Building a hitter from scratch

CoachJD, first, I sent you a private message.

None of us know what you know about hitting and so, it is hard to determine where to start. Studying the sequence can be done by watching video but, as Nyman used to say, "one is only capable of seeing what they are capable of seeing." IOWs, you will look at the swing in the context of what you have learned in the past. My advice is to search this site for posters who make posts on hitting that make sense to you and see what they say about the swing. Also, the same goes for drill work. You can't simply have players do drills. They have to make sense to you so that you can then translate the importance of the swing to your players. CoachJD, you will see a lot of bickering in some of the hitting threads. Wade through all of that because there are some outstanding posts with great information for you if you take the time to go read.

Take care,

Darrell Butler

chrispots said:

How about "just let them hit?"

Lots of front toss and tee work with the tee in various spots...lots self toss too...

My take on this is simple: You start throwing drills at these kids now and you could easily coach some athleticism right out of them...

Just let them hit and then see what each of them needs to work on...

Cookie cutters are great for cookies...not so great for young hitters IMO...CP

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I totally understand your point, and to a large extent I agree. I don't believe in turning hitters into robots. From what I've seen a lot about hitting is style/preference. My assumption, and I think it may have been a wrong one, is that there were a handful of absolutes that everyone (or at least almost everybody) agreed on. That's what I was looking for above all else.

I wish I had some video to post here. All I can say is I promise "just let them hit" won't work for the ones I'm talking about. It's possible that with reps they'll figure it out, but I'm worried they're going to build a lot of bad muscle memory.

Perfect Circle said:

They'll need to get it on the tee -thru- pitching machine, then to live pitching. Make sure they are all seeing good... 20/20

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When would you suggest shifting away from the tee?

Today, I had two girls who were hitting off the tee, and I saw a lot they were doing wrong. But it was just hitting off the tee, so they were making contact. They assumed this was good. So I took the tee away and did some soft toss. They missed everything until I made a couple small adjustments. My plan next time is to go back to the tee so they can incorporate those adjustments, and then we'll go from there with other fixes as necessary.

I think this is a good, fairly short breakdown of the sequence. Basically, the first and last posts in this thread...

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/kens-softball-tips/17734-hitting-sequence-hips-shoulders-bat.html

One absolute is getting into the right position at heel plant (and even if you don't stride there is a point where you put you weight on your front heel).

So absolute number one get your hitter into a position that looks like this! Lots of things have happened first load, coil, stride (or not), separation, maybe a tilt, etc. but when all that is done it is to get you into this position, think wound up rubber band ready to explode, you can do a lot wrong after this but if you don't get here only the really strong, quick and athletic have any chance at recovering and once you get to high level pitching all the natural abilities in the world will not recover from poor mechanics.

djcarter1966 said:

One absolute is getting into the right position at heel plant (and even if you don't stride there is a point where you put you weight on your front heel).

So absolute number one get your hitter into a position that looks like this! Lots of things have happened first load, coil, stride (or not), separation, maybe a tilt, etc. but when all that is done it is to get you into this position, think wound up rubber band ready to explode, you can do a lot wrong after this but if you don't get here only the really strong, quick and athletic have any chance at recovering and once you get to high level pitching all the natural abilities in the world will not recover from poor mechanics.

View attachment 11303View attachment 11304View attachment 11305View attachment 11306

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DJ are you saying that there is a point during the swing that you actually weight the front leg? When I think of weighting the front heel I think of getting onto the front leg and not staying behind it or blocking with it (IOW). Do you believe that resisting weight shift with the front leg and weighting the front heel are one in the same? Just looking for clarification my DD currently "gets onto her leg" which I believe causes her to shift then swing instead of shift and swing. In the pics you provided I believe the weight is still or should be over the back side and not on the front heel.

JD, not sure what the feeling is here about Justin Stone's online program, but in my not so expert opinion, it is a great place to start for a visual learner. Much of the same info is here, but you'll need to spend a lot of time sifting through. The only drill that is in regular rotation with my DD'S that is never mentioned by Justin is the SNF drill. If mods feel like this is an inappropriate commercial for Justin, please delete.

Eric F said:

A lot of people have found this to be a good place to start with a lot of issues, especially with hitters in need of sorting out a decent swing sequence...

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I agree that this is a good place to start, especially when working with someone with limited experience. That said, I also agree with chrisspots concerning the use of "cookie cutters". It can be too easy to focus on drills and such, and take athleticism away from a developing hitter. I think it is important for a hitting coach to understand the difference between style and sequence. Know what adjustments are needed, and what adjustments could be detrimental. My personal preference is to work with hitters individually. If I spend even 15 minutes with an engaged hitter, I believe we can make some progress. That said, this isn't always possible in a team setting. At a recent V/JV practice, I was asked to work with 16 hitters and I only had 1 hour to do it. This required the use of several stations with tee drills, and myself in a cage throwing front toss. Generally speaking, I am not even a fan of tee drills other than as a warm up, but having 15 hitters standing around while one was in the cage seemed unthinkable to me. Maybe some other coaches are better in that type of team setting, but in my opinion, it limits the overall effectiveness of the instruction. JMO.

[MENTION=12381]DRDRODD[/MENTION] it's not really weight so much when your heel first touches just complete planting of the foot. I was just looking for something to describe heel plant for those that don't stride, even though they don't stride there is a point when the heel plants into the ground and bares weight but I'm not talking about a weight transfer in the sense I think are exposing to what I'm saying. Your are correct in the stills the weight is on the back side, I think what you are talking about when weight actually starts to transfer early is usually the result of some kind of slide forward which would not be proper mechanics. Now as the hips rotate and all the pressure is relieved from the back side your front leg/foot will begin to actually bare more weight but this happens much later in the swing and always within the framework of a balanced position always inside your feet.

I should always try to be more precise...sorry about that.

SoGASoftball said:

JD, not sure what the feeling is here about Justin Stone's online program, but in my not so expert opinion, it is a great place to start for a visual learner. Much of the same info is here, but you'll need to spend a lot of time sifting through. The only drill that is in regular rotation with my DD'S that is never mentioned by Justin is the SNF drill. If mods feel like this is an inappropriate commercial for Justin, please delete.

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I like Stone's stuff, overall. It's not perfect on everything (IMO), but he gets a lot right, and doesn't teach anything that is significantly terrible.