Rowand’s Batting Stance is an Offensive Spectacle

Q:  What do Aaron Rowand’s batting stance and Tim Duncan’s freethrowing have in common?

A:  They are both among the most akward things to watch in the entire wide world of sports.

I was enjoying McCovey Chronicles’ latest Giant’s player projection today (for Aaron Rowand), and as I repeatedly said “amen, brother” to Grant’s analysis (this Giants blog is playing checkers, btw, while McCovey Chronicles is playing chess) I shuddered to think about another season of watching Rowand “dig in” at the plate.  I can remember the first time my wife saw him on TV last season and asked me what was wrong with him.  For a guy who digs in that hard and very literally looks like he’s attempting to defecate while standing up (I have a seven month old baby, so I know the look), you’d think he could hit the ball a mile.  Instead it’s just ugly an ineffective.

Somebody needs to pull Rowand aside and say look, can you think of a single great baseball player that does what you are doing in the box?  No?  Ok, so cut that out, because it’s painful to watch. Same with Duncan – how could a player who is otherwise so athletic possibly think that such a rigid posture and process at the freethrow line will lead to success.  It just doesn’t make any sense.

View Tvan415's Profile      Subscribe via RSS