Open Stance?

I have a player (really good kid) who crushes the ball when doing stretch n fires and stretch n fires 45's, as soon as, she squares, shes dips the back shoulder and then collapses on her front side. She is struggling in games. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Her swing also looks decent when we do the "matrix" Its only when doing front toss or live pitching.

I don't know why (well I do, because it looks different) a kid won't just hit in a 45 snf when they struggle. Or as an adjustment with 2 strikes or anytime they need to shorten up. I think I have said it to my kid a 100 times, still won't do it.

A majority of times when girls with good swings have a break down of mechanics in games it is timing. 1st not starting slow and early with the gather/coil..."moving with the pitcher". 2nd, not having a mental thought of hitting and starting on every single pitch then checking the swing. The body goes into a panic mode swing if timing is thrown off.

redhotcoach said:

I don't know why (well I do, because it looks different) a kid won't just hit in a 45 snf when they struggle. Or as an adjustment with 2 strikes or anytime they need to shorten up. I think I have said it to my kid a 100 times, still won't do it.

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I agree and so, I think this has to be a process over time and with situations in situational hitting during BP. One would hope that after time, it gets ingrained as to the thought process.

redhotcoach said:

I don't know why (well I do, because it looks different) a kid won't just hit in a 45 snf when they struggle. Or as an adjustment with 2 strikes or anytime they need to shorten up. I think I have said it to my kid a 100 times, still won't do it.

A majority of times when girls with good swings have a break down of mechanics in games it is timing. 1st not starting slow and early with the gather/coil..."moving with the pitcher". 2nd, not having a mental thought of hitting and starting on every single pitch then checking the swing. The body goes into a panic mode swing if timing is thrown off.

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I agree that it looks like a panic thing in games, and her confidence is very low, but what confuses me is that it happens when doing front toss in the cage.

So she has a tee mechanic she can't take into games (or front toss) yet? Reps. Pitchers work for years to improve and master certain pitches and locations. For hitters it's the same (and maybe even tougher because as they age pitchers start to gain the ability to disrupt their timing). Just keep working reps. Move the 45 SnF off of front-toss, then off a machine or practice pitch then look for her to work it in a game. 10,000 swings ought to be enough to burn it in, give or take a thousand

The SnF position puts you in a position where the pelvis has to turn using the top of the rear leg as the axis. IMO. this is the single most important lesson when doing the SnF. Many hitters once back to a traditional stance shift the weight across the pelvis and rotate over the front leg OR simply use the shoulders to try and recreate the SnF swing that was really created by the hips and core.

The lesson is to learn to open the pelvis using the rear leg as its axis. Many hitters like Bautista, Miggy, JD, Sanchez, Hanley, Ortiz, etc use the front leg to help establish the weight over/around the rear hip and to help open the pelvis.