Alright, let me share something I messed around with a while back. It involves baseball, specifically a player named Ariel de la Cruz. I don’t even remember exactly where I first saw him, maybe some minor league highlights or winter ball clips floating around online.
What caught my attention was his batting stance. It looked pretty distinct, kinda coiled up, seemed like he could generate a lot of power from it. You know how it is when you play a bit yourself, even just for fun – you see something cool and think, “Hey, maybe I should try that.” So, that’s exactly what I decided to do. Try and copy his stance.
Getting Started: The Observation Phase
First thing I did was hunt down more video. I spent a good hour or so just watching clips of him hitting. Paused it, rewound it, watched it in slow motion. I was really trying to break down the mechanics:
- How did he place his feet?
- Where were his hands starting?
- What was his trigger mechanism, the little movement before the swing?
- How did he shift his weight?
I took some mental notes, maybe scribbled a few things down on a piece of paper. Just trying to get a feel for the whole sequence.
Putting it into Practice: The Awkward Phase
Then came the actual doing part. I grabbed my old wooden bat – yeah, I still have one – and went down to the local park where there’s a backstop. Nobody else was really around, which was good because I probably looked ridiculous.
I tried setting up like I thought he did. Feet wider than my usual stance, maybe a bit more bend in the knees. Tried holding the bat high, near my back shoulder, mimicking his hand position. It felt incredibly weird. Just standing there felt off-balance.
Then I took a few practice swings. Oh boy. It was bad. My timing was all over the place. The swing path felt forced and unnatural. I wasn’t generating any power; mostly just hitting imaginary weak ground balls. It felt like my body was fighting itself. My usual comfortable rhythm was completely gone.
I kept trying for maybe half an hour that first day. Took some breaks, watched a clip on my phone again, tried adjusting. Maybe my hands weren’t quite right? Maybe my weight shift was too early? It was frustrating because what looked smooth on video felt like wrestling a bear in reality.
Adjustments and Reality Check
I went back a couple more times over the next week. I realized trying to copy everything at once was probably dumb. So, I focused on just one part – the initial setup, the foot placement. Tried to get comfortable with just that part first. It helped a little, made it feel slightly less alien.
But honestly, I never really got it right. My body just isn’t built the same way, my natural timing is different. Trying to force myself into his specific mold just wasn’t working for me. It was like trying to wear shoes that were two sizes too small.
What I Took Away From It
So, did I end up hitting like Ariel de la Cruz? Absolutely not. Not even close. But the whole exercise wasn’t a total waste.
What it did do was make me way more aware of my own batting stance and swing. By trying something so different, I started noticing things about my usual approach that I hadn’t paid attention to before. Where do I usually put my feet? How do I start my swing?
In the end, I went back to my old stance, but maybe with a tiny tweak here or there inspired by the experiment – perhaps standing a fraction wider, I don’t know. The main thing was understanding that copying someone else exactly often doesn’t work. But the process of trying, of analyzing and experimenting, that’s where the real learning happens. It was a fun little project, even if the result wasn’t what I initially aimed for. Just part of messing around and figuring things out, you know?
