Hitting the high pitch - Suggestions?

[RayR]

OK - I think I see where the confusion has been re: weight shifting forward between us.

I assumed that you knew I meant the lower half shifting enough to set things up. Not the upper body shifting forward.

And yes - high tee is great drill and rather simple when you learn how to set things up with the lower body. You can stay down and keep the hands close - even right by your face - if your lower body sets up the correct geometry.

I have used a piece of foam pipe insulation to keep the back arm tight. Can buy a 4' piece and cut into a bunch of 3-4" pieces for about 2.00

The OP mentioned the coach follows Epstein. Notice the hitter on deck. The down side is it doesn't look like the Epstein teaching is being translated very good or the players are struggling with the instruction. Weight is shifting forward on the on deck hitter and the live hitter. Epstein teaches staying back and down. If the weight shifts onto the front leg the only place to go is up. If you are rising up you are just turning to hit. If you are doing this you usually are dropping your hands behind you as you move forward and come up. You will also turn as a unit.

What you mention about the player rising up is true. That is why I like the high tee drill. I stress staying down with the body. Start with the hands at eye level and never let them move below that point. You have to see the hands cross your vision as they go out. You can do the drill from a no stride, a preset modified torque drill or a normal stance swing. I generally start it out with a controlled, wide stance with just a lift and put it down stride. I will also have them start at about 50% because the hands are uncomfortably high. I want the hands to stay up with a vertical forearm. I have at times placed a golf ball size ball in the bend of the rear elbow forcing them to keep the bicep pinch forcing the vertical forearm.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Just back on to check the thread, a bunch of good information has been added.

Talking with my BB brother earlier and he touched base with some of the same as have been added so y'all took my reply away.

He did add a tad on the mental side of recognizing a high pitch from a pitchers perspective. He added to watch the pitcher in what they are trying to accomplish in set ups and it should give you a fraction of a second to ready your swing approach. Mostly high pitches are thrown up and in because of the less time to react before it crosses the ideal spot to hit ( in front ), the next of coarse would be low and away because the ball must get deeper to hit. Even if the two are the same speed the timing of the swing is different. Mixing a off speed low/away adds even more confusion. As stated, the biggest problem is not recognizing the high pitch soon enough and being late.........or not "being" there at all.

He made me laugh though, he said "you guys..........it's hard enough to teach batters to hit all the strikes in the zone.........you all sure work a lot on hitting the balls". I had to remind him we DO have a higher zone, big dummy!!

 

[RayR]

Goobie,

Where did this swing go?

What happened between then and the recent swing?

 

[Goobie]

Goobie,

Where did this swing go?

What happened between then and the recent swing?

She still has it... the video I put up in the yellow shirt was just not a good day. I went looking for a video with a high pitch and found the supplied video. Obviously not her best work... but I guess that is what I get when I go looking for a bad swing. I found a whole bunch of them. It was awkward (slow) front toss and cold horrible day and she couldn't wait on the slow toss. I think she just wanted to get her 10 swings in and get back into the warm dugout.

Since the video of the Arkansas camp she has done very well. Near or at the top in all offensive categories for both H.S. and travel teams. She kills the belt high to knees pitches. Up (or up and out) of the zone she often hits pop ups thus the reason for the original post.

Don't judge just by the yellow shirt video. I agree that is garbage.

Also... the other girl in the back is just some other girl at the camp. I don't know who she is or who her hitting coach is.

 

[RayR]

Stop looking for trouble

I thought the swings in the dark uniform were pretty freaking good....

 

[lhowser]

Hitting the high pitch. Here is something I do with my 12u group -

Since the high pitch has moved upwards (it enters the hitting zone higher than the release point) I think the bat should stay on a plane matching the path of the ball.

To help the kids understand this bat path adjustment I simply take a string at the mound at the height of a pitchers release point. I run the string from the pitching circle over the plate at about letter height and tie it to the fence behind the batter. I then let my batter with this visual tool develop a flatter barrel path for this pitch using the string as a guide for the path of the pitch. I would rather have my batters attack the pitch in this way. VERY FEW are strong enough and skilled enough to hit up on this pitch and hit it out front like the University of Washington hitter pictured earlier in this thread.

 

[dgardner45]

Hitting The High Pitch- In The Strike Zone

Does anyone have any suggestions on drills and / or swing modifications for hitting the high pitch?

By high pitch I mean a pitch at the top of the strike zone and perhaps even up to neck high.

We have played in a few games recently where the opposing pitcher is throwing rise balls. DD does a good job laying off the high pitches out of the zone and forcing the pitcher to bring ball down. However in a few games we have had an umpire that calls strikes shoulder and even neck high strikes.

We can only control what we can control and we can't control the umps zone. So, DD can either stand there and get struck out on high "strikes" or she needs to learn how to hit the high one.

DD's is basically following the Mike Epstein hitting method. This is what her coach teaches.

Here is what I have found on the Epstein site: "To hit it (the high rise ball), she must consciously level out her swing by staying more upright on the axis and leveling out her shoulders in order to be level to the ball."

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

First of all, I don't believe in teaching hitting a ball that's not in the strike zone the strike zone. To work on hitting the high pitch in the strike zone, I have the batter on one knee and position the batting tee at the batter's shoulder height. Placing both hands on the bat and holding the bat in the ready position, I have the batter drop the top hand and then swing the bat through the ball as level as possible for as long as possible. The batter should practice hitting a couple dozen balls this way. Next I do the same thing, only having the batter drop the bottom hand from the bat and then hit 2 dozen balls with a level swing as long as possible. Once the batter has done this, I have the batter use both hands on the bat when swinging. When done properly and if practiced over and over, this drill will develop great hand-eye usage, a strong and level swing, and great confidence with hitting a pitch high in the strike zone.

Doug Gardner- Director
All-American Fastpitch Softball Camps
::All American Fastpitch Softball Camps::

 

[SBFAMILY]

We teach a kid to hit anything within 5" of the strike zone. Bustos has hit many HR's on pitches that would have been called a ball. If you want to see how to train to do this, watch John Tschida Mega softball drills. He is a very good D2 college coach.

 

[John T]

Goobie,

I tell me daughter to keep her hands in tight to her body and when I watch Fielder hit in the provided video it looks like his hands are in tighter to his body. The hands in keeps her from standing/springing up to hit the high pitch. By keeping her hands in they also stay high.

Great posts and I love the videos being used as examples!

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Only drill I could find on Youtube regarding "John Tschida Mega softball drills" .....