Critique her swing too :)

I also filmed my DD hitting off the tee (posted pitching vids a minute ago). She loves hitting practice, and also knows that if her coach plays 9 her best bet for not sitting is to hit well. I have admittedly not studied hitting nearly as much as pitching and even on pitching I still feel lost more often than not. Suggestions? TIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo-iXngulJM

Please?

show her how to hit a golf ball or go the other route and read the dbsf thread

The issue that jumps out at me first is the DBSF (drop the barrel and swing flat) pattern. This is a VERY common swing pattern for young players, and goes right along with common rec ball hitting cues like "swing level". With this pattern typically comes bat drag and swinging the bat around the body with the arms. Although some players are able to generate pretty good bat speed, and hit the ball far when they connect, it's a long pattern that will struggle badly against fast pitching.

Instead of dropping the hands and leveling the bat behind her, we want to see the hands remain up by the shoulder, the bat launched in a diagonal plane to contact, using her hands at the center of rotation for the bat, and working out from the rear shoulder.

Note - This is not a complete "diagnosis", just what jumped out at me first.

EDIT: She looks athletic and fast. I see a lot of potential.

Start by setting up the tee a bit deeper. It looks too far in front of her right now. How does her swing look against live pitching? How old is she?

Thanks guys. She's 9. In 8u she was a power hitter. Usually clean up or lead off depending on how the other girls were doing on any given day. We were weak B at best so she looked awesome in comparison.

We just moved up this fall to kid pitch. She definitely struggled at first. She struck out looking a lot, waiting on that perfect pitch. The hubs took her to the cage and launched balls at her at 65 mph with the pitching machine and it was a big confidence boost. In addition we stressed we'd rather her strike out swinging than just standing there. Her last tournament she hit great. The pitching was slower though, I'm sure that was part of it.

Off to read more on hitting now...

bullethead said:

show her how to hit a golf ball or go the other route and read the dbsf thread

Click to expand...

I'll check out the thread. I have no idea how to hit a golf ball though my husband does. My kids get all their athleticism from him. I have very little.

grcsftbll said:

Thanks guys. She's 9. In 8u she was a power hitter. Usually clean up or lead off depending on how the other girls were doing on any given day. We were weak B at best so she looked awesome in comparison.

We just moved up this fall to kid pitch. She definitely struggled at first. She struck out looking a lot, waiting on that perfect pitch. The hubs took her to the cage and launched balls at her at 65 mph with the pitching machine and it was a big confidence boost. In addition we stressed we'd rather her strike out swinging than just standing there. Her last tournament she hit great. The pitching was slower though, I'm sure that was part of it.

Off to read more on hitting now...

Click to expand...

To be honest, for a 9 year old, I think she is doing pretty well. There are a number of things in her swing that I like, and I would be worried that too much tinkering could eliminate the good. I would start by introducing this drill and asking her to "feel" what her hands and wrists are doing to make the bat turn like that.



Then, moving onto the bold above.... Help her learn the mentality of "yes, yes, yes, no!". Basically she wants to approach every pitch with the assumption that she is going to swing. Then, instead of choosing between "swing" and "don't swing", her only decision will be "don't swing". If she doesn't choose that option, she is firing away. Good luck!

Added: and notice the tee placement in the drill.

Thanks, FP. It looks like the tee is about in line with the front foot? He looks like a samurai kind of. Very cool.

grcsftbll said:

Thanks, FP. It looks like the tee is about in line with the front foot? He looks like a samurai kind of. Very cool.

Click to expand...

Ironically, I call it the "samurai drill". Lol! Not sure what the true name is. And yes, roughly in line with the front foot.