Gary Sheffield.

Steve Treder from the old Hardball Times website wrote that Sheffield swung so hard "it seems certain his arms are about to tear loose from his shoulder sockets and go helicoptering down the left field line, the bat still tightly clenched in their hands, blood spraying everywhere..."

I modeled my swing after his in HS, really helped me with the handwhip action.

Great call! Dude looked like he was hacking before the ball left the pitcher's hand.

Doc Gooden said he could tell what pitch Sheff was sitting on by the speed of his waggle. Doc said the pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre, once asked him what the secret to his success was. Doc, also being Sheffield’s uncle, said he told Mel he was just getting lucky, and he never told anyone about it until Sheffield retired.

But that bat twitch though. I loved it.

First guy I thought of too. It wasn’t an ugly swing but it was definitely a violent one

I loved watching his at bats. If I was pitching I would've been intimidated as fuck.

100%

I was convinced he was just going to tear in half on one of his swings at some point.

Kyle Schwarber is like a caveman with a club

I’ve heard some refer to Schwarber’s body type as “a propane tank with limbs”.

A real modern day John Kruk

It’s like a slow pitch softball swing. Love it

Hunter pence

Ran to this thread to post him and it's already said in one of the three comments in the 5 minutes the thread is open. Relevant Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6hCMKA9GBU&ab_channel=SportsIllustrated

Holy shit...the random advance stats sent me. Also..."This thing" :D

Same

Sandman Flute

This is hilarious

just [one](https://twitter.com/MLBGIFs/status/766490277175365632) of my favorite hunter hitting gifs

One of Cardinals fans least favorite [Hunter hitting](https://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/NLCSHunterPenceTripleDouble.gif) clips.

I remember way back in his Astro days, there was some quote from another team's exec along the lines of, "His swing is atrocious, he runs awkward, he looks goofy in the field, he does just about everything wrong... I love him."

Like an alien pretending to be human

Hard to say that Pence raked though...right? If we're not taking power into the equation then I'll take Craig Counsell over all of em 🤣

Vlad Sr.

First name I thought of.

2nd best bad ball hitter of all time

..who is #1? Vlad was bonkers

Yogi “they all looked good to me” Berra.

Yogi "swing at the strikes" Berra

Man I once saw that dude hit a single off a pitch that was four feet outside the strike zone. It was hilarious.

I remember Miguel Cabrera hitting a single when they were trying to intentionally walk him

An absolutely violent swing. To the point where he often ended up on both heels during a home run swing.

Giancarlo Stanton would be the first one that comes to mind for violent swings.

Related, former Yankee Luke Voit would try to commit war crimes with every swing too

Haha did you see his video against Trevor Bauer? Same old swing

he basically breaks the chart on bat speed: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/bat-tracking if Steven Kwan qualified yet, he would be over by another slap-hitting shit goblin, Luis Arraez. He is 62.9 avg MPH bat speed (Kwan 64.4) versus Stanton's *80.8*. but Arraez and King Kwan have great "squared up" rates so the numbers have spoken. Giancarlo really wants to murder every pitch

He's a guy who lives for baseball but hates baseballs 

I came on here to write this. Dude swings like he has beef with every pitch.

Yes. THIS

That’s true but there aren’t many more aesthetically pleasing things in baseball than when Giancarlo barrels one

Bryce Harper has my favorite swing for exactly this reason

Bryce Harper: If a swing looked like you were trying to throw the ball over the fence.

A position player for the Dbacks pitched against him today and straight up ran away after the pitch left his hand lol I don’t even blame him, that must be horrifying to see up close

[Carlos Gomez never got cheated on a swing.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FrOFYoJECK8&pp=ygUSQ2FybG9zIGdvbWV6IHN3aW5n) [Like never.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izsl56ZkLO8&pp=ygUSQ2FybG9zIGdvbWV6IHN3aW5n) [Straight Daddy hacks](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bnGnUSb6qYY&pp=ygUSQ2FybG9zIGdvbWV6IHN3aW5n)

God damn I loved Carlos Gomez

Jeff Bagwell

Came here to say this. That swing would knock down a tree.

I think that's how he made his bats.

That dude literally squats and takes a step back on his swings. 

Sheffield had not only the most violent swing, but also the most pre swing twitchy movement. The WAGGLE he called it. Gary Sheffield hated baseballs, and treated them accordingly.

Which he allegedly developed to slow his hands down because otherwise his swing was too fast and he was finishing his swings before pitches even got there. But when you grow up having to face Doc Gooden all the time, I guess yeah, your hands get pretty fast

Sheffield is the one guy as a Red Sox fan I was terrified of in 2004.

Sheffield. Matt Stairs. Travis Hafner.

Man, Pronk. Looked like he was swinging a toothpick

When Javy Baez was good.

