feet than last year. How he holds the bat is a bit different too, with his wrists higher up, closer to his shoulders than chest level.
Spencer Torkelson, 1B, Detroit Tigers
- 2024: 342 AB | .219 BA | .295 OBP | .374 SLG | .669 OPS
- 2025: 154 AB | .240 BA | .344 OBP | .526 SLG | .870 OPS
- OPS Improvement: .201 | Stance Change in Degrees (Abs. Value): 14.34
Torkelson, the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft, seems to finally be finding his groove, and his stance could have a lot to do with it. His .870 OPS is 44% better than the league average, and he's nearly matched his RBI total from all of last year (37) with half as many at-bats.
Last year, Torkelson struggled at the plate in almost every metric but bat speed. He’s maintained his bat speed but with better contact and a higher rate of competitive swings. After using a barely opened 2-degree stance in 2024, he’s opened up with a 16-degree stance this year. He’s noticeably moved back in the box (5.5 inches), too, giving his bat speed a completely new position of power to work from.
Ben Rice, DH, New York Yankees
- 2024: 152 AB | .171 BA | .264 OBP | .349 SLG | .613 OPS
- 2025: 130 AB | .254 BA | .358 OBP | .554 SLG | .911 OPS
- OPS Improvement: .298 | Stance Change in Degrees (Abs. Value): 18.88
In 50 games last season, Rice showed glimmers of what he could be as a hitter, but a dreary end of the season created cause for concern over whether the rookie slugger could keep his offense up in year two.
Rice has snuffed any doubts, showing a clear ability to mash the ball out of the park. He's increased his home-run rate from 3.9% to 6%. When Aaron Boone tried him as a lead-off hitter earlier this season, he had an apt, one-word reason: "Rakes."
Rake he does, with his .900-plus OPS being credited in part due to his adjusted, more open stance this season. Michael Baumann, who wrote extensively about his adjustments for FanGraphs, pointed out some added muscle that is probably helping him increase bat speed as well, but his open setup is giving him some swing power, too. He's limited the actual distance between his feet, but angled himself differently.
Javier Báez, CF, Detroit Tigers
- 2024: 272 AB | .184 BA | .221 OBP | .294 SLG | .516 OPS
- 2025: 119 AB | .319 BA | .357 OBP | .513 SLG | .870 OPS
- OPS Improvement: .354 | Stance Change in Degrees (Abs. Value): 22.50
The Tigers are one of just two teams (Yankees) that have more than one player on this list. Báez is one of the biggest shocks of the season, with many assuming he would never regain the fire at the plate he displayed in the late 2010s.
There is some bad news Tigers fans should be aware of: Many of the other advanced metrics show Báez might be a strong beneficiary of good luck. His batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is .398, ranking seventh among 190 hitters with at least 120 plate appearances, and his expected batting average is just .247.
But we're not here to talk about what might happen, we're here to talk about what has happened.
Báez and his stance changes are an anomaly from most of the others on this list: He closed his stance this year, from 33 degrees in 2024 to just 10 degrees this year. That has led to a much shorter step for his lead foot, which may be helping him get his swing cadence down better than in past seasons. His intercept point (where the bat meets the ball) is now double the distance where it was last year relative to the pitcher, which would support the idea his timing is better.
Báez may be the most interesting player on this list to keep an eye on and see how well the improvements stick. Even if he can't keep this level of play up, an average Báez could do wonders for Detroit's offense.
Victor Scott II, CF, St. Louis Cardinals
- 2024: 145 AB | .179 BA | .219 OBP | .283 SLG | .502 OPS
- 2025: 143 AB | .288 BA | .355 OBP | .400 SLG | .755 OPS
- OPS Improvement: .253 | Stance Change in Degrees (Abs. Value): 32.59
Like Rice, Scott is a second-year player on this list who was called up late in the 2024 season and had a tough end to the year. He’s fortunately looked much better in his sophomore campaign.
Last season Scott used an open stance, but his lead foot pointed toward the back of the plate. This year, he's even more open, but he’s kept his lead foot closer to parallel with his back foot while also narrowing his stance altogether.
Like Báez, batted-ball metrics indicate Scott may getting a bit lucky with an abnormally high .378 BABIP. Perhaps that's in part due to his increased ability to take the ball the opposite way this year with a narrower stance (13.3% last year, 21.3% in 2025).
Jorge Polanco, DH, Seattle Mariners
- 2024: 417 AB | .213 BA | .296 OBP | .355 SLG | .651 OPS
- 2025: 105 AB | .324 BA | .368 OBP | .667 SLG | 1.035 OPS
- OPS Improvement: .384 | Stance Change in Degrees (Abs. Value): 33.57
As a switch hitter, Jorge Polanco has to consider his setup and execution more than anyone on this list.
One of the changes Polanco has made this season is stance consistency: He's keeping it similar regardless of if he's batting left- or right-handed. In '24, the distance between his feet was about three inches narrower when batting lefty. This year, the difference is just an inch.
He also changed his stance to be more closed off on both sides, with a 37-degree and 19-degree stance (left/right) last year compared to a 13-degree and 4-degree stance (left/right) this year. In '24 he had the seventh-most open stance in baseball among qualified hitters. This year, he has also batted on the right side at a far lesser rate, 12% this year compared to 27% in '24, as the Mariners have limited his appearances against left-handed pitchers.
FanGraphs’ Davy Andrews also noted Polanco's hand placement moving up. MLB Network’s Mark DeRosa added some color about how a more closed-off stance can improve overall consistency with the lead foot landing, an especially important element for a switch-hitter.
Jorge Polanco recorded all 5 RBI for the Mariners in their 5-3 win over the Angels yesterday!@markdero7 takes a look at Polanco's scorching hot start and the adjustments he has made closing off his stance more this season.#MLBCentral | #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/out9zvLa9h
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) April 30, 2025
The results are far better than even during his lone All-Star season in 2019. Perhaps he’ll make his second All-Star appearance this July in Atlanta.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Seven MLB Hitters Who Are Raking With Reinvented Batting Stances.