10u hitter can't make contact

[Nj dad]

Very frustrating for her so trying to figure things out. Think her main problem is her hands drops as she starts her swing, and then she swings up at the ball. Basically, she never makes contact even if pitcher is not throwing fast. Any suggestions would be welcome. Seems to me she is watching the ball but the swing just misses it.

 

[JJsqueeze]

I'll be the first to say it....can you post video of her swing so everyone can take a look at it?

 

[Nj dad]

Video

Thx, first time doing this. Here she actually does make contact but in a game when she tightens up a bit, no contact with basically same swing. And when I watch in slow mo seems like hands are way too low.

Batting - YouTube

 

[Sweet Lou]

That's a very long and very loopy swing.

 

[canyonjoe]

This might sound mean, but I would teach her to bunt so she can play in games now. Then go back and work the swing on the tee until she gets the correct muscle memory. Even if she could make contact now, with any speed she will never hit a ball above her waste.

 

[Bigclubswinger]

Might try two tee drill to make her keep hands up.

 

[JJsqueeze]

this was the pattern I was expecting when I mentioned video would be good.

I have seen this soo many times. The result is always the same, swinging way under the ball. The problem is that she is thinking hands instead of bat. She has yet to grasp the concept of the fact that the bat is always going to be lower than her hands. We had a girl on our all star season that had this same problem and as a result she made contact only two times all season.


She needs to get a grasp of the bat as an extension of the hands. The key to this is tee work tee work tee work. Just have her hit on a tee until she develops a feel for where those hands need to go to get to contact. save the front toss for down the road until she can hit consistently off of a tee.

This is not a remedial step either. IMO tee work is the most important part of the hitting training diet.

 

[Nj dad]

Thanks all for good advice. For tee work, Should I set the tee a little higher then so the hands don't drop? Or do I just try and correct her when she drops hands? And yes in response to other comment, coaches are having her bunt since problem is obvious. She stays in lineup because she is quality catcher.

 

[JJsqueeze]

I'd have it waist high to start and once she can make contact consistently start moving it around so she can get a feel for zone coverage and what she needs to do for high/low etc. Am I correct in guessing that she has not done much tee work?

 

[Bigclubswinger]

I am not a big proponent of using a two tee drill to force a downward swing and you will hear that as a criticism of this drill but I am in favor of using it sparingly to make sure young hitters don't drop their hands. I think it is more effective for kids to feel when they are doing something wrong rather than someone just telling them not to drop their hands. I would put two tees about a foot or so apart at about the same height (back could actually be slightly lower) with a ball on each. The front tee would be at the front of the plate. Have the hitter take their normal stance and try and hit the first ball without knocking the rear ball off the tee. it's impossible for them to drop their hands and miss the rear ball. I've seen coaches use other devices instead of a tee in the back. I've seen them hold a noodle behind the first tee and the hitter has to miss the noodle. Anything that gives them a feeling of something going wrong when they drop their hands.