Addison Barnard 2022 vs 2023

[1972Shocker]

2022 Addison:

Home Run Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=752498999568272

Photo at setup: https://www.instagram.com/p/CoLCEh7OZib/

2023 Addison:

So far I am not finding any vidoe of Addsion's at bats in 2023. Here is the best still photo I have found of her at setup. I am sure there will be some video available at some point.

[Stickboy46]

There has been a definite change in her stance. Last year her barrel was nearly pointing back at the pitcher. Definitely an odd stance, but you can't argue with the results. This year it's much closer to pointing to the dugout or base line.

[1972Shocker]

There has been a definite change in her stance. Last year her barrel was nearly pointing back at the pitcher. Definitely an odd stance, but you can't argue with the results. This year it's much closer to pointing to the dugout or base line.

I guess the question is who, if anyone, thouht this was the way for her to go and why? Obviously, you would not mess with the extreme success that Addison had her 1st 2 years without a good reason. So there has to be a good reason this was implemented.

Is it a big deal? May be to early to tell but the Shocks have played 13 games and that represents 24.5% of the Shocks 53 game regular season schedule. At her current pace and assuming all 53 games are played Addison would end up with 8 home runs and 20 runs batted in during the regular season. Last year Addison had 31 home runs and 77 runs batted in over a 47-game regular season schedule.

While I am sure teams are trying to be very careful with Addison she still has good protection behind her, despite Neleigh Herring graduating, with Lulu, Zoe and Lolo in the 3,4 and 5 spots. And while the pitchers may be trying to be careful with her, she is walking at a lower rate than she did last year. So far her strikeouts per game at 0.23 are way down from her .73 srirkeouts per game last year. Perhaps reducing her strikeouts was what they were after when they changed her setup. I do thing, that the Shocks will, on average face tougher pitchers over the next 40 games then they have seen so far.

It is possible that it will take a half of season for Addison to adjust to her new setup and perhaps once she does she will be better than ever. That would be the optimistic take anyway.

[ShockTalk]

Watching the video, I'm just not sure why anyone would want to mess with her "swing of success". Is it different? Sure. But it WORKS!

There's a lot of great baseball hitters that had unusual stances or mannerisms much more pronounced than Addison's.

Pujols, Carew, Suzuki, Bagwell, Stargell, Musial immediately come to mind. You fix what doesn't work.

[barry1305]

Looked like Addi hurt her left shoulder during a swing today. Not sure how serious. Possibly could be the reason for the adjustment to her swing mechanics. Not sure if she may have hurt it in the fall and they adjusted causing the change in mechanics. Hope she is okay though

[1972Shocker]

An injury might make the most sense for making a change, especially IF her previous swing mechanics contributed to the injury. Hopefully, the opposite isn't true regarding the cause of the injury. It's also very possible the injury has nothing to do with the change in the swing mechanics. Unfortunately, all we have is evidence that her swing mechanics have changed. Everything else is speculation at this point.

[1972Shocker]

RH: "She Had to Find Her Groove"

https://goshockers.com/news/2023/4/3/the-roundhouse-rh-she-had-to-find-her-groove.aspx

No. 23 Wichita State defeated USF 3-2 on Sunday to sweep a series against the team picked third in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll. Barnard, a junior left fielder, homered in all three wins and went 5 for 8 with three walks to produce seven runs and four batted in.

Entering the weekend, Barnard was hitting .348 with seven home runs, which are great numbers for almost everyone. Barnard hit 22 and 33 home runs in her first two seasons, so she spent this season first six weeks searching for something closer to her previous standard.

"This season, there's been a lot of ups and downs for me, in and outside of softball," Barnard said. "I've been up and down and not really feeling like myself."

On Friday, Barnard decided to return to a previous technique at the plate by starting with the bat pulled around her head in a more pronounced method. That change, she said, gives her more speed and power with the bat.

"I looked at my swing and said, 'I'm going to go back to what I know,'" she said. "As soon as we started batting practice on Friday, something felt like it clicked. This weekend, I felt like myself."

---

So, I wasn't crazy. But the question remains whose idea was it to mess with Addison's approach? Anyway, hopefully, she is back on track and will finish the season strong.

[flyingMoose]

So, I wasn't crazy. But the question remains whose idea was it to mess with Addison's approach? Anyway, hopefully, she is back on track and will finish the season strong.

Oops! Asked the same question (kinda) in another thread.

[1972Shocker]

Oops! Asked the same question (kinda) in another thread.

They say great minds think alike. Although, on our case, some say not so great minds think alike as well.

I can understand the temptation because Addison'd setup and swing is a bit unorthodox and far from what you would describe as a thing of beauty. But the results were magnificent. I'm not sure we will ever get the story on this but there may be more to it than we know.

Also, there are other factors at play as well. Opposing pitchers are being very careful with her this year for sure.