Need help with what I think is "casting"

DD has a tendency to throw hands out in front in first part of swing, and then has to pull them back in to make contact. She said it's called casting. I don't think this is something she has always done, but it is a glaring issue these last few weeks. What drills can she work on to fix this? I thought that tee drills with hitting ball with fob of bat would help but she says that isn't working. We have hitting practice tonight, so I know she will want to work hard on this.

Because of this, pitchers love to jam her.

maksoftball said:

I thought that tee drills with hitting ball with fob of bat would help but she says that isn't working.

Click to expand...

What is fob of bat?

CoogansBluff said:

What is fob of bat?

Click to expand...

Knob?????????????

Why I like the whip hit. It will id this right away as a swing flaw. bouldersdad uses it will all hitting students.

maksoftball said:

I thought that tee drills with hitting ball with fob of bat would help ...

Click to expand...

If you mean 'knob' of the bat, then some would argue that this drill will cause casting, not prevent it. ... You don't want to bring knob or hands to the ball. You want to maintain bent arms to contact.



People have different remedies for casting. One idea is to have her hit off a tee. Place the ball down the middle of the plate at her front foot (where it lands after weigh shift). She should be able to hit that up the middle, although casters often will pull a ball in that position. If she pulls it, work with her to drive it up the middle using inside-out swing that keeps arms bent to contact and hands closer to body. If she can hit it up the middle, move the ball (tee) deeper in the strike zone (toward the catcher). Have her drive that up the middle. Or have her hit it to RF using inside-out swing. Hitters who cast have a difficult time doing those things.

Always place ball in tee like this. Hit the seams closer to the hitter.
View attachment 4106

Agree with SBFAMILY, whip hit will frustrate casters as well as those with poor extension. It's a great tool.

rdbass reminds me of what Michael Bastian did with a ball . Cut the two sides off above so you just have the center of a softball pitching machine ball. It will just fit on a T without falling off. Now hit it off the T. You will get interesting results. All our balls we use have a X marked as the sweet spot of the ball as a taget to hit.

I take a softball and place it on the tee with the rail road tracks, narrow part of the seam, with the rail road tracks running right and left. The hitter aims for the space between the rail road tracks. I also place the rail road tracks up and down on the tee and have the hitter aim for the inside seam a good reference for keeping the hands inside the ball.

CoogansBluff said:

You don't want to bring knob or hands to the ball. You want to maintain bent arms to contact.

Click to expand...

Driving the knob or driving the hands to the ball is the very opposite of casting and is what the whip hit bat was designed for. Arms extend at contact to generate pop

The reason some explain to a hitter to drive the knob in a straight path to the ball is so that they are not rotating the bat and sweeping. The vision clicks for some.

No drills will help until the batter understands what the path their hands need to take and why and then what that feels like by simply popping a ball off a Tee while being sure that other parts of the mechanics are not be alterd to focus on hand path