Thread: Straightening arms too soon. Help please!!!!!!

A little background. My DD is a small lefty playing her second season of 8U travel. Her former coach has ruined her swing. To take advantage of her speed he wanted her to hit pretty much everything to the left side. At first it was ok because she took good solid swings at outside pitches and drove the ball the opposite way with enough power to clear the outfielders and if it was on the ground she would generally beat out the throw.

After a couple of tourneys she was trying too hard to push the ball the other way and would try to hit every pitch that way. The ball could be on the inside corner and she would try and block it left. This has resulted in her straightening her arms way to early, almost the instant her swing starts. She hits to the left but there is no pop as she is basically dragging her extended arms through the zone.

Any suggestions on drills to help keep her hands in before extending to the ball at contact? Her current coach wants to worry about hitting the other way when she starts learning to slap this summer before we move into 10U.

Originally Posted by 02Crush

Buy a muhl tech advanced skills tee.
My girls call it death...It has a cast bar you place out opposite of the batter and if they cast the bat hits this and they get instant feedback.
The only way to hit properly is to rotate, carry hands straight to the ball and keep hands in close until the right moment to get good extension out front. I like the results so far for out players as it develops good muscle memory and I do not need to talk them to death for them to get it. They just lay a ball on and hit....if they nail the tee. they know what they did wrong instantly and can work to fix it.

Advanced Skills Tee

From the link you posted .....

It forces you to take the bat straight down to the ball, leveling the swing at the point of contact.

Originally Posted by Rambler34

Any suggestions on drills to help keep her hands in before extending to the ball at contact?

Just to make sure, you know you don't want the arms extended at contract, right? You say 'extending to the ball.' When I hear people talking about extending, it usually refers to the staightening of the arms after contact.

The drill that I often use is this: Teach her the proper hitters box that she needs at contact (that is, power L w/ her back arm, slightly bent front arm, like photo below) and have her swing at a ball on a tee, stopping at contact. She also can hit a ball off the tee, but stopping immediately after contact and maintaining the hitters box so you can examine it. Or have her do the same against a punching bag.

Joey Votto.jpg

Originally Posted by FiveFrameSwing

From the link you posted .....

It forces you to take the bat straight down to the ball, leveling the swing at the point of contact.

Which, to be clear, is not a good thing.

Originally Posted by CoogansBluff

Which, to be clear, is not a good thing.

Yes, correct!

Terrible product IMO.

It's not a terrible product but the instructions above are, notice the back foot of the demo where the back heel starts and finishes, this is a very poor example of how to use the tee.

Put her on a tee, teach her the basic mechanics of a swing, and have her repeat the movement hundreds of times.

Like the above demo, OVERanalyzing the swing of an 8-year-old is not a good thing either.

Originally Posted by stiksdad

It's not a terrible product but the instructions above are, notice the back foot of the demo where the back heel starts and finishes, this is a very poor example of how to use the tee.

OMG that's my daughter's swing lol and we have this tee! I actually started taking the top off and just setting the ball on the post after reading about Tilt.