The past week saw the exciting end to the regular season, as well as a chaotic start to the expanded playoffs. In the first weekend, we were graced with one of the best bat flips of the season, and that was just the start. With days jam-packed with hours of baseball, we’ve seen numerous high leverage moments already with more on the horizon. Before we get to the last week of bat flips, however, I’ve decided to make this Week 10 roundup solely dedicated to the last games of the regular season, and to include any playoff home runs from this week (including Wild Card games) in next week’s edition in a special playoff feature. So for example, Jesús Aguilar’s missile off of Jeremy Jeffress from Wednesday may be included in next week’s roundup rather than this week, in order to group the playoff home runs together. Got it? Great. That’s enough yapping from me. Let’s get to deciding the four best bat flips of Week 10!
4. Rougned Odor vs. Chase De Jong
https://gfycat.com/selfishdishonestafricanelephant
9/27 – HOU @ TEX
388ft, 107.9 mph, 24° launch angle
After gaining notoriety for his dustups with bat-flip godfather José Bautista over the years, Rougned Odor has also become infamous for his flippant bat drops after crushing the baseball. This bomb off of Houston’s Chase De Jong was a goner off the bat, and Odor looked almost disappointed in the pitcher as he let his bat slip from his grasp at the end of his backswing.
Style: 8
Rotation: 0°
Tired Relatability: 8
3. Trent Grisham vs. Sam Coonrod
https://gfycat.com/fancyrightgiantschnauzer
9/25 – SF @ SD
375ft, 100.1 mph, 30° launch angle
After taking home the top spot on last week’s best bat flips list for his merciless flip against Clayton Kershaw, Padres breakout Trent Grisham has continued his reign of terror over NL West pitching. His latest victim was San Francisco’s Sam Coonrod, whom he saddled with a rare seventh inning walk-off home run in his own ballpark. After bringing the Giants one step closer to their eventual playoff race elimination, Grisham flicked his bat off to the side, getting some good rotation too. Coonrod refused to field questions from the media after the blown game.
Style: 8
Rotation: 180°
Adding Insult to Injury: 8
2. Ronald Acuña Jr. vs. Chris Mazza
https://gfycat.com/sandyafraidkingbird
9/25 – BOS @ ATL
495ft, 112.9 mph, 32° launch angle
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit one of the most thrilling home runs of the shortened season on Friday when he absolutely annihilated this ball from Boston’s Chris Mazza. His blast was easily one of the longest of the season, a tape-measure shot clocking in at just under 500 feet. Seriously, if he hit this ball any harder, it would have knocked a satellite out of the sky. Which, on second thought, is a very 2020 thing to have happen. After taking an appropriate amount of time to admire the damage, Acuña spun his bat towards the dugout with a graceful flourish. Knowing Acuña, there will plenty more moments like these to come if Atlanta can advance out of the wild card round this week.
Style: 9
Rotation: 540°
Swagger: 9
1. Willson Contreras vs. Dylan Cease
https://gfycat.com/narrowhighlevelconey
9/25 – CHC @ CWS
377ft, 104.4 mph, 26° launch angle
Sometimes, you have to save the best for last. That’s exactly what Cubs catcher Willson Contreras did on Friday night, when he launched a skyscraping bat flip to cap off a successful Cubs regular season journey. He hit this clutch home run off of White Sox starter Dylan Cease to extend his team’s lead early, and so he was appropriately hyped about his big swing. The White Sox, however, took issue with Contreras (because having fun is wrong), and Contreras was thrown at later in the game in retaliation. Still, they can’t damper what was an awe-inspiring home run and flip, and one of the most impressive all season.
Style: 10
Rotation: 1440°
Height: 10
That will wrap it up for the best bat flips of Week 10! The end of the regular season has now come to a close, and it’s onto the postseason! As always, let me know if you think I missed any good flips from this week or if you disagree with the rankings (I know you don’t). See you next week for the playoffs!
Photo Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Michael Packard (@designsbypack on Twitter & IG)