Ohio governor hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has deleted a video of himself swinging a baseball bat at a batting cage after he was mocked online for his form.
In a clip he posted — and then deleted from — Instagram, Ramaswamy lists 10 things he says he's going to do for Ohio if he's elected governor. Each one of his promises accompanies him swinging his bat and hitting a baseball.
What many drew attention to online is Ramaswamy's swing. Critics said he appears to stand away from the plate rather than choking up on his bat and swinging full armed, like he's trying to stay as far from the ball as possible.
CNN senior politics reporter Andrew Kaczynski shared the video on social media with the comment "Vivek Ramaswamy has an Instagram video at batting cages and presenting the swing without comment."
Though Ramaswamy meant for the video to be a way for him to show off his policy priorities, it ended up attracting trolling online.
One commenter was so off-put by his swing that they called for mandatory sports in schools to prevent children from similar embarrassment.
"We should all really force our children to play some kind of sport. This is embarrassing. Not saying it has to look like an MLB-level swing, but i mean jfc his swing looks like he’s never even held a club/bat/stick in his life," the user wrote.
Another critic employed some Trumpian language stylings while expressing their disdain for Ramaswamy's swing.
"One can reasonably assume those 5 swings are the BEST cuts Vivek took during his photo op at the batting cage. SAD!" they wrote.
Ohio politics news account Plunderbund noted that it was the "second time in a week his staff has exhibited zero sports awareness," referencing claims that that Ramaswamy allegedly bought a knock-off Ohio State Buckeyes jersey to pose in for a campaign photo.
The Independent has requested comment from Ramaswamy’s campaign.
Outside of his baseball video, Ramaswamy's race is tight with his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, the former Director of Ohio's Department of Health. She led the state's health response through the pandemic.
Recent polling shows Acton and Ramaswamy are close — with a June survey from the New York Times putting them neck and neck, June polls from AARP and Fox News placing Acton slightly ahead, and a Bowling Green State University poll from April placing Ramaswamy just over Acton — while two prediction markets show Acton with a small edge.
The GOP hopeful previously posted a similar video in which he hits a tennis ball and explains his policy positions between swings, which was not met with nearly the derision his baseball video generated.
"Ramaswamy is a very solid tennis player, and this ad would have worked perfectly well with him hitting tennis shots," The Wisdom of Crowds author James Surowiecki wrote in response to the baseball video. "But I guess they assumed tennis would look too fancy, so instead they had him swing a bat, even though he does it like an uncoordinated 6-yr-old."
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