Baseball is a game of adjustments. Players may be dominant at one level because of sheer talent, but at some point, as they go up the minor league ladder, pitchers will find holes in hitters’ swings. This is when they either adjust and adapt, or they get stuck and fail.
Cleveland Guardians outfield prospect Jace LaViolette, taken in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft and recently promoted to Double-A, has had to make adjustments in order to make contact more consistently this season. He has game-changing power, but he also has a huge strikeout problem.
So, the organization believed a slight mechanical change in his stance would help, which was recently explained by Justin Lada.
“Jace LaViolette homered tonight. You can see the difference between where he is tonight (8/21/26 – left) and back in May on the right. Pretty clear Cleveland has him standing/staying taller in the box. Less downward movement on the front leg from the back. Will it work? Time will tell,” Lada said, with a picture of both stances.
Jace LaViolette homered tonight. You can see the difference between where he is tonight (8/21/26 – left) and back in May on the right.
Pretty clear Cleveland has him standing/staying taller in the box. Less downward movement on front leg from back
Will it work? Time will tell pic.twitter.com/mzU4c0t1Y1
— Justin L. (jlbaseball on bluesky) (@JL_Baseball) August 22, 2026
You can see the change by comparing the two photos. He seems a little more closed off in his stance, which could help him stay on the ball and earn better results.
LaViolette is currently on a nice run. On Friday, his solo homer gave Akron the lead in the seventh inning. He is hitting .364 with a .462 OBP and two home runs in his past three games, with four RBIs, two walks, and a stolen base.
This season, he has 21 home runs, with 19 in High-A and two in Double-A. Unfortunately, he also has a 37.7 percent strikeout rate between the two levels. MLB teams don’t usually give players with such an extreme strikeout problem too much prominence, so a player sharing time between High-A and Double-A who is going down on strikes that often is viewed with considerable skepticism.
LaViolette is talented, and he could certainly hit 35 homers and steal 20 bases one day at the MLB level. But it won’t happen unless he can cut down the strikeouts, so these adjustments might help him reach his lofty ceiling.
Only time will tell if that’s the case.
NEXT: Guardians' New Hitter Is Facing An Uncertain Future
