My DD's team uses a similar drill with 4 stations progressively closer to the machine. Once the hitter reaches station 4 (closest to the machine), they start working back to station 1. The focus of the drill is to tune up their launch/swing quickness on the way forward, and then maintain the same quickness as they move back. Many of the kids on this team had issues with hitting poorly off slow pitching. Invariably, the issue was that they would let their hands drift slowly forward as they were reading the pitch, and lose the stretch/resistance in their body, leaving only their hands and arms to weakly hit the ball. This drill has helped significantly in getting them to understand about timing the ball (sitting on a slow pitch) without leaking their load. We have seen improved results in games since including this drill.
Help with my 10yr old
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My DD's team uses a similar drill with 4 stations progressively closer to the machine. Once the hitter reaches station 4 (closest to the machine), they start working back to station 1. The focus of the drill is to tune up their launch/swing quickness on the way forward, and then maintain the same quickness as they move back. Many of the kids on this team had issues with hitting poorly off slow pitching. Invariably, the issue was that they would let their hands drift slowly forward as they were reading the pitch, and lose the stretch/resistance in their body, leaving only their hands and arms to weakly hit the ball. This drill has helped significantly in getting them to understand about timing the ball (sitting on a slow pitch) without leaking their load. We have seen improved results in games since including this drill.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
Are you having the kids swing at pitches 10ft away from a pitching machine throwing 50mph?
I am very sincere when I say this ... it's a bad drill.
- Feb 7, 2013
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I think you missed my main point which is many kids can hit fast pitching in the cages since the speed is constant and in the same location every time. We did this drill, purely for the fun of it. When the girls were 10-15 feet away they would have to be in a fully loaded launch position before the pitch left the machine. I agree that its not a very useful drill if you are working on swing mechanics, more fun than anything else.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
Bold 'red' above ... exactly.
Regarding your bolded portion (in 'black') ... I find the excuse of the pitching machine pitching a constant speed as not well thought out. When you use the pitching machine at 10ft with the same 50mph setting, it still will be 'constant'. What you've changed is the hitter's distance from the machine ... something that isn't realistic to what a hitter will experience in a game.
Why not simply keep the kid at the same normal pitching distance and change the speed dial on the pitching machine?
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As I said, our drill is similar. it's not identical. It's similar in the sense of stepping increasingly closer to the machine. The speed we use isn't that fast, and that's intentional. At the stations furthest from the machine, we want them to have to wait on the pitch - wait as long as they can before they launch the barrel.
If you don't like it, don't use it. I'm seeing the effectiveness of the drill manifest on the field with young hitters who struggled with the concept of waiting on slow pitching. For my DD's team, the drill is doing what it is intended to do.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
You avoided the specific distances.
The prior poster had hitters working at a reaction speed equivalent to facing 215mph pitching. After a bit a probing they acknowledged that the drill was not for swing development but simply for fun.
No problem with having some 'fun'. Let's not fool folks into thinking that such a drill, of facing equivalent 215mph hitting, is more than just that.
There are a number of details I left out of my description because they don't really matter to the overall concept. If someone wishes to do a similar drill to what I described, the speed and distance should be tailored for the group they are working with.
Again, if you don't like it, don't use it. For my DD's team, it has been effective for addressing a specific issue.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
I believe your intent in posting is to be helpful.
When you advocate such a drill, without providing the specific details that were requested, you risk folks copying the drill in a manner that will do more harm to their players than good.
Let me provide some example details.
When I use a pitching machine I generally set it at the 64mph setting. Accounting for frictional losses this equates to the machine throwing 60mph (measured with a radar gun).
I have my hitters approximately 37ft from the release of the pitching machine. The reduced distance from 43ft is meant to account for a pitchers stride forward.
Moving the hitter forward 3ft, to 34ft away from the machine, changes the effective pitching speed to 60mph*(37ft/34ft) = 65.3mph.
Moving forward another 2ft, to 32ft away from the machine, changes the effective pitching speed to 60mph*(37ft/32ft) = 69.4mph.
Moving back from the original 37ft distance by 3ft changes the pitching distance to 40ft with an effective pitching speed of 60mph*(37ft/40ft) = 55.5mph.
Basically … a simple 3ft variation is all that is needed to see a change from 55.5mph to 65.3mph for my particular setup.
What I often see when folks perform such a drill is that they grossly overdo the variation that a hitter will see in real game-like situations. These same coaches are not observant to the breakdown in their hitters mechanics as they perform such a drill. They haven’t thought the drill through enough to know the equivalent speeds they are inducing and they aren’t paying attention to the breakdown in their mechanics.
If you must do this drill … use realistic distances. As shown in the example above, +/- 3ft was enough to simulate +/-5mph speed differences. Adding just more 2ft to the already 3ft forward position was enough to increase the effective pitching speed by ~10mph.
The specifics I didn't include are mostly related to the unique physical conditions/limitations of the space we use for this drill, and aren't material to the concept of the exercise.
Your information regarding distances and effective pitching speeds is likely to be very helpful for those interested in doing something similar.
Your information regarding distances and effective pitching speeds is likely to be very helpful for those interested in doing something similar.
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
The pitching machines in the cages I frequent have dials on them to change the pitch speed.
For many people, simply changing the dial on the machine would be the wiser option. They would avoid the ridiculous induced effective pitch speeds (+200mph) and the associated breakdown in mechanics.
A 'drill' I'll sometimes perform is to ladder the pitch speed 'up' in a series of increments, as well as 'down' in a series of increments. I find the dial on the pitching machine comes in pretty handy for such a drill.
For many people, simply changing the dial on the machine would be the wiser option. They would avoid the ridiculous induced effective pitch speeds (+200mph) and the associated breakdown in mechanics.
A 'drill' I'll sometimes perform is to ladder the pitch speed 'up' in a series of increments, as well as 'down' in a series of increments. I find the dial on the pitching machine comes in pretty handy for such a drill.
