Trevor Larnach Made a Swing Change This Year. Was it the Right One?

[Sherry Cerny]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Let’s talk about hitting. The Twins' hitting has been exceptional lately. There has been more patience at the plate, a lot of “small ball” that has put games in the 'W' column and the timely long ball. Everyone has been making adjustments at the plate, after the dismal start to the season in which making weak contact and leaving guys on base was the norm. 

Amid a recent uptick in offensive momentum, one of the most noticeable sparks has come from Trevor Larnach, whose subtle yet strategic adjustment to his swing has started paying dividends at the plate. While the change may have flown under the radar at first, its impact is becoming increasingly clear—both in Larnach's individual performance and in the boost it’s giving the team’s overall production.

Between the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Trevor Larnach made a deliberate adjustment to his swing that’s paying off in a big way—specifically, in his attack angle, one of the new metrics offered by Baseball Savant. Larnach has flattened his bat path and altered his timing. His swing tilt has gone from 40° in both 2023 and 2024 (one of the steeper swings in the league) to 36°, which means that his bat is coming through the zone closer to horizontal. That's helped him bring down his whiff rate on high pitches, where a flat swing is necessary to get to the ball. (His 2024 whiff rates by location are on the left; 2025 is on the right.)

He's also tweaked his attack angle (the vertical angle, relative to the ground, of the bat barrel at contact), bringing it down from 11° to 7°. This has to do both with his swing change and an approach adjustment, to use the whole field. 

In 2024, Larnach’s average attack angle hovered around 11°. That allowed him to make much more consistent contact than in the past, without sacrificing power. He had a peculiar but successful slugging profile, but it seems that power isn’t his concern anymore, as much as is creating space between himself and the front of the plate, trying to cover the outside part.

In previous seasons, Larnach’s more pronounced uppercut swing often left him vulnerable to pitches away; the steeper angle meant his bat covered more vertical space but less horizontal ground through the hitting zone.

Heading into 2025, he’s worked to lower that attack angle into the 7-8° range, optimizing his contact for more direct output. He's paired a flatter swing with timing that shows a greater willingness to risk being late and to hit the ball hard the other way when he's right. You can see this in how he addresses the ball, physically, at contact.

In 2024, on his followthrough, he held his right wrist at a sharper angle, trying to maintain control of the barrel and working it uphill through the ball. This season, he has flattened out the wrist to slightly square up on the ball. The change hasn’t just improved his contact rate (albeit slightly), but he’s second on the team in home runs (7) next to Byron Buxton.

Larnach is still hitting the ball hard (though less hard than last year); he is making contact; and he's getting on base. So what is the problem? Or, is there a problem? 

Looking at his projections, what’s happening on the field is different than what has been expected. Along with his attack angle dropping, so has his bat speed and his exit velocity. He is coming at the ball a little more directly, so there could be an argument that when he does cut under the pitch, there is less power, and now his ground balls have less chance of sneaking through while his flies tend to go to the big part of the park.

This is not to say his production isn’t good, because he is one of the best producers on the team, but if one wanted to get picky about it, as he works through the new swing, and gets more comfortable with the angle, he could potentially generate hard line drives to left and power from center around to right, without the automatic outs on grounders to second. That might just require more time, to work on timing.

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[thelanges5]

Keep the sweet swing and get that man a first baseman’s mitt. 

[LambchoP]

I think Larnach has been hitting great, even against lefties. I also would like to see him learn first base. Aside from maybe catcher, first base is this organizations most shallow position. They're going to have to teach someone the position. Larnach, Mccusker, maybe Keaschal?

[bean5302]

Larnach has been far better lately, but his swing is too flat right now which is eating into his power production.

He's never had what I would call an "upper cut" swing which typically results in a lot of home runs, though he got close to it in 2023. The most profound adjustment Larnach has made was last year to cut down on his enormous K rate. His walk rate dropped by 30%, too, but he just wasn't an MLB caliber player while he was striking out 35% of the time.

I'm not sure how things will finally pan out for him. He's got very little defensive versatility with a mediocre arm and poor speed so the bat will have to carry him. I do think calls to move him to 1B are a fairly good idea, and at 1B, his bat might be "good enough."

[Doctor Gast]

Larnach has been one of the top producers for the Twins. He has markedly reduced his launch angle & exit velo has dropped. All that means is this, he just got lucky, right??

[NYCTK]

37 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Larnach has been one of the top producers for the Twins. He has markedly reduced his launch angle & exit velo has dropped. All that means is this, he just got lucky, right??

Who has claimed that? 

[chpettit19]

2 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Who has claimed that? 

People who don't actually understand expected stats and then ignore being corrected on this very point multiple times so continue to announce to the internet that they don't understand what they're talking about.

[Schmoeman5]

48 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

People who don't actually understand expected stats and then ignore being corrected on this very point multiple times so continue to announce to the internet that they don't understand what they're talking about.

There's a lot of that on Twins daily

[Riverbrian]

I continue to count on Trevor Larnach and have enjoyed watching his bat heat up. I don't know anything about swing adjustments. I'd imagine that he's working hard at it and if is paying off... good for him and me as a fan. 

I toast to his continued health.

Larnach stepping up to a level that I think he's capable of stepping up to would be a huge boost to this franchise. 

 

[JD-TWINS]

7 hours ago, LambchoP said:

I think Larnach has been hitting great, even against lefties. I also would like to see him learn first base. Aside from maybe catcher, first base is this organizations most shallow position. They're going to have to teach someone the position. Larnach, Mccusker, maybe Keaschal?

One guy (Larnach) has been around for 5-6 years and they’re not making any move to get him into a slot at 1B - not happening. McCusker has the body type but the whole organization is aware they don’t have an acceptable 1B option - he doesn’t seem likely either.

Keaschall or Lewis both play in the dirt and they both hit………one of those two needs to be there in Soring if ‘26! ……Keaschall, maybe in August?