Beckham downplays batting-stance talk

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Gordon Beckham looked just a bit more upright in his batting stance during two at-bats Friday in the White Sox 5-0, Cactus League-opening loss against the Dodgers.

If the White Sox second baseman makes any further tweaks to his stance, though, it won't end up becoming a matter of public record.

"I'm not even going to start talking about stance and stuff," Beckham said. "I don't want to have to answer 50 different things of why I've done this or done that.

"The stance is what it is. I feel comfortable in what I am. The [crouched] stance last year, it allowed me to get on my legs and reminded me to get on my legs, so that feel is something you don't have to have by just squatting. You can actually get that feel even if you are more up and down."

After hitting 16 homers with 24 doubles in 2012, Beckham's power dipped in 2013 to five homers and 22 doubles. Part of that change stemmed from April surgery to remove a fractured hamate bone in his left hand, which means he couldn't do upper-body weightlifting for two months.

There also was a second wrist injury after the All-Star break and a strained right quadriceps that hampered him for the final six weeks. Beckham actually believes that being so low in his stance led to the quad injury, which contributed to him not trying to drive the ball as much.

"So, I can't try to do that every year," Beckham said. "In 2012, I showed that I could hit the ball out of the ballpark with a little bit of regularity. I think that it's important for me.

"I'm not going to swipe 50 bags. I can swipe more than I have. I need to hit for a little bit of power. Get on base and hit for a little bit of power to kind of complete my game. Something I'm not looking to do, but if I have the right swing and approach, like I did in the past, the ball will go out of the yard for me."