Pulling out front shoulder, open too much

Im looking for some tips or drills to help with pulling shoulders open too much, stepping out at the plate. Dd is 9 She either pops up or just doesn't hit the ball hard. On occasion she will hit a solid line drive to the outfield but mostly just dinkers to the infield for an out. This has been on going so breaking the muscle memory at the plate has been a huge challenge. The only time she gets on base is a bunt or slap.

I've been looking through some of the old posts here to get some ideas but wanted to see if anyone else has done anything specific to fix this.

I will try to add some video but mostly what I have is poor quality to see well. But they all look the same. She steps to her left (rhb) pulls her head/shoulders out and hits the ball almost behind her.


Looking through the gif that I am trying to load, I am seeing some bat drag on top of the other issues.
We really have a lot to work on.


[video=youtube_share;xL-8JPtf0g8]http://youtu.be/xL-8JPtf0g8[/video]

She's suffering from the squash the bug syndrome. It should be illegal. I will try my best to explain this. I works like a charm. Every time

Set up a plate or a flattened box parallel to a chain link fence or even a tree (something you can anchor off of). Attach a resistance band (the band should have a little tension and not slack) to her front ankle and the other end to the anchor point. Have her stride without a bat for several times to get use to the band fighting her. Then add a bat for a bunch of swings and then pitching. Her brain will autocorrect for the tension and her stride will be perfectly straight when it's removed. It teaches feel

I know what I said makes no sense at all. I tried

Sorry about the quality of pic:

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the front shoulder. IMO, that is nothing more than a symptom of a different problem. She is leveling the bat in order to swing. This causes her rear shoulder to drop below her front shoulder, etc., etc.

My suggestion is to research the leveling problem. Some refer to it as DBSF (drop barrel swing flat). A thread was recently started to discuss that very topic.

The good news... This is VERY common with players this age. She is young and athletic. With some work, I have no doubt that she can fix it. Good luck!

I see what FP sees as well...not so much bug squishing, I actually like her lower half and rear leg usage a lot. I just see the leveling issue, come on over to the DBSFA thread and join in the pain of trying to eradicate this pesky flaw.

I see a front leg working independent of the rear leg. I also see DBSF. Along with 'bat drag' and spinning the bat 'around' the body.

before you get scared 4 girls dad...know that despite the feedback about the flaws so far, that for a 9 year old FP player she has a friggin awesome game swing. She is going to be a rock star.


the pop ups will come down (no pun intended). it is a byproduct of the DBSF, my DD has more than her share when she isn't seeing the ball well. She is crushing it right now but for a month or so at the end of last season she could not hit anything lower than 100 feet up and 10 feet out. Then it just went away.

I think is to...... work on sequence and rhythm of the swing. Load first, then step out and separate to toe touch.
Research the matrix drill.
Do it slow to get the feeling then speed it up.



SL

straightleg said:

I think is to...... work on sequence and rhythm of the swing. Load first, then step out and separate to toe touch.
Research the matrix drill.
Do it slow to get the feeling then speed it up.



SL

Click to expand...

With this advise when do you initiate your coil?

Ok, I know this is the technical forum, but let me give some practical things for you to try. I agree with the others, her shoulders are a symptom of other things. My daughter had probably one of the worst bug squish and bat drag issues documented. We started 3 years ago with help from this site and have made huge strides, but are no where near where we want to be. I will try to make it easy for you to translate to your 9 yr old.

1) Bug Squish

Tell your DD you want to work on hitting and instead of grabbing her bat, grab her ball and glove. Tell her to get in a hitting stance and throw the ball side arm. Don't worry where the ball goes, but watch her back foot and see if it "spins" like it does when she hits. My guess it does not because no one in their right mind would tell someone to throw like that. The hitting motion is almost identical to the throwing motion. Have her keep throwing in that position and notice how her feet work.

Next, get a small T-ball bat and actually have her throw the bat towards 1st base or where 2nd base player would be. Do this a number of times for her to get the feel of what you want and that staying back and spinning is not what we are after for a strong swing.



2) Bat Drag

Do lots of this.



There are many more things to do and much better instruction that what I can give, but these things have been the most help with my daughter and she looked MUCH worse when we started than where your DD is. Good luck and be patient.