13 year old Looking for advice on swing

[straightleg]

I think that if you get to the ball well, you are practically holding onto the handle while the barrel is whipping to, then through contact. The through part is determined by the to part. You can only hit the ball once, so maybe I need to start my own group who is worried most about getting to contact as efficiently as possible. If you slow down before contact, you cut short, but I am not suggesting this.

Can you explain what driving through the ball means to you? I don't know the softball numbers, but the window of time the bat is on the ball in baseball is tiny. At 600 frames per second with my camera, it is 1 frame of contact. I can't imagine that bat speed, swing direction and the swing plane is more important anywhere else other than this one, single point of contact.

I've read that a 90 mph pitch (baseball) on a wood bat is 1/2000th of a second. Anybody have research on the softball side of this?

Why not just do stop swings. Go as hard as you can and stop as soon as you make contact.



Straightleg

 

[cartersball]

Why not just do stop swings. Go as hard as you can and stop as soon as you make contact.



Straightleg

Because Chris would say that is not what actually happens in a swing. LOL!!

I think the point Tewks is trying to make here is that while the follow through is a part of the swing, it may not be as important to him as getting to contact. I think it all depends on what you see with a student. If the student is not following through, nine times out of ten something is happening upstream to cause that. What i commonly see with the younger girls I work with when it comes to that area is early release of the top hand due to the feel of contact. So the follow through itself isn't really the problem it is the early release at contact that causes poor follow through. Just my two cents.......

 

[Tewks]

Why not just do stop swings. Go as hard as you can and stop as soon as you make contact.



Straightleg

I don't like stop swings. I have a wire and a screw holding my thumb together and I don't really like trying to stop my swing if my thumb has any remote chance of taking some heat. As long as bat speed is maximized at contact, the rest will usually look normal to the naked eye.

 

[RayR]

Honestly, this is a dumb set up. The ball angle coming in should force the hitter to hit the other way, but she is pulling off in an effort not to kill the coach. Every ball looks to be hit near the end of the bat and the hands are making a quick exit out of the zone. Too much of this drill and her plate coverage will suffer.

Put another way, if she were to really square these balls she would be hitting them right back at the coach. She is borderling slicing the ball as the hards pull in hard at contact.

She looks very good, but the drill is off the mark.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Perhaps it is just me, but I do not like to see anyone start with the hands high and drop them to make contact. Probably because we play high level travel ball and face many rise ball pitchers that just eat you up if you do this. At 13U you can get by with it, but not against good pitchers. We tell our hitters top of the hand top of the shoulder as a starting point from the slot position. Then your first move is not dropping your hands put pulling them thru getting them palm up plam down thru contact.

 

[straightleg]

Honestly, this is a dumb set up. The ball angle coming in should force the hitter to hit the other way, but she is pulling off in an effort not to kill the coach. Every ball looks to be hit near the end of the bat and the hands are making a quick exit out of the zone. Too much of this drill and her plate coverage will suffer.

Put another way, if she were to really square these balls she would be hitting them right back at the coach. She is borderling slicing the ball as the hards pull in hard at contact.

She looks very good, but the drill is off the mark.

You make a good point.

She is hitting it hard. No doubt

I see swinging circular and over rotating like a pull hitter will do.

I agree. If she was squaring the ball, she would be smoking the coach. Good drill behind a screen and driving them right back at ya.




Straightleg

 

[bigblue]

Tewks
I believe he may have told her to extend thru maybe ? He is an excellent instructor she started working with him this year . I guess he clapped to make if he shes her stay on the ball longer? And when he was tossing the ball he was about 10-15ft in front of her, he must really trust her not to go outside with the ball. And yes she is 13

Thanks for your encouraging comments.....................

 

[Tewks]

Tewks
I believe he may have told her to extend thru maybe ? He is an excellent instructor she started working with him this year . I guess he clapped to make if he shes her stay on the ball longer? And when he was tossing the ball he was about 10-15ft in front of her, he must really trust her not to go outside with the ball. And yes she is 13

Thanks for your encouraging comments.....................

Her first two swings she was early... why she was early is being discussed above. She could be trying to protect her coach, but I doubt it. My guess is this isn't the first time she did this drill and he's comfortable enough with her ability to not take out his teeth! She is getting around the ball, hitting a ball on the outer half (practically off the plate) to the pull side. Is it timing, is it mechanical, is it both?

I see her make an adjustment after the 2nd swing - the reason behind my questions. Some might say he is asking her to get the rear forearm vertical... Your answer leads me to believe that is not the case because it would be a very direct answer if it was what he was doing. It doesn't look like she is forcing the bat angle and pushing the ball the other way. I see her using her hands better - not through contact, but at the initial burst of the swing - to allow her to drive through the ball better.

Do you have any side view video? She really is swinging it pretty well - I love when the ball hits the top crossbar on the L-screen. The fields won't be able to contain her for very long (if they still are!)

 

[bigblue]

Yes i will try and post a side view shortly. Thanks again for your input.

 

[Tewks]

Yes i will try and post a side view shortly. Thanks again for your input.

Great. I look forward to seeing it!