The Perfect Swing

[healthy obsession]

Last tournament....something like 2 for 8 with 2 walks and 2 sacrifices, batted in the 8/9 hole.

SoGA,

Saw 2 D1 commits - 4 AB's, ground out to 2nd, swinging strike out on 3-2 riseball (out of zone), ground out to 3rd, and strike out looking on 2-2 low and away.

In my opinion when she is swinging well she is aggressive and seeing early strikes. Also is very hard to get out with 2 strikes. Probably sounds like most hitters when they're on a good streak. Very good on inside pitches when "on."

When not aggressive on early strikes, often gets behind and then struggles to get good wood on a "pitcher's pitch". Gets caught looking a lot on outside pitches when "off."

In a cage I would say she can drive the ball well to all fields...

 

[healthy obsession]

This is Galaxy Note 3 (in 1/8 slo-mo) then cut in Kinovea.

 

[softballphreak]

Ok, not really...just hoping to get you to look.

This is my DD. She is 16. Solid player, travel ball (PGF qualified team). Batting Average about .300. Please help her with improvements in her swing, specifically to generate early bat speed.

We are anxiously awaiting JS's RedCord presentation as she feels like her number one improvement right now is a strengthened core. In the meantime she is doing the Drive Mechanics core workout.

This spring she played at the 18 Gold level and struggled to consistently hit the ball hard.

She is willing to put in the work to take her swing to the next level.

[video]https://youtu.be/2kuq6F18gmU[/video]

[video]https://youtu.be/1hYoWRwHYu4[/video]

I would work her opposite field more than anything else (ala Cabrera); based on the videos. She needs to let the ball get deeper. And she is hitting the ball off the end of the bat.

 

[Shawn]

I would work her opposite field more than anything else (ala Cabrera); based on the videos. She needs to let the ball get deeper. And she is hitting the ball off the end of the bat.

A little deeper and she might hit off the back foot more then in the clips. While I think this is a nice swing, nice BP swing, the hip action might be a little to stretched out. The swing might be quicker by letting the ball get deeper, quicker hips.

Quicker swing, hit off the back foot, let the ball travel. Quickness is the root of bat speed in fastpitch.

 

[bullethead]

A little deeper and she might hit off the back foot more then in the clips. While I think this is a nice swing, nice BP swing, the hip action might be a little to stretched out. The swing might be quicker by letting the ball get deeper, quicker hips.

Quicker swing, hit off the back foot, let the ball travel. Quickness is the root of bat speed in fastpitch.

Then what is the root of "quickness"?

 

[healthy obsession]

Shawn,

She has had many innocent bystanders talk about her back foot...we see this back foot leaving the ground regularly in major league swings. So how does this impact early bat speed and is this just a style or is it a have to have? From your perspective who does this well, "Quicker swing, hit off the back foot?"

 

[Shawn]

Then what is the root of "quickness"?

Relaxation, not muscled up.

 

[Shawn]

Shawn,

She has had many innocent bystanders talk about her back foot...we see this back foot leaving the ground regularly in major league swings. So how does this impact early bat speed and is this just a style or is it a have to have? From your perspective who does this well, "Quicker swing, hit off the back foot?"

Yes the foot can/will pop up, but you want leverage off the back foot, keep it down for as long as possible. The hips will pop and the back foot does come up, but as a hitter you want to stay off the front leg, getting to the front leg to early. In reality a good swing is hitting behind the front leg and on video it looks like your hitting against the front leg for a considerable time.

How does this affect a quicker swing and early bat speed? Your axis of rotation doesn't get to the front foot to soon, front hip, as in she "might" have a little to much of a stretched out hip action. Meaning while the axis is the front hip, she might be setting that axis to much. Just a little to much, what I envision is an axis that shifts, meaning it starts at the back hip (which affects the hands/swing/arc, early batspeed) and shifts to the front hip.

You set the back hip first, stable/back side, and start the swing from the back side. It then shifts to the front side. Can you over do the backside? Yes, just like you can over do the front side. What I might be seeing is just a little to much of a stretched out hip action.

If someone could make a gif of the swing it would help.

I think every good hitter is trying to stay back as long as possible. So, every hitter posted on this website does this well.

 

[rdbass]

 

[Shawn]

Thanks for the gif, I will do a analysis side by side. It looks pretty clear in the gif that the hips are drifting and she gets the weight to far forward.

The hips in Cano is different, he also resets the weight back to the back foot where the girl doesn't.