Swing hard vs making contact

[smddad]

Situation:

DD does a great job of making contact. She has a great swing, however I'm not going to post it. During her hitting sessions she hits the ball hard and does very well.

The trouble comes during games. She has struck out less than 20 times in the past two full seasons. She slows her swing down in order to make contact. I'm trying to change her focus to not worry about striking out and hitting the ball hard. She went from a .500 power hitter to .200 this past year. Even less this fall. WAY less.

Any thoughts or helpful advice to achieve this? I will take some blame for stressing not striking out. Okay, I will take a lot of blame for that.

 

[Eric F]

How old is she?

 

[HOF86]

Situation:

DD does a great job of making contact. She has a great swing, however I'm not going to post it. During her hitting sessions she hits the ball hard and does very well.

The trouble comes during games. She has struck out less than 20 times in the past two full seasons. She slows her swing down in order to make contact. I'm trying to change her focus to not worry about striking out and hitting the ball hard. She went from a .500 power hitter to .200 this past year. Even less this fall. WAY less.

Any thoughts or helpful advice to achieve this? I will take some blame for stressing not striking out. Okay, I will take a lot of blame for that.

If you cant post her swing it will be very hard. But i will try.

First, that sounds abnormal. Have you had her vision checked? If she has any type if swing at all she should be making contact. A great swing and no contact, this does not compute. What do you mean your not stressing not striking out? How would you do that? Stressing it means nothing. There is something mechanically wrong. I guarantee you that.

How old is she?

Most of the time girls that swing and miss a bunch have horrible swing or are just simply overmatched. Chopping down is very bad. Or bat dropping swinging directly up. Without video it cant be diagnosed.

Best of luck.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

HOF86, this sort of story is quite normal in this sport.

At the young ages almost anything tends to work. Parents convince themselves that their kid has a terrific swing, when many times it is horrible. The longer they play at a low level, the more success they have with inferior mechanics. Then they move up an age level, or a classification level, and dose of reality is dealt.

 

[HOF86]

HOF86, this sort of story is quite normal in this sport.

At the young ages almost anything tends to work. Parents convince themselves that their kid has a terrific swing, when many times it is horrible. The longer they play at a low level, the more success they have with inferior mechanics. Then they move up an age level, or a classification level, and dose of reality is dealt.

True. My next question is did she jump in age levels. That upper cut works in lob ball but not fastptch. Did she go from rec to travel. Im suspecting that swing is far from great. If you need help looks like many are willing.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Situation:

DD does a great job of making contact. She has a great swing, however I'm not going to post it. During her hitting sessions she hits the ball hard and does very well.

The trouble comes during games. She has struck out less than 20 times in the past two full seasons. She slows her swing down in order to make contact. I'm trying to change her focus to not worry about striking out and hitting the ball hard. She went from a .500 power hitter to .200 this past year. Even less this fall. WAY less.

Any thoughts or helpful advice to achieve this? I will take some blame for stressing not striking out. Okay, I will take a lot of blame for that.

Focus more on "swinging" than on "hitting".

 

[smddad]

If you cant post her swing it will be very hard. But i will try.

First, that sounds abnormal. Have you had her vision checked? If she has any type if swing at all she should be making contact. A great swing and no contact, this does not compute. What do you mean your not stressing not striking out? How would you do that? Stressing it means nothing. There is something mechanically wrong. I guarantee you that.

How old is she?

Most of the time girls that swing and miss a bunch have horrible swing or are just simply overmatched. Chopping down is very bad. Or bat dropping swinging directly up. Without video it cant be diagnosed.

Best of luck.

I need to clarify. She makes contact all the time. She rarely strikes out. She is sacrificing her power during game swings to make contact during the game. I would rather see her K's swinging go up in order for her to hit ball hard. It's her mental approach at the plate.

In the cage, she hits hard. Games, she slows her bat speed down and hits weak grounders. Her current club has a bat speed measurement tool and she has the fasted bat speed. Unfortunately, she doesn't during games.

 

[smddad]

Focus more on "swinging" than on "hitting".

Thank you. This is more of what I am looking for.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

On a similar note ... create a mindset that is more "process oriented" than "results oriented".

 

[HOF86]

I need to clarify. She makes contact all the time. She rarely strikes out. She is sacrificing her power during game swings to make contact during the game. I would rather see her K's swinging go up in order for her to hit ball hard. It's her mental approach at the plate.

In the cage, she hits hard. Games, she slows her bat speed down and hits weak grounders. Her current club has a bat speed measurement tool and she has the fasted bat speed. Unfortunately, she doesn't during games.

Imo. You may be hung up on to many things that dont matter, measure bat speed etc. who has the fastest. None of that matters if she is slowing her bat down purposely and hitting weak grounders. You said twenty times she has struck out in a couple seasons...thats a ton if its 10 or 12 u. How old is she. My daughter played 10u as a 7 year old and struck out three times. Im just saying the pitching isnt hat good at those ages most times. I definately would not slow her down. Swing...hit. Id say the opposite. Sounds like she is swinging and not hitting. I guess you have to have the swing first though so maybe fiveframe makes a good point. Who knows because we cant see her.