We are coming off HS slow pitch they are conditioning now but me and my DD practice pitching and hitting after school.. Wanting opinion on distance to pitch from behind screen in cage.. Been at 28 ft starting out did well but have now moved to bout 15 ft so I can cnOntrol pitch placement and seems I get better bat speed from her at closer range .. Is this good or bad
Cage work
- Thread starter msbigdawg
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My guess would be that the shorter distance means less pausing during her swing - her loading and unloading is continuous - it's easier for her to time the pitch. For slowpitch, you can always load early, but then you're stuck holding that position, removing fluidity and reducing power / bat speed.
While we're waiting for the 'more experienced hitting coaches' to answer I'll give my 2 cents. Game distance at game speed is best but, not always able to be practiced. Shorter distance is OK as long as DD is able to go through her hitting sequence and doesn't 'cheat'. What I mean is as long as DD sequence looks the same from game distance to the shorter distance then it's fine. I pitch to my DD from about 35' or 30' because I'm not accurate from the 43'.
I see what ya mean ..haven't seen any changes .. I pitch from longer distance in field but not as good and very time consuming picking up balls..we moved to cage for time management .. the thought behind the short distance is to work more consistently on certain spots round the plate and be quicker with the barrel.. thinking closer same speed would be more like faster at reg distance therefore improving on hand eye and batspeed... thinking she has no choice but to be quicker .. I guess as long as she not breaking down and its working guess we will keep slugging.. she gets 125 balls a session cause that's all I can fit in the bag.. we go thru them then pick up and she gets half bag from other side of plate ....just cant depend on what she gets at HS practice
