Thread: Please help with DD swing

We have just started working on DD's swing. Please take a look and chime in what she needs to work on first. Also, this is taken with a Flip camera and i thought i could play it in slow mo. Well, I can't figure out how to do it, if its possible.
Thanks

YouTube - TayloreHitting

You have to do slo mo, on the movie editing program on your computer.

I only use the frame by frame photos. Pause your video. Click take photo. The frames will appear. Then, drag your curser across those and click on the picture that you want to save. Click save.

Hi Greg. The first thing I noticed was the dreaded bat drag...



A couple of other points would be staying on the inside of the stride foot at toe touch and just a little more hip drive and coming off the back foot a little more.

Thanks Amy and cshilt. I'm just starting to understand the very basic swing. Is bat drad when the back elbow gets in front of the hands? Thats what i think it is. From reading on here i should have her do the hand over drill, any other drills to help fix her bat drag. By staying on the inside of sride foot, you are saying her weight is falling back after toe touch. I would think more hip drive would help with this. Hard to tell from this angle but i think she casts her hands too. Do you see this?
Thanks

Im no expert. There are a bunch here. They all can point out everything a girl does wrong when compared to some elite hitter, but few ever offer any information on how you should go about fixing those things, unlearning bad traits and re-training new ones.

If you want to be her hitting instructor, you need to fully understand every step of a good swing, as well as the common problems you will see. Doing drills without feedback ability wont necessarily fix anything. Get some videos and study them.

First thing I see is she holds her hands too high. Not a true problem if controlled, just cosmetic. But it can lead to dropping them, because that is the first thing that must happen. And it does here. She takes her hands down to the plane of the ball. A long, slow, innefficient swing. This is the very start of her problems, and casting occurs in there too. Have her hold her hands at the upper end of the strike zone,(armpit) as Ted Williams (greatest hitter ever) said, "thats as high as they need to be".

She must learn to keep them there and start the swing with the body, not the arms and hands. Slot the elbow , get connected, and keep the hands close and cocked to bat-lag. (knob faces pitcher, barrel end faces catcher) Have her practice this in a mirror, over and over every day for a week for 10 minutes to develop the feel for starting the swing. Lead with front elbow, keep bottom hand inside the front elbow for the first few inches, dont let the hands start going out first. this is the feeling that the reverse top hand drill gives you, but doesnt explain.

Teach her that releasing from bat-lag is like swinging a hammer. Your grip must be loose so the bat can move in the hands, and the wrists must be loose. Just like swinging a hammer. Have her do that if she doesnt know what you mean.

Practice off a tee. A lot

Swing to contact on tee without follow thru in slow motion, then full speed. make sure achieve the right position at contact. the key is to hit ball square.
Ball should fly straight forward if you do so = immediate feedback. Palm up/palm down at contact. Lead elbow above hands, hands above barrell, hands inside, space between arms, rear arm at 90 degree to bat, wrists not rolled . Have her master achieving this position.

Then full swing with follow thru. concentrate on follow thru toward pitcher, not around .

Originally Posted by livingontheroad

Im no expert. There are a bunch here. They all can point out everything a girl does wrong when compared to some elite hitter, but few ever offer any information on how you should go about fixing those things, unlearning bad traits and re-training new ones.

If you want to be her hitting instructor, you need to fully understand every step of a good swing, as well as the common problems you will see. Doing drills without feedback ability wont necessarily fix anything. Get some videos and study them.

First thing I see is she holds her hands too high. Not a true problem if controlled, just cosmetic. But it can lead to dropping them, because that is the first thing that must happen. And it does here. She takes her hands down to the plane of the ball. A long, slow, innefficient swing. This is the very start of her problems, and casting occurs in there too. Have her hold her hands at the upper end of the strike zone,(armpit) as Ted Williams (greatest hitter ever) said, "thats as high as they need to be".

