Today in Bat Flips: Johnny Monell of Puerto Rico

“With mounting intensity” describes the way in which the present author conducts much of his business — and characterizes, specifically, the manner in which that same author has turned his attention of late to the art and science of the bat flip. Recently, we have considered in these electronic pages the contributions to this developing canon of Hiroyuki Nakajima (link), Carlos Ruiz (link), and — owing to yeoman’s work done by Eno Sarris — an instantly regretful Japanese right-hander (link).

Today we consider the following bat flip, by Johnny Monell, from Saturday’s Caribbean Series contest between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Monell, who is also a catcher in the Giants system, has already established his credentials so far as enthusiastic swings are concerned — so it’s not entirely surprising that he would continue his work in this field.

Here we find a GIF of Monell’s home-run swing:

And here, now, a side shot, which manages to capture the decisive moment in Monell’s bat flip, if little else beyond that:

What characterizes Monell’s technique is a combination of (a) the perpetually erect right arm and (b) the theatrical indifference with which he drops the bat, conceding entirely to gravity the exact rate at, and manner with, which the bat will flip.