Why do girls stand at the front of the box?

[Mrek]

Fine and dandy but I have been around softball players for years and none are taught where to stand front to back due to covering the plate. The issues are being able to catch up with fast pitching or delay hitting slow pitching AND to avoid break.

Like was posted, this discussion is based mainly from people who have never hit off a fastpitch pitcher in competition.

If you pitch the ball straight the hitters will hit it both from 40 to 43. Hitters are taught to read spin, not stand in the back of the plate and "see" break, because then it is too late to hit it.

Anyone who teaches rigid placement (esp in face of it not working) in my opinion is not giving the player tools they may need to be successful both in sport and life.

Actually the idea of avoiding break is all about plate coverage, its just that coaches either don't realize this or articulate it this way. Getting the pitch "before it breaks" is all about getting "the barrel" to the pitch regardless of how much its breaking. But it generally is not expained this way.

I agree, coaches also use box positioning to try and affect timing the speed of the pitch. But I dont think most people realize the effect is not great, it is basically the 2-4 feet you move (you can't move the full 7 feet of the box). If you have a batter who is at the limit of bat speed and is late, it may help to move further back. But for most decent and good hitters I believe it is more effective to stay where you are comfortable in the box and try and read the pitch 2-4 feet sooner. (Again I am not saying this is easy, but I am also not giving up my plate coverage by moving back).

One of the other points I was making is the comparison (not by you, but commonly by others) of girls, mostly 18 and under, with adult men and that the reason why some things may be done differently in womens softball are because we are inherently dealing with female children and adolescents, not adult men.

 

[Wellphyt]

Everybody always says that it's so much harder to hit fastpitch than a baseball, mostly because of the shorter distance, yet moving up in the box, makes the distance even shorter. That is illogical to me. As someone else mentioned. You'd complain if the pitcher cheated and planted her foot closer to the plate, yet you're willing to move closer to her yourself!?!

Welcome to the world of fastpitch softball, where logic often times doesn't apply. Apparently some in softball don't think MLB pitchers can't make the ball move. I've never seen a pitcher in fastpitch match the ball movement of the best MLB pitchers. I don't even think it's close. Yet the MLB players do ok hitting from 60'-6"; and I don't think you will find many MLB hitters standing at the front of the box.

The advantage of standing back at least even with the plate, is that you will have more time to tell if a pitch is going to be a ball or strike and the type pitch being thrown. I reject the notion that hitters can't hit pitches that move. Hitters in baseball hit pitches that move all the time. I played baseball growing up, and I was able to hit pitches that moved. For added fun we would sometimes play competitive wiffle ball in the back yard where the pitcher was trying to strike you out. Wiffle balls move like crazy, and we were able to hit them more often than not with one of those skinny yellow bats.

The whole idea of standing back a little more in the box is to give yourself more time so you don't get fooled as much. If you stand at the front of the box you will have less time to read the pitch and you will get fooled more. On top of that, if the pitcher has any brains she will make an adjustment if she sees you standing in front of the box. You as a hitter are pretty much stuck at the front of the box, unless you plan on moving back and forth in the box on every pitch; which I think most would consider silly.

 

[redhotcoach]

Just jumping in in between games.

Plate coverage? #1 3/4 of every 16yr female player I know is bigger than I am. Plate coverage #2 a person 5'7 or under can't reach a legit called strike on the outside of the plate? HUH?

#3 inside/outside. Don't know anyone in the move up in box camp that does it to cut of the curve/screw. I/we do it to cut off drop and rise, and a couple feet up can cut off a foot of up and down movement.

The teach girls and women different because they are girls and women doesn't fly around here.

 

[stiksdad]

Not sure why people think you cannot cover the breaking ball away if you set at the back corner of the plate. Are you swinging at balls, I assure you if you set up at the back corner and you are the correct distance from the plate and you take the correct swing you can mash a gap ball backside all day long even if its a ball of the plate I think some of you may have other issues.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Not sure why people think you cannot cover the breaking ball away if you set at the back corner of the plate. Are you swinging at balls, I assure you if you set up at the back corner and you are the correct distance from the plate and you take the correct swing you can mash a gap ball backside all day long even if its a ball of the plate I think some of you may have other issues.

From a RH batter's perspective ....

For someone standing as deep in the box as possible, that receives a curve ball that nicks the front outside corner of the plate for a strike, the ball will generally be off the plate when they would swing at it.

For someone standing as deep in the box as possible, that receives a screw ball that nicks the front inside corner of the plate for a strike, the ball will generally be off the plate and jamming them by the time they swing at it.

You can stand as deep in the box as possible ... and you will certainly have more time, which is a good thing ... but all the time in the world won't help you much if you can't put the sweet part of the bat on the ball.

