Jake Bauers is Swinging Flatter and Faster, With a Shorter Stride That Generates Longer Hits

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

Brewers first baseman and outfielder Jake Bauers is batting .253/.359/.456 this year, and even better than that in May. Although his role remains something closer to platoon DH and bench bat than full-time regular, Bauers has been indispensable. The Brewers' offense is sputtering, but without Bauers, it would be downright anemic. Surprisingly, though, it's not just that Bauers has been good this year. It's also that he's made a significant adjustment in May, to get even more dangerous at the plate.

By now, we all know that Bauers has one of the fastest bats on the Brewers—indeed, in the league. His average bat speed was 73.8 miles per hour last season, and had already ticked up early this year. There were two problems, though. First, he was swinging and missing too much to get the most out of that power. Secondly (and more subtly), though, he was also fouling off too many pitches within the strike zone. Whiffing is always and obviously bad, but fouling off hittable pitches puts one behind in counts and leads to strikeouts almost as reliably as does swinging and missing. Last year, 48.2% of Bauers's in-zone swings resulted in foul balls.

To fully leverage his swing speed, therefore, Bauers had to find an adjustment that would let him get to the ball on time and convert more of his swings into balls in play. That's what he's doing. He's actually whiffing at almost an identical rate on pitches in the zone this year, but he's putting the ball in play on 41.8% of his in-zone swings, up from 31.0% in 2024. How? Well, mostly, by changing the plane of his swing.

In April, Bauers was still swinging more or less the way he did in 2024. His average swing tilt last year was 36°, much steeper than the league average of 32°. This season, it started the same way. In May, though, he's made a major change, flattening his swing to an average tilt of 33°. As he's changed his posture to accommodate that tweak, he's been able to battle gravity less on his way through the hitting zone, which has increased his swing speed. That number is up to over 75 mph this month.

The whole thing starts with a more spread-out stance and a shorter stride. Here's how Bauers set up in the box and strode into the ball in March and April.

As you can also see there, he was going out and getting the ball more than ever with that swing. That led to some good things, but also to some problems. This month, though, he's changed his whole address of the ball.

You can see the way he ends up in the same position with his front foot, but has carried it less distance in his stride, because he was setting up with his feet spread farther apart in the first place. That's keeping him more upright at contact, especially on pitches in the middle or top third of the zone. Here are side-by-side looks at him at the contact point on two middle-middle pitches—one in April and one in the middle of this month.

Already, you can see the change in bat angle. But in the visualizations above, you can also see that his contact point has moved much deeper and farther from Bauers, on average. He's paired his change in bat path and stride with one in how long he lets the ball travel and where he tries to meet it;. That's helped him make solid contact on some breaking and offspeed stuff that, as recently as last month, he would have either whiffed on or fouled off. Here he is on two offspeed offerings at the bottom of the zone—one from April and one from May.

The change in bat path is less pronounced at the bottom reaches of the zone. More obviously, look how he's stayed back long enough to catch the ball on the right flush. A deeper contact point means a better chance of barreling up such pitches.

Both pitches in the righthand halves of those side-by-sides resulted in well-struck hits. Both came on the same day against the Guardians, but Bauers has found more consistent, forward contact within the zone throughout this month. This change to his bat path makes him a bit more prone to cutting underneath the ball or getting on top of it, but importantly, that deeper contact point works to counteract the flatter path. He's in a position to make better swing decisions, and he's done so. His production has ticked up, and his process is much more sustainable. His whiff rate was 25.5% within the zone last month, but it's all the way down to 16.9% this month. His exit velocity on in-zone batted balls is up from 90.1 mph last month to 91.1 in May.

Strikeouts are still a huge, looming problem for Bauers. He's drawing more walks this year, though, and the adjustment to his bat path has begotten power that should play more consistently. Unless and until the team's more established sluggers get locked in, Bauers will be an important part of the offense—and that's less daunting a notion now than it was even 30 days ago.

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[Playing Catch]

This was interesting. Thank you.