What Is The Wrist Angle Position At Point Of Contact?

[SBFAMILY]

What I see is the back elbow getting ahead of the back hand. Some call this dipping the back shoulder. This is very common with young kids who have timing issues. In terms of hitting a high or low pitch. We adjust the bat angle. On a high pitch we start the elbow higher and have less bat angle. Elbow and hands must always be above the plan of the pitch. Our team faced a rise ball pitcher this weekend in the gold showcase. Last year this team beat us and we got one hit. This year I worked with the girls on how to hit a rise ball. We had 10 hits and beat the same team 7-2.

 

[ThundersDad]

Thanks everyone for the valuable information. We played two games yesterday and DD hit weak grounders to the second baseman. Looked like the ball was hitting up near her hands, for sure not in the sweet spot of the bat. Earlier in the week we had batting practice and she beat the paint off the fence (225') with line drives. Only one ground ball, and it was hit hard back up the middle. But yesterday in the game, weak ground balls. Only difference I see was that the coach wasn't throwing as hard in batting practice. I'm almost positive that she is not getting disconnected, and not pushing the bat either. It seems to me that the only way that you can hit balls up towards your hands, if you are standing far enough back off the plate, and not throwing your hands out, is that she is waiting too long to start her swing and the barrel is not getting around square at contact. I set a tee up this morning and took some swings to contact, with the tee out in front even with where I stride to, barrel is on the ball in sweet spot. But when I walked forward and had tee about even with my belt buckle, then out to contact, the ball was on the tapered part of the bat. So what I'm asking everyone is do I somehow need to get her to go sooner on the faster pitching? More games tonight, state tourney, HELP PLEASE!!

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

TD ... if the issue is that your daughter is facing faster pitching than she is used to, and that you don't have time to train for the faster pitch speeds, then consider encouraging her to use 'brain assisted vision enhancement'. What is that? Simple ... while you want her body to be somewhat relaxed in the batter's box, you want her to have an aggressive focus on finding the ball early. You especially want her to be finding the ball on the pitcher's "release", which IMO is a point when critical information is first available. It is on 'release', and shortly thereafter, that a batter will make early predictions of 'pitch height' at 'contact'. By thinking 'ball ... ball ... ball ... ball ...' as the pitcher goes into her windup, she will be able to see the ball earlier.

A common cue for this is "see the ball and be easy" ... and by that we mean that the hitter is aggressive with their eyes, while relaxed with their body. We are aggressive with our eyes and trust that our muscles will fire as we have trained them to fire.

When in a pinch, with not enough time to train hitters for an abrupt speed pick-up, I will resort to an emphasis on vision and how it can be improved.

Good luck with today's game.

 

[softballphreak]

So how do we practice getting the bat barrel in line with the front arm at the point of contact ? Thanks for the great pictures. My daughter probaly looks about like the little girl in the last picture.

Notice in the last picture that she seems to be pushing out towards the ball instead of letting the ball come into the correct POC. Also notice how deep the bat is in her hand; it should be held in her fingers instead.

While all the advice I've read here seems to be correct, there is an old saying that "too much thinking makes your brain fall out." For that reason I would suggest getting a baseball bat that's light enough to swing (not too light, though) and let her hit balls the same as she does with a softball bat. Tell her to keep her hands in close (same as in softball). Tell her to let you know when it feels like the bat head is almost pulling itself. When she feels that, tell her to keep doing it that way for a few drills. Now, switch back to her regular bat and tell her to try to feel that same feeling--the end of the bat pulling itself. Try it yourself, also.

Kids have a tendency to think they have to do all the work; just like an inexperienced person trying to use a hammer.

Next, re-read all the advice; I believe it will make better sense to you then.