Help WithMechanics of Hitting the Inside & Outside Pitch

[Madsofball]

This forum really is an incredible resource... I have learned a ton by reading through the threads for the last several months. I have looked for specific detailed information but can't seem to find it (probably just not smart enough to do a proper search).

Anyway, my specific question is this... What, if anything, changes in the feet (step) when attacking an inside pitch? Outside? Finally, any information at all on the topic of hitting inside/outside pitches would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Madsofball]

Let me just add for clarity. I have looked at a lot of video on this topic, and that it why I am posting for your opinions. Unfortunately, my daughter just started with a new HC and she spent 30 minutes having DD doing tee work where she would take a step out/in depending on location. DD left quite confused because she has always been taught that she should always step toward the pitcher and simply adjust to where she attacks the ball relative to the plate.

So, I guess I am just looking for confirmation one way or the other. I have never taught her to step differently, but perhaps I am wrong and this HC is correct. Thoughts.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Let me just add for clarity. I have looked at a lot of video on this topic, and that it why I am posting for your opinions. Unfortunately, my daughter just started with a new HC and she spent 30 minutes having DD doing tee work where she would take a step out/in depending on location. DD left quite confused because she has always been taught that she should always step toward the pitcher and simply adjust to where she attacks the ball relative to the plate.

So, I guess I am just looking for confirmation one way or the other. I have never taught her to step differently, but perhaps I am wrong and this HC is correct. Thoughts.

Thoughts? Yes, I have a few thoughts. Find a new HC. I'm assuming that your HC wasn't teaching your daughter to 'guess' where the ball would be pitched, but to stride to where she confirmed it would be pitched ... which would indicate that the HC hasn't spent enough time in the box to confirm what they are teaching.

 

[PEPPERS]

The step in and out is old school, stepping at the pitcher is what you want to teach. The step in and out was taught when I was a kid in the 60’s. The coach has not kept current on mechanics.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Unfortunately, if players found a new head coach every time one of them was teaching an old school (incorrect) principal, that would cut the available travel teams in half. I know I would've been fired at some point. Maybe the coach will be open-minded. Speaking of old school, one old-schooler who did not teach to step toward the ball was Ted Williams in the science of hitting. If I recall correctly, he said that Ty Cobb disagreed w/ him. Which suggests to me that there was a time when pitchers were throwing slowly enough to where perhaps you could step toward the pitch. Maybe you can do it in slow pitch, where it's more like a ball sitting on a tee. But in fastpitch, it's not the way to do it.

 

[CoogansBluff]

You can show this to the head coach and ask if Cabrera is stepping in or out. In some cases, he doesn't step (or stride) at all. (Pujols doesn't stride, for one).

Question for the gallery - Is it OK (or recommended) that a hitter extend his arms into contact a little more on an outside pitch than other pitches? For middle-of-the-plate or inside pitches, the hitter might not extend into contact at all and would have the 'power-L' position. But is that realistic on an outside pitch?

Also curious about comment regarding Cabrera's back foot on the lower/left frame. My DD will do that sometimes on front toss. Not sure why. What causes that?

 

[fourts]

I would like to see more body tilt than arms extended for the outside pitch. JMO

 

[MountieSB]

You can show this to the head coach and ask if Cabrera is stepping in or out. In some cases, he doesn't step (or stride) at all. (Pujols doesn't stride, for one).

Question for the gallery - Is it OK (or recommended) that a hitter extend his arms into contact a little more on an outside pitch than other pitches? For middle-of-the-plate or inside pitches, the hitter might not extend into contact at all and would have the 'power-L' position. But is that realistic on an outside pitch?

Also curious about comment regarding Cabrera's back foot on the lower/left frame. My DD will do that sometimes on front toss. Not sure why. What causes that?

Bold 1: That pitch is so low and outside (i.e. really far away from him) that the only way he could get to that pitch is to extend because he hits the ball out in front of the plate. I doesn't appear that he lets it get too deep on that pitch. I don't know if that is ideal, but Cabrera is not your average hitter. Most hitters wouldn't do anything with that pitch, regardless of arm extension. (Not sure if that helps!)

Bold 2: In each of the swings, he unweights the back foot when pulling into contact. In each swing, his back foot "replants" to catch his weight after contact. I think in the lower left-hand swing, his hands/barrel(?) are so far away from his center of gravity that he needs the back foot to act as a counterweight to compensate for that.

Without seeing it, my guess is that if your daughter is doing this for pitches that are nearer to the strikezone than what's shown in the Cabrera clip, she may be casting/extending/creating an "Olympic hammer throw" with the bat that she is creating this "counterweight" as a mechanism to keep her from falling over. This is just a guess based on monkeying around in my livingroom with this kind of swing before posting this. (Where is jbooth when you need him!)

 

[SCDad]

Learn how to hit the outside pitch is most important. Usually requires waiting on the ball, let it get deeper in the zone, and go the opposite way.

That is my DD's bread and butter, because many hitters cannot do it, and the pitchers favorite spot. My DD crowds the plate, and when she see's an inside pitch has the mentality to jump on it quicker, opening her hips faster, keep the hands inside and turn on the ball..

Her feet do not usually change, as it is all in the hips and hands. Notice video above. Hips more open and hands inside on inside pitches. Hips more closed, and hands more extended on outside pitches. Feet stay the same.

 

[pstein]

The step in and out is old school, stepping at the pitcher is what you want to teach. The step in and out was taught when I was a kid in the 60’s. The coach has not kept current on mechanics.

Ted Williams talks about it in The Science of Hitting, and that came out in 1970. Honestly, the idea of striding to a different place based on location is nonsense. It grossly violates the Hanson Principle and ignores the fundamental timing issue of hitting.