 

[jbooth]

From a RH batter's perspective ....

For someone standing as deep in the box as possible, that receives a curve ball that nicks the front outside corner of the plate for a strike, the ball will generally be off the plate when they would swing at it.

For someone standing as deep in the box as possible, that receives a screw ball that nicks the front inside corner of the plate for a strike, the ball will generally be off the plate and jamming them by the time they swing at it.

You can stand as deep in the box as possible ... and you will certainly have more time, which is a good thing ... but all the time in the world won't help you much if you can't put the sweet part of the bat on the ball.

Coverage isn't about where your back foot is. It's where your front foot is, when it's down and weighted. Even MLB hitters that stand at the very back, are tall and their front foot lands at the front of the plate or even more toward the pitcher. If your front foot is there, you can cover the curve that nicks the front outside corner. Most girls aren't as tall as MLB men, so they may need to be in front of the back line, to get their foot down at the front of the plate.

I was watching the State Championships again today and a LOT of girls have the front foot at the front line, and the front line in softball is 4 feet from the plate apex, not 3 like in baseball. These girls are WAY in front of the plate.

Miguel Cabrera's front foot is about even with the plate after he strides. Most pro hitters are there, or bit closer to the front of the box. I'm not suggesting that your front foot land at the back of the plate. That WOULD make it tough to hit breaking pitches that nip the corners.

I noticed that Andruw Jones lands way past the plate; But, he still starts pretty far back. As does Cabrera.

So, it seems to me that the best thing to do is start back to get a long look and land at or in front, to get coverage. So, girls IMO, should find the place to start, that is back, but still gets their foot down a bit in front.

 

[stiksdad]

From a RH batter's perspective ....

For someone standing as deep in the box as possible, that receives a curve ball that nicks the front outside corner of the plate for a strike, the ball will generally be off the plate when they would swing at it.

For someone standing as deep in the box as possible, that receives a screw ball that nicks the front inside corner of the plate for a strike, the ball will generally be off the plate and jamming them by the time they swing at it.

You can stand as deep in the box as possible ... and you will certainly have more time, which is a good thing ... but all the time in the world won't help you much if you can't put the sweet part of the bat on the ball.

Ok I don't disagree with you assessment however I been doing this a long time and watch a lot of collegiate softball at all levels. Those pitches you are speaking rarely happen, I set my hitters with their foot even with the back corner of the plate and they cover all pitches well the breaking ball argument with me does not hold water because most of the time those are balls. Seeing the ball as long as you can in may opinion only apparently is one of the most important things in successfully hitting the ball consistently with authority. Now I do a tremendous amount of focus on backside hitting I believe it builds discipline and excellent hitting mechanics, we feel like anything in we can handle easily, and we do work on that alot as well but it seems to be more instictive as opposed to learning to hit the ball backside deep in the zone.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Others that have also been doing this a long time, and also watch a lot of collegiate softball, know that placement in the batter's box is a tool used throughout the game. Not uncommon for an entire team to change attack plans multiple times throughout a game. A few years back, during the college world series, the camera panned to a coach explaining to his players why he was directing them to move up in the batter's box ... and it was to counter a steady barrage of curve balls and screw balls.

 

[Eric]

The first post on here was directed at High school hitters. I coach both high school and travel. I think we all can agree, that there is a huge difference in the talent level from both.
I agree with having their front foot after stride even with the plate. However on our high school team, at least half of the girls cannot make adjustments to speed. If it's a slow pitcher in HS, I have them move up, fast, I have them move back. They are not able to adjust to the speed. On our high school team, I have 2 players that play travel, only 1 of those plays high level travel. Our high school team will not come close to winning a state championship. We are in the majority of the teams across the country.
Just in our conference, we have 3 above avg pitchers, that throw close to 60, with movement. The other 5, very little movement and no speed.

In travel, the girls can make the adjustments. I don't know about the rest of you, but in travel, we don't see anyone throwing 50mph or less, like we do in high school.
Very few girls on our high school team even play rec ball in the summer.
Travel ball players are seeing pitches for 12 months out of the year. Girls that just play in high school, are seeing pitches for 2 1/2 months. For most of them, it's their ( fun ) sport. yes they like to play, but are not commited like the travel ball players.

On my travel team, I do not have a certain spot for them to stand. It has to be up to them, where they feel comfortable, where they have their confidence. hitting is a lot about having confidence. I think we cann all agree with that

 

[Jim]

For slappers and some hitters they like to have a better chance of hitting the ball fair. When you move up in the box, your chances of hitting the ball into fair territory increase. Much like when baseball players move up in the box to sacrifice bunt.