Baseball/Softball: Which is Better: A Long Or Short Batting Stride?

Pat Aitken

Batters who take a long stride as they swing usually feel it produces greater power because of the extra weight shift.

A Long Stride Drops the Batter’s Eyes, Making it Harder to Track the Ball

But is this really the case?

In fact, a short stride produces greater power and has several other advantages.

Short Stride Advantages

• A short stride produces greater power because it keeps the batter's center of gravity close to the back foot, allowing the hips to rotate faster during the swing. Hip and torso rotation produce most of the power in the baseball swing.

• Taking a short stride lowers the batter's center of gravity less. Less up-and- down movement during the swing produces more consistent batting results.

• The smaller range of motion in a shorter stride means less chance of variation in movement, which also produces better consistency.

Reference: Jerry Kindall (Editor), Science of Coaching Baseball, Human Kinetics Publishers, 1992.