Cut4 Roundtable: What would your walk-up song be?

Welcome to the Cut4 Roundtable, in which our staff confronts the same question about baseball, sports, pop culture, or some combination of all of it. Today's topic: what we would choose for our walk-up songs if we were MLB players.

Have any ideas of your own? Leave them in the comments!

Molly Fitzpatrick: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "Bad Reputation"

I'm continually amazed that this song isn't used by every player, all of the time, because it is the best. Though "Bad Reputation" was featured in the opening of one of my favorite TV shows, Freaks and Geeks, UFC champion Ronda Rousey is the only pro athlete I know of to select it as entrance music.

For one thing, any semiotics nerd should appreciate the ironic implications of "Bad Reputation" as walk-up music. It's a song about not caring about one's public representation, specifically chosen to be one's form of public representation.

But more importantly, in even the craziest of my me-in-the-Majors daydreams -- whether via a Just One of the Guys-style deception or A League of Their Own gone mainstream -- I'm somehow still a lady. I'm going to lean in with Joan Jett, the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll herself, a defiant emblem of female badassery.

Dan Wohl: Sleigh Bells, "Kids"

The first question I need to ask myself is, what kind of ideas do I want to get across when it's time for a Dan Wohl at bat? Clearly concepts like talent, excitement and raw destructive power are relevant. But how best to convey them through the first 20 seconds or so of a walk-up song?

Well, I am a big metal fan. I'm tempted to make a selection like Judas Priest's "The Hellion" or The Sword's "How Heavy This Axe" which deliver a sense of sheer might in their opening strains. But the truth is, this genre is pretty well-worn territory in the walk-up song arena.

And I think I could help carve out more of niche for myself as a player than that. For as long as this fantasy lasts, I'm imagining myself as the type of hitter who was beloved by the hip, blogging, sabermetrics-friendly crowd. And I'd want that connect that to the hip, blogging, music crowd.

Which is why I'd choose Sleigh Bells' "Kids." It has that indie summer festival vibe but it's also noisy, in-your-face and chaotic in a controlled way. Just like an at bat from my favorite player, Dan Wohl.

Dakota Gardner: James Paige, "Pokémon Theme"

If I were a hitter, my goal would not simply be to become "one of the greats." I would never strive to be "a once in a generation ballplayer." I would want to be the best. The very best. Like no one ever was.

For people my age, this is not just a great song -- it is a perfect song. The haunting piano chords over the apocalyptic intro. The soaring vocals in perfect call-and-response with the thunderous guitar riff. This is not simply a song, but a battle cry.

Some walk-up songs are meant to intimidate, some to pump up. That is not why I would choose this song. This would be my song because it is, quite possibly, the only musical construction grand enough to showcase my tremendous (albeit fictitious) baseball gravitas. I want people to hear it and think, "oh, here comes the greatest baseball player -- nay, athlete -- of all time."

My worry in choosing this song is not that it might be too anachronistic; not that I might grow tired of it or that I should be made fun of for it. I have but one worry, and one worry alone: That I should not live up to the awesome grandeur and halting immensity of its promise, for that would be the only fate worse than a strikeout.

Matt Monagan: Cypress Hill, "Rap Superstar"

Who did Matt Monagan want to be as a young parochial school kid growing up in Waterbury (aka Da Dirty Water), Conn.? The boy wanted to be a rap superstar, of course. He wanted to live large. You know, a big house ... five cars.

And let's be honest, who hasn't dreamed of living this kind of life? Maybe it's not a rap superstar, perhaps it's a rock superstar. Or it could just be someone who makes ridiculous amounts of money. Either way, no matter how content you are, there has to have been a moment when you've fantasized about winning the lottery and rollin' in the Benjamins.

So my walk-up song is for all you dreamers out there. Cypress Hill's "Rap Superstar" gives you that feeling of what it's like to be on top of the world. It's real, it's humbling and it'll get the stadium rollicking with B-Real's mesmerizing xylophone beat.

Hopefully I can hit a home run for you. If not, I'll move back to Waterbury and eat away my lofty aspirations until I forget what they were.

How do these walkup songs sound to you? Is there one you've always thought about going with if you were in MLB? Let us know in the comments!