At what age does slap hitting start to loose effectiveness?

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May 16, 2016
1,024
113
Illinois
I understand that slap hitting (soft slap, and power slap, etc.) can be extremely effective at all levels of play, including college and professional levels. At what age level do you start to see the slap hitters start to loose their effectiveness?

We (myself and hitting instructor) have been practicing slap hitting with my daughter who will be an 8u player playing up at the 10u level next year for about 9 months. She only bats left handed. She is the fastest player on the team and has very good quickness, but I don't think she will ever be a legit track star. That kind of speed just does not run in the family.

The slap hitting is definitely what you would call a work in progress. She can do it well in batting practice but come game time she struggles to put the ball between the lines, lots of foul balls. No big deal, she is only 8 years old. She also enjoys practicing slap hitting, it usually takes about 10 pitches in batting practice for her to get her foot work down correctly and keep her hand high. That is where the difference is come game time, you don't get 10 practice pitches in a game.

Now that I gave a little backround, back to the original question. Does slap hitting loose its effectiveness at older ages?
 
Aug 20, 2013
265
0
If I had to guess, I'd say about 35 or so...;-) In all seriousness, watch some college games and you'll see that slappers are an essential part of the game. With 60' bases, speed kills.
 

Chris Delorit

Member
Apr 24, 2016
343
28
Green Bay, WI
Bob,

Positively, no.

Just like any other skill that you wish to get better at, you have to decide to make a commitment to practice it, and then apply it in games. Actually, I think you answered your own concerns in your own first paragraph. You can be a more desirable technician, if you carry a Windows Recovery Disk, Knoppix Linux LiveCD & a can of compressed air in your toolbox. Not that you'll be a better repair man than the Geek Patrol with only a helmet headlight, but you'll be more desirable at the corner comic book stand.

;)
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
Now that I gave a little backround, back to the original question. Does slap hitting loose its effectiveness at older ages?

Sorry, you won't get any support from most of the posters here to give up on it. It takes a good 2 years for a girl to become a serviceable slapper. It takes another 2 years for a player to learn how and to become a really solid triple threat at the plate.

The effectiveness of a triple threat slapper only increases with age and strength. She does not have to be fastest slapper in the world so long as she can put the ball where they aint.
 

redhotcoach

Out on good behavior
May 8, 2009
4,706
38
Slap and big speed is massive threat forever. Had 2 last season, (went to college), that could beat out almost every infield throw. Played a team 3 weeks ago that had a girl that could bounce a ball pitched just about any location. On the field we were on, she would be just feet from first before the high bounce touched the gloves of our left side.
 
Aug 26, 2011
1,285
0
Houston, Texas
That kind of speed just does not run in the family.

Who says speed has to run in the family?? I think with hard work and dedication, she could keep her speed and possibly get better at it. Just saying. But I think I understand your question...I guess you have to wait and see what her growth spurt does...you might be surprised!!
 
Feb 4, 2015
641
28
Massachusetts
has very good quickness, but I don't think she will ever be a legit track star.

It becomes harder as the defenses become better. A slap doesn't have to be perfect if the hitter has killer speed. I've seen girls who slapped in 10-12U, just didn't get away with it in 14U.

On the other hand, if she has legit speed, keep working at it. Mine's a 14U and still has A LOT of work to do and still does some of the things you mention. There's a big difference between executing in BP vs executing at full game speed with so many things happening at once. Like any hitting, you're never done working.

I think the mistake we made when she was younger was focusing too much on the slapping and bunting, and not continuing to work on the hitting just as much. So now we're playing a little catch up on that aspect.
 
Sep 29, 2014
2,421
113
Is she naturally left handed?

I am going to be in the minority here. You said she been working at this for 9 months and she is 8 yrs old. I would probably teach her how to swing normally first then I would teach her how to bunt before teaching her to slap and please don't tell me you did that at 6 and 7 and by the time she was 8 she had great swing mechanics and could lay a bunt down in her sleep so you started teaching her to slap. You said great speed does not run in the family so if by the time she is 13 or 14 she is average speed that would be the answer to your question at 14U and 16U if you can't beat out quality throw slap hitting will start to loose its effectiveness. Now if she gets really good at slapping and she is fast then she can slap hit forever but I would love to see her actually learn to hit.You want to be able to drive the ball to the gap and place it really well so that they cant crash in before the pitch because you can bloop it over the infield and the outfield could not cheat in because you can gap it or hit it over their heads and in my opinion it is easier to learn to swing first, plus then if you grow big and stronger versus small and skinny you might not have to worry about slapping if you can just hit bombs all day but I don't know what the family genes are like.
 

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