She must learn to keep them there and start the swing with the body, not the arms and hands. Slot the elbow , get connected, and keep the hands close and cocked to bat-lag. (knob faces pitcher, barrel end faces catcher) Have her practice this in a mirror, over and over every day for a week for 10 minutes to develop the feel for starting the swing. Lead with front elbow, keep bottom hand inside the front elbow for the first few inches, dont let the hands start going out first. this is the feeling that the reverse top hand drill gives you, but doesnt explain.

Teach her that releasing from bat-lag is like swinging a hammer. Your grip must be loose so the bat can move in the hands, and the wrists must be loose. Just like swinging a hammer. Have her do that if she doesnt know what you mean.

Practice off a tee. A lot

Swing to contact on tee without follow thru in slow motion, then full speed. make sure achieve the right position at contact. the key is to hit ball square.
Ball should fly straight forward if you do so = immediate feedback. Palm up/palm down at contact. Lead elbow above hands, hands above barrell, hands inside, space between arms, rear arm at 90 degree to bat, wrists not rolled . Have her master achieving this position.

Then full swing with follow thru. concentrate on follow thru toward pitcher, not around .

You may not be an expert, but there is a lot of good info in your post.
Everyone can easily see the bat drag, but a more serious swing flaw is her dropping the hands and casting the bat.
And, her rotation is off. Get off the backside is some good advice.
This is not a shot at anyone here, but you'll need to invest in some quality instruction.
Whether it's live lessons or a good dvd, it will speed up her progression.
Becoming comfortable with video taping and clip viewing will help quite a bit. That's where some on this forum can help.
FiveFrameSwing has posted a bunch of college players videos. Seek them out, watch them, and compare them to your DD.
I highly recommend FastpitchTrainer's set of instructional/drill hitting clips. I got them for ten dollars a while back.
They are .wmv's played on your computer.
I believe he is a member of this forum. Email him and I am sure he'll hook you up.
He has a website as well.

Good luck

BD

Originally Posted by greg99

We have just started working on DD's swing. Please take a look and chime in what she needs to work on first. Also, this is taken with a Flip camera and i thought i could play it in slow mo. Well, I can't figure out how to do it, if its possible.
Thanks

YouTube - TayloreHitting

Was she taught level shoulders or level swing?

I ask because she adjusts with her arms and not by tilting.

Im not an expert either and agree with other post overall but none of which are an extreme case. would add that she could set up in a more atheletic stance. shes a bit upright. get her feet 1.5 times wider than shoulders, have her tilt at the waist then get bouncy knees ,bat angle at 45 across pony tail. also she needs more separation during her load. try a walk thru hitting drill or Howards face the fire.

Thanks for all the advice. Chris, When she read your question she kinda went blank, and didn't know the answer. After talking with her,She thinks of the swing as being level shoulders. I hope reading these post and the whole board will help her understand the swing more. She can see the bat drag in her swing and is working on fixing that. She still isn't getting the tilt, she wants to drop her hands to get to the ball. Do you have any drills that will help her understand body tilt? When She does tilt she feels she is dropping her back shoulder and she has been taught that that is a big NO. I see at as still swinging level in regards to the spine angle. Is that correct? She is getting better at getting off her rear foot, still fighting squish the bug from years ago.

I will video her again soon to see her progress. thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by greg99

She thinks of the swing as being level shoulders...

Which is wrong.

Originally Posted by greg99

She can see the bat drag in her swing and is working on fixing that.

The bat drag is tied in with the lack of tilt.

Originally Posted by greg99

She still isn't getting the tilt, she wants to drop her hands to get to the ball.

Which is a problem.

Originally Posted by greg99

When She does tilt she feels she is dropping her back shoulder and she has been taught that that is a big NO.

Lots of people teach this but it's wrong.

Originally Posted by greg99

I see at as still swinging level in regards to the spine angle. Is that correct?

Yes.

In a good swing the bat rotates perpendicular to the spine. The way to get the bat head down to the ball in an efficient manner is to tilt. Dropping the hands "works" but is very inefficient and leads to a lack of power, among other things.

Originally Posted by greg99

I will video her again soon to see her progress. thanks for your help.

I would first have her work on her posture at set-up. Pre-set some tilt into her stance and then just rotate from there.