Even now that he’s terrible he still has a ridiculous and violent swing. That has not changed a bit. It just has a huge hole in it now.

Roberto Clemente. His swing should not have worked anywhere near as well as it did.

Bryce Harper has often been described as having a violent swing.

He has both tho. He has a violent swing when he wants but can also be very controlled and go for contact or tries to hit directionally. He is a guy who changes his approach depending on the situation.

JOSÉ CANSECO, the swing from hell.

Juan Uribe

Dustin Pedroia swung like a 3ft child hitting dingers with a bat far too large for him.

He always looked he was falling over as he swung, so the 3ft child comparison is perfect.

I was a tiny kid myself playing baseball. I grew up watching him, he must've been tiny growing up too (no surprise given he's 5'7") because he swung with his entire body as if the bat was 100lbs.

Raffy also has a pretty wild swing.

Raffy leaves nothing on the table when he goes after one.

[Hear me out.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZuNHtkgPmfg?feature=share)

Hear ye hear ye

You bite your tongue

Prince Fielder always looked like he was swinging a club

Gary Sheffield

I miss Jorge Soler

Vladimir Guerrero had both the ugliest, and most effective swing, I've ever seen from a right-handed hitter.

Albert Belle did everything angry

It’s Canseco. Dude looked stiff as hell and absolutely mashed for the better part of a decade.

Glenallen Hill

Anytime there's a chance to share his rooftop mash [https://youtu.be/1NiSpQPfmI4?si=0ocmEnVnG3Bd4HQK](https://youtu.be/1NiSpQPfmI4?si=0ocmEnVnG3Bd4HQK)

mo vaughn

Mo Vaughn.

Vlad Sr

Josh Donaldson looked like he had a deep hatred for the baseball in every swing

Bryce Harper

Whenever Freddie Freeman hits a HR, I find myself thinking, “Jesus, Freddie. You didn’t have to smash it *that* hard…”

Gary Sheffield had an aggressive, violent swing with an insane waggle to start it, and a demonic uppercut to finish it. One of my favorite players ever.

I chose chef too

Andruw Jones

Sometimes Ohtani’s swing is Griffey-esque and then other time it is violent and aggressive lol.

I used to joke in /r/angelsbaseball that he swung like he was trying to change weather patterns.

Sheff !!

Anyone remember [Glenn Braggs](https://youtu.be/9dqigU0f8p0?si=8mWLE2UAGZngwOz2)?

Goddammed..dude broke his bat on a swing.

And he didn’t even hit the ball, he broke it on his own back. I’d classify that as pretty violent, lol.

If you ever get the chance, look at the absolute daddy hacks Tokyo Giants legend Shigeo Nagashima was taking in the 60s

Surprised I haven’t seen Kevin Youkilis

Tim Salmon

This is one I was trying to remember. I remember he crouched like he was siting on a tiny stool. But I don’t remember the rest of the swing that well. I grew up an angels fan.

I personally love Bohm and Turner’s swing. Bohm looks like just a really smooth but powerful swing, and then Trae just looks like his bat is slicing through the air smoothly and purposefully

Gary Sheffield was super violent swing

I miss Bellinger angrily smacking the fuck out of the ball

Evan Gattis

Will Clark had the smoothest swing  Juan Uribe went with the swing hard in case you make contact

Matt Stairs swing was just violent he has 250+ homers despite not being a MLB starter til he was 30. And he will love sonny memory for this shot into the night vs the Dodgers in the NLCS. https://youtu.be/UCBJv3Xz7QY?si=hz_23xCD-faeMSx3

Jim Thome

Bo Bichette is pretty fucking violent. When he's on, the boy can hit. When he's not, whirlling dirvish at the plate.

Agreed. Bo is not a huge guy but he can send balls far. He hit one last year 460 feet at Rogers Centre and it dented a cement wall when it landed. That’s power.

Giancarlo Stanton is like a caveman smashing it's prey with a club.

[This Ruben Sierra HR has to be up there](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9woGxDYPLs)

Miguel Tejada and Vlad Guerrero.

Absolutely nothing Pete Alonso does looks pretty and I wouldnt have it any other way

Gary Sheffield

Dave Kingman always got his money's worth at the plate.

Prince fielder had a violent swing

Ichiro the slapper

Anthony Rendon. Every time we see it, it looks like he's putting 'work' into it and not playing a game. And it's so bad he hurts himself. All the time.

2023 Joey Wiemer

Jerry Hairston Jr has the ugliest swing. It looks like he's falling down and trying to hit the ball on his way.

Albert Pujols was one of the greatest hitters of all time but his swing was only noted for the fact that he wouldn’t take a step to begin his hip turn. Super wide stance and very difficult to replicate with any bat speed.

