[Baltimore Sun] Orioles’ Jordan Westburg adopted Gunnar Henderson-inspired stance to fuel breakout season
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ANAHEIM, Calif. — When Jordan Westburg sat down this offseason to review film on his batting stance, he noticed two issues that needed fixing.
The first was his “bat wiggle.” Westburg moved his bat back and forth behind his back shoulder during opposing pitchers’ windups, staying loose — too loose. He also felt he was crouched too low; by standing up straighter, Westburg hoped to better attack the top of the strike zone.
In looking for examples to study, he didn’t have to go far.
“Gunnar Henderson, I’m not going to lie,” Westburg said of who inspired his new stance. “I had a conversation with [co-hitting coach] Ryan Fuller this offseason, just like, he was checking on me. I sent him some video and I was trying to blend Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson almost. I was a little crouched out, wider. … Gunnar is tall, super athletic in his stance but a little bit more tight with his hands and I liked that.”
With his Henderson-esque stance, Westburg has jumped out to a Henderson-esque start. He’s batting .316 with a .595 slugging percentage that ranks ninth in the majors. The Orioles’ third baseman hasn’t just picked up where he left off last season, when he played a part-time role as a utility infielder down the stretch; he’s getting his barrel on the baseball more often and doing even greater damage when he does.
By eliminating his bat wiggle, Westburg has put himself in better position to react quickly to pitches, especially those with high velocity. As a result, he’s more than doubled his barrel rate from 6.5% in 2023 to 13.6% this season. The taller stance expands his reach within the strike zone and creates a flatter swing path, making it easier to hit the ball with more authority. His average exit velocity is 93.6 mph, up 3.4 mph over last year.
“I’m just allowing myself to have a flatter swing but naturally have good leverage on the ball,” Henderson said of why he stands tall in his own stance. “So, I feel like there’s really no need for me to get too far in my legs. I already had that leverage so, yeah, just really trying to hone in on that and then just stay in my legs and not get too far in them.”
The Orioles’ Jordan Westburg celebrates scoring off a sacrifice fly by Gunnar Henderson during the fifth inning Tuesday night in Anaheim, Calif. (Ryan Sun/AP)
When utilizing a flat swing path, hitting the target results in a line drive. If he misses the ball underneath but gets enough of it, he hits a home run. Though Westburg’s average launch angle hasn’t changed much, he has seen a significant jump in balls hit right back up the middle.
After pulling most balls to the left side (40.7%) last season, Westburg is now hitting more to straightaway center (44.1%) than any other direction. Two of his five home runs have been hit to the opposite field as well.
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“That’s his swing signature in a way and that’s where he loves to go,” Fuller said. “So, it’s kind of control the fastball to right-center field and if it’s something a little bit slower, a breaking ball, keep hitting through like we saw at Fenway Park [on April 10]. Even though that was a fastball, but really oriented to right-center field with that fastball, keeping a swing path in that direction and then if he gets anything that he needs to turn through, just continue with that bat path through.
“But it’s really nice to see and be able to do that. For young players, that’s a good sign.”
Westburg’s power, a tool that shined as a prospect, hasn’t yet developed at the expense of strikeouts, an area of concern early in his professional career. In fact, Westburg has trimmed his strikeout rate by 4.4% year over year. His swing-and-miss rate does remain high, which suggests that once pitchers start throwing him more breaking balls — he’s crushed fastballs so far — the strikeouts might begin to creep up again.
However, he’s already shown he knows how to study his own film and make adjustments.
“I never know what’s going to come,” Westburg said. “I can just prepare as best as I possibly can and I trust that I’m doing that every single day and I’m getting some good pitches to hit and I’m hitting them hard and they’re leaving the yard. That’s kind of all I can control.
“Or, I guess I can’t even control them leaving the yard. I can just control trying to hit them.”
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