12U Slapping

[Jasmine_House2021]

Slapping Feedback

Looking for any and all feedback. She just learned how to slap in the last 2 months (12U). She is a right hand hitter while I guess I can say now a switch hitter

Straight away left and hard slap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLBbD96kP3o


Soft slap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0QXHc2dXBs

 

[SlapHitter]

Have her hit off a Tee....as much as possible. She needs to work on her footwork, get that down first. Make sure she works with an instructor that actually knows how to teach slap hitting! Is she fast? As in the fastest or one of the fastest on the team? Does she want to learn how to slap, or is this just something new or "fun" to try or a coach or parent request? I ask becuase it takes a good two years for most kids to put it all together. She will have to commit 100%' no exceptions. She will have to learn to hit away from the left as well. More than twice as much batting practice as a regular right handed hitter, there are so many different swings to learn. IMO if she commits, no more batting Righty. She bats left all the time. Her batting average WILL DROP for the first year as she learns. However, if she is fast, dedicated, good hand eye coordination, she will become a monster player in time. Her OBP will double, defenses will hate her, all coaches will want her.

Best of luck! There are others on here that can help out as well.

 

[BT3100]

Looks great!
My 11 YO DD never swung a bat left handed until 6 months ago. She is working with a college coach who taught her to slap from the left side. Now she hits better from the left side. At this age it's easy for them to learn so much so quickly.

 

[wafastpitch]

My dd hits left, but she hits left all the time. She's 14 and working on being a triple threat. My dd's best slapping instruction has come from college slappers. My dd can't hit right even though she's right handed; she switched herself very early into playing. One thing, slappers need to be really fast. That's been one of my dd's downfalls. She's much better now which helps a ton. An average or slightly above average runner won't be very successful as a slapper. Dd has gone from slow to above average so she's still got work to do. She hits away more than slaps, but it's nice to be able to do both. If your dd wants to learn to hit lh have her go all in

 

[benjey]

My 10 year old DD is going through the same process right now. We are going with the same approach Slaphitter recommended above, 100% lefty. In the 5 weeks since she started the conversion she has taken 0 swings righty and I would estimate over 2500 swings lefty.

I am a relative newbie and there are a number of different techniques slappers use but IMHO her right foot is stepping out too far pulling her off outside pitches. (My DD has a tendency to do the same) Hitting coach will start painting the outside corner to make her realize her mistake when she can't handle the outside pitches.

 

[coachbob]

I have two slapper daughters. I turned my younger one around last year when she was in 8U, and the other last fall in first year 14U.
One thing that happened when I did this, is that both girls got a lot faster, by necessity. They were both pretty fast, but the slapper mentality got into their system, and they knew they had to focus on their speed mechanics. They both like the slapper label, and feel it will be their best shot at playing for a long time. I think conditioning, speed training, strength training, and full swing practice are really good moves for this specialty. If they can wield a big sword, maybe they can even go after the holy grail;

a slap home run!

 

[Jasmine_House2021]

Thanks for taking the time to look at the video and respond. I appreciate it, this was taken about 6 weeks into her slapping. She has batted from each side since 10U hasn’t honestly been used left heavy in tournaments, but we still practiced at home/at the cage. This was a “winter” project for us via a lot of tee work and committing our time and my pocket book to increase hitting with her hitting coach from once a week to twice a week. She just came back from the University of Tennessee slapping camp earlier this week we slapped off the tee last night and she just looks so much smoother since camp! Is she the fastest on her team no, her speed is I’d say average but it’s something we are also working on, even running has proper mechanics (30% of speed comes from arm pump). She won’t go to just hitting left and slapping because she can drive the ball from the right, we added this for her to be that much more of a threat at the plate.

 

[CoogansBluff]

She won’t go to just hitting left and slapping because she can drive the ball from the right, we added this for her to be that much more of a threat at the plate.

Sounds like she's having fun with it. I don't know enough about slapping to comment on her mechanics. But your quote here makes me curious. How does it make her more of a threat at the plate? In what situations will she be a better hitter left-handed, and in what situations will she be a better hitter right-handed? How do you decide when to go right, or left? Is there concern that she could become pretty good on both sides rather than really great on just one side if she devoted all her hitting time to one or the other?

 

[SlapHitter]

Sounds like she's having fun with it. I don't know enough about slapping to comment on her mechanics. But your quote here makes me curious. How does it make her more of a threat at the plate? In what situations will she be a better hitter left-handed, and in what situations will she be a better hitter right-handed? How do you decide when to go right, or left? Is there concern that she could become pretty good on both sides rather than really great on just one side if she devoted all her hitting time to one or the other?

Ditto what he said....evryone we have talked to over the past few years will tell you either commit 100% to bat left handed or stay on the right side. Stop the back and forth. Have her learn to swing away from the left side. We all kind of chuckle when we see girls go 0-2 batting lefty at the plate and their coach tells them to switch back to the right side!! The almost always are frustrated and quickly strike out. Either bat lefty all the time or stay On the right.