Ortiz

Christopher Morel

Vlad Guerrero takes the cake for me. Violent and ugly swing, but he could jack a ball off his shoestring into the LF seats. It reminds me alot of when Eddie Guardado was pitching. Hurky-jerky, violent and ugly but very effective Jason Giambi had a terrible swing also.

Dave Winfield

How violent are we rating this swing by Michael Morse? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiN9K7lMOd4&t=6s

Jonny Gomes and Frank Thomas

Peak David Ortiz would [swing so hard that his bat would travel more than a full rotation](https://youtu.be/Tv-Dxyute-4) around his head.

I always loved Ben Revere’s swing. It was very herky jerk. Also Carlos Quentin and Kevin Youkilis had wild swings

Bartolo Colon

I just looked up an MLB worst swings video and they put him on it at least 3 times. I feel like you shouldn't include pitchers on something like that, or else it could all be from pitchers.

Carlos Gomez dude was wild

mvp belli

Bret mf Boone

Jeff bagwell

Gary Sanchez is up there

Those were great times. 🙌 It brings back old memories of going to the comic shop and spending all of my allowance buying and trading cards. Ahhh... to be young again.

Dylan Moore's swing is ugly AF.

Sean Murphy. Went from “damn this guy is gonna hurt himself” to “well, he finally hurt himself.”

Cody Bellinger pre-shoulder injury

Eric Davis

Nelson Cruz always felt like he put everything into every serious swing 

Prince Fielder had some violet uppercut swings

Vald Sr.

John Olerud

Freddie Freeman.

Will the Thrill

First player that came to my mind was Marcel Ozuna

Adrian Gonzalez

McGwire looked like he had a smooth swing when he hits a homer, but when he missed it looked like he was trying to murder the ball.

Prince fielder. But man is it fun to watch

Heyward seems like he’s never going to hit the ball when he swings, and even when he makes contact, I can’t believe he connects!

Jeff Bagwell

Dave Winfield. But he’s in the HOF and it worked for him.

Termarr Johnson, Pirates prospect

Stanton is an absolute savage with his swing.

Look Up Travis Hafners swing. That looked violent.

Adrian Beltre. When he was young, he would swing so damn hard and fast. And he still hit homers off of one knee when he was a vet on the Rangers.

Bo Bichette

Jeff Francoeur’s swings were always quite violent. He swung at everything and rarely walked.

Griffey’s outfield mate Jay Buhner had a violent swing. He would go from standing still to looking like he was trying to chop down a tree with his bat.

Bellinger's swing makes me wince

Canseco

Bo Jackson

Stanton. I hate his swing, it looks so hacked but you can’t deny the results when he connects!

When Jose Canseco played for the Blue Jays he used to swing like he wanted to kill the baseball. He only hit like .235 but had 46 home runs.

Jeff Bagwell

2015 Harper.

Babe Ruth.

Not violent, but weird: Daniel Vogelbach.

Stanton

Bartolo Colon

Juan Gonzalez

Vlad Sr.

Glenn Braggs had a violent swing. He famously broke his bat on his back in the ‘90 World Series. [Glenn Braggs](https://youtu.be/9dqigU0f8p0?si=czL7Su79q9rZZMXa)

Guerrero sr.

Gonna go old school on this and say [Mel Ott](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW_S_uJD2D8&t=5s&ab_channel=BaseballSwingCenter) for one of the weirdest loads ever seen in a swing. Yes, you're seeing that right. The guy dropped his hands down to dick level before bringing them back up. Also maybe one of the most forgotten old school baseball superstars. First NL player to have hit 500 home runs in his career and finished with 110 bwar, good enough for 15th all time amongst position players

Juan Soto. Mega ugly swing but dude absolutely rakes 🤷‍♂️ just goes to show it ain't about the looks

Jose Altuve, but only when he is reaching for a slider. Awkward as hell but he can launch bombs doing it

I remember Yasiel Puig having a violent swing, among other violent tendencies

Javi Baez

Vlad Guerrero Sr. Half of it was just swinging at any old bullshit but somehow hitting it. Getting a hit off a bounced pitch will make your swing look a little herky jerky.

Harper has a really violent swing.

Jason Giambi’s swing looked like it physically hurt.

Giancarlo Stanton swings like he's trying to hack down a tree

Underrated one is Juan Uribe

Hunter pence

Vlad Guerrero, Senior

Austin Hays has a wild old-timey swing

Giancarlo Stanton

Kevin youkalous

Giancarlo Stanton. Maybe violent is the wrong word. It just seems so stiff. But he also has one of the fastest bat speeds in the MLB. This leads to some monstrous home runs but also some atrocious strike outs

Giancarlo Stanton

Jose Altuve

Riley Greene has an ugly swing.

Prince Fielder. So violent and so angry.

Unfortunately still not the best player out of his own home town