TTB and the Fastpitch Swing

[Cornbread]

Just curious what yalls thoughts are on the exaggerated TTB drills and how helpful they are for a Fastpitch hitter. The ball is Fastpitch is much flatter than in baseball.

 

[2br02b]

Just curious what yalls thoughts are on the exaggerated TTB drills and how helpful they are for a Fastpitch hitter. The ball is Fastpitch is much flatter than in baseball.

Can you clarify the bolded part?

 

[Cornbread]

A baseball pitcher releases the ball overhand from a 10in mound. The balls has a steeper downward plane. A Fastpitch pitcher releases the ball from her hip off of a flat rubber. The ball doesn’t have as steep of a decsent and is flatter

 

[Shawn]

I agree with that, in baseball the pitcher is 6ft 6 inches and throwing off a 10 inch mound, while throwing overhand.

In fastpitch the mound is flat the ball is released at the hip level to a catcher who squating at about hip level.

This doesn't mean the ball flight is flat. There is a natural arc to the pitch and a breaking pitch such as a drop can break downwards. Although there are some differences between the two games.

 

[FP26]

The important thing to remember is that a lot of the drills are exaggerated. That is the key word. When you watch a pro-hitter, the attack angle on a low pitch looks much steeper than the attack angle on a higher pitch.

Dustin Pedroia is swinging at a high pitch in this clip, but is still TTB.

Here are some examples of fastpitch players.

 

[Eric F]

 

[HasBeenorNeverWas]

I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question....but what is the opposite of TTB?? Like if you're not TTB then what are you doing?

 

[Shawn]

I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question....but what is the opposite of TTB?? Like if you're not TTB then what are you doing?

Your dumping the barrel rearward.

Or you have dead hands, slop, when you should be turning the barrel.

 

[justanotherguy]

So, I just want to throw one thing out there. A fastball in softball has forward spin, so it's sinking. A fastball in baseball has back spin, so it doesn't sink anything like a softball. My DD plays both baseball and softball. The largest issue going back and forth between the two is forcing yourself to fight your muscle memory. Baseball has a MUCH flatter trajectory. She will typically hit the bottom of the ball simply because it's not sinking. Then vice versa, when going from baseball to fastpitch, she hits the ball on the top of the ball because it's sinking so much more. Despite where its starting point is, the softball is typically sinking more (with the exception of a true riseball) in softball.

 

[lhowser]

I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question....but what is the opposite of TTB?? Like if you're not TTB then what are you doing?

There are several things that can happen in a swing that the idea of TTB addresses.

1. Extreme teaching of pushing the bat knob in the direction of the pitching along the pitch path and then snapping the wrist. This has been a popular youth hitting instruction. TTB suggests starting to direct the barrel into to path of the pitch from the swing initiation.

2. Extending the arms. An outward casting at the initiation of the swing that creates a slower overall swing

3. Bat Drag - The rear elbow flaps down and under at the initiation of the swing before there is any rotational movement of the barrel towards the pitch.

TTB (TURN THE BARREL) is both a description and a technique that addresses these issues.