Thread: Timming issues

Originally Posted by Sem

My 13u dd has a good swing and decent mechanics, she's worked very hard to get there and looks good from the tee, soft toss, and front toss. The problem is during games she can't seem to make up her mind in time to make solid contact she either gets jamed up on inside pitches or fouls outside pitches. She says by the time she recognizes ball or strike its too late. I've told here to expect a strike every pitch and hold off at the last second on a ball but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any other ideas or drills to help with seeing, tracking, and timing the ball?

To answer your question I'm hoping the Sandlot Slugger will help with:
Start slow and not to rush your swing. It has a light that comes on before a ball shoots out.
When the light comes on Start your coil.

you must only have one decision when hitting...you are swinging at every pitch until you are not... Is also good advice

Originally Posted by Sem

My 13u dd has a good swing and decent mechanics, she's worked very hard to get there and looks good from the tee, soft toss, and front toss. The problem is during games she can't seem to make up her mind in time to make solid contact she either gets jamed up on inside pitches or fouls outside pitches. She says by the time she recognizes ball or strike its too late. I've told here to expect a strike every pitch and hold off at the last second on a ball but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any other ideas or drills to help with seeing, tracking, and timing the ball?

Hard to tell why she's late without looking at her swing. Most kids I see who are late, are late because of inefficient swing movements, or because they don't get themselves moving. Of the eleven girls on my DD's 16U team this year, nine have no sequence and never get themselves to a good ready to hit position. They basically start their swings from a stand still. It's really hard to be late if you can get to a good ready to hit position on time, like this:

slaught ready to hit position.JPG

It's even harder to be late if you get to a good ready to hit position on time and you also have a really efficient swing.

If anyone wants to watch a good hitting video.. go and find the pro hitters workout. It has the NY Yankee's hitting coach and Alex Rodriguez in it. As far as squishing the bug I find it ineffective because it does not promote driving of the hips, which is a critical component of hitting. Just my .02 worth.

Things really started to click with her this weekend. Twelve at bats no k's two hard hit ground outs one pop fly the rest were very well hit for singles and doubles, most of them were nice shots!!!!!
The only thing I told her to do different was to get her foot down a little sooner(when the pitcher is in the 12 position) and to quit thinking and just let it happen. It seemed to work very well so far and I hope it stays this way for a while.

Thanks for the help!!!!!

Originally Posted by stv

To answer your question I'm hoping the Sandlot Slugger will help with:
Start slow and not to rush your swing. It has a light that comes on before a ball shoots out.
When the light comes on Start your coil.

you must only have one decision when hitting...you are swinging at every pitch until you are not... Is also good advice

Echo others' sentiment that the video is indeed super funny! But jbooth is right about the content vs the bug squishing.

And FFS is right about the hanson principle... have case post all the vids of the MLBers squishing those bugs. Come on, show us the greats that use your mechanics.

As far as swinging at every pitch until you are not... yes I agree with that but you learn (or are taught) how to say 'hit' or 'yes' with your body, and 'take' or 'no' with your body, it's not just a thought process

Originally Posted by oswegoponysoftball

If anyone wants to watch a good hitting video.. go and find the pro hitters workout. It has the NY Yankee's hitting coach and Alex Rodriguez in it. As far as squishing the bug I find it ineffective because it does not promote driving of the hips, which is a critical component of hitting. Just my .02 worth.

You are very correct, Squishing the bug is a joke. As Justin Stone says "the foot goes for a ride". There is no arguing, just watch video. It never lies.