Early Notable Batting Stance Changes (2026 Fantasy Baseball)

Corbin Young examines batting stance widths, ideal attack angles, and more to identify notable hitters with batting stance changes in 2026.

Jordan Walker made significant batting stance changes in 2026, which led us to dig deeper into some of the swing and stance metrics. We’ll look at several hitters who made changes to their batting stances or ideal attack angles.

Batting Stance Changes in 2026

Narrower Batting Stances

Jordan Walker led us to digging into hitter stances because he looked different at the plate. With the new swing and batting metrics via Baseball Savant, we can find nuances to hitter stances, attack angles, swing paths, and more.

Here’s a look at the hitters with a narrower stance in 2026.

Jordan Walker, OF, Cardinals

Walker narrowed his stance by nearly seven inches in 2026, with a significant uptick in his ideal attack angle percentage, indicating the percentage of swings within 5-20 degrees or the ideal attack angles. Bat speed has never been an issue for Walker since he typically posted elite numbers. Besides Walker’s different stance, he showed a career-low chase rate (25.3%) and a career-high zone swing rate (75.4%), suggesting a more selective approach in 2026.

The visual below shows Walker’s rolling bat speed distribution.

Besides Walker, Nick Castellanos, Jordan Lawlar, Andrew McCutchen, Nolan Schanuel, and Eli White had narrower stances and a significantly higher ideal attack angle in 2026. Unfortunately, Lawlar suffered a wrist injury and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks on the injured list. Castellanos, McCutchen, and White might have limited value in potential platoon roles.

Nolan Schanuel, 1B, Angels

Nolan Schanuel had been sneakily hitting the ball harder with a 67.5 mph bat speed in 2025 (+2.3 mph) and 68.1 mph in 2026. I had a bold prediction about Schanuel hitting 20+ home runs, which feels like a lukewarm one, though he hasn’t hit 20 in his minor league or collegiate career.

Schanuel continued to pull the ball more, with a 41-42% pull rate while seeing a career-high in bat speed in 2026. That aligns with Schanuel increasing his ideal attack angle by six degrees in 2026 compared to 2025. There’s a chance Schanuel hits 20+ home runs in 2026, given the potential to compile the counting stats.

Wider Batting Stances

Hitters with a wider batting stance while showing an increase in ideal attack angle are Willi Castro, Elly De La Cruz, David Fry, Heriberto Hernández, Iván Herrera, Kyle Isbel, Oswald Peraza, Fernando Tatis Jr., Alek Thomas, and Matt Wallner. Like any leaderboard, there’s a mix of notable players and noisy ones.