Speed v Movement

[Wellphyt]

A high level baseball type swing incorporates the ability to hit fast pitches as well as movement pitches. If you study elite fastpitch hitters like Cochran, Yee and Bustos, I believe you will find that a big reason they hit so well is because of their mental approach to hitting. Yee covers this subject in pretty good detail in her hitting blog.

One of the most interesting parts of Williams' book "TSOH", deals with his mental approach to hitting. Williams, like a lot of great hitters, anticipated what the pitch was going to be. They basically "guess". However they don't just guess fastball or curve; they guess within a framework of information. It's an educated guess, based on their experience and knowledge. IOW, many of the best hitters, know what's coming on many of the pitches they swing at.

I would argue that the best hitters in the world are capable of hitting both hard stuff and movement pitches, because of their mental approach at the plate. Assuming of course they have sound swing mechanics.

The easiest pitch to hit, is the one that you've seen before and you know it's coming.

It drives me nuts to have a player swing at the very first pitch they see in a game. The odds of hitting that pitch successfully are low; and if you hit it fair and get out, you haven't learned much about the pitcher for your next at bat. You've seen one pitch.

 

[FPMark]

I guess my question is how do I get my dd to be able to do both well?

My answer would be twofold.

1) Develop your swing with late adjustability. Use your arms to adjust to the ball rather than power the swing. (Tewks has a good blog on early bat speed with late commital to the swing concerning Bautista)

2) Train your eyes to pick up the pitch at the release. (focus on the point of release, don't follow the ball arould the pitchers arm circle) Seeing the release will give you a better ability to see where it is going based on the location of the release, as well as the spin, based on the hand/fingers motion at release. The earlier you know where the ball is going, the easier it is to make the proper adjustments to hit it.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Adjust the speed to the player. We take one step forward each time they hit it. Miss 3 times you take a step back We also do the bonds drill, by taking a step in or out, so you are working on hitting an inside or outside pitch . FPMark above point 2 is very important. There is a study on how long your eyes can stay focused on one spot . Do not focus the eyes on the hip early. Vision training is very important and a whole section could be posted on Vision training and drills.

 

[PEPPERS]

FPMark and SBFAMILY great post, when we are in the batter’s box we think red light - green light. Red light we are relaxed watching the pitcher for her starting motion. When she begins her motion we go to green light and go to hard focus at point of release point when her arm gets a little beyond 12 o’clock position.

I tell my daughter to catch some of the pitchers when they are warming up to practice visual picking up the spin and break of different pitches, I think it helps.

My daughter has many interests other than softball, some which include basketball, keeping up her school work, volunteer work, church and helping me with farm work. We had a great indoor facility at one time to practice and it closed; the other ones are not open most of the time when we have time to practice during bad weather. She does not put in the time or have the time to practice hitting as much as I think she should. She at times can get a little rusty. IMOthe Bonds Drill does more to get her timing back quicker than any other hitting drill we do.

We do the Bonds Drill just as SBFAMILY described in his post.

 

[2bucketdad]

An interesting drill to do involves having someone pitch while someone else is in the batters box...have the batter soft focus on the pitcher, and call out "NOW" or "Ball" wen they first see the ball during the pitching motion wether it is in the pitchers arm circle or release or where ever it may be...have them call out "NOW" again when they see the ball released and then have them hit or bunt the ball...some will see the ball very early some will only see it once it is released and the time which they pick up the release will vary greatly...I have found it very useful if only for me to understand how each hitter sees the ball and to let them understand how they see the ball...

 

[kad8926]

I guess my question is how do I get my dd to be able to do both well?

I would have her work first on being able to hit speed pitches. If your hands are quick enough to react to a fastball, whether it be east or west, north or south, on the plate, then you're already in good shape to hit movement pitches. If she has quick hands, then a pitcher will not be able to blow anything by her. After she has worked on the mechanics of having good, solid hands without breaking their form, then you can begin to have her work on hitting movement pitches, such as drop balls, change ups, screw balls, curves, etc. The key to hitting is in the hands. You can have the worst body movement in your swing, but if you have good hands, they will save you. You will still be able to get by and produce hits with good, quick hands. I suggest working on her having quick, strong hands to be able to hit well.

 

[JAD]

Good batters are able to adjust to the speed of the pitch, but movement, especially LATE movement on the pitch, prevents a lot of batters from hitting the ball on the 'sweet spot' of the bat. If a pitcher throws SIGNIFICANTLY faster (5+MPH) than the batter normally faces, she will probably be able to blow pitches by the batters, but sooner or later the batters will catch up to the speed.