When you think of a slapper...

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Apr 26, 2015
704
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When you think of a slapper - what goes thru your mind?

Since DD was not playing yesterday we went and watched some of her friends play. I was talking with some parents and we got to talking about slapping. One dad mentioned - "we don't need slappers, our girls can actually hit the ball". This was a new 12U parent talking and maybe he doesn't understand that slapping is more than just a moving bunt?!?

So, do you think of slappers as girls who can't hit the ball?
 
Oct 2, 2015
615
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To me a girl needs to be very quick to even consider starting out as a slapper.
There are "slappers" on some of the teams my DDs play against in travel and HS ball. They are good at slapping, but they are "slow". So they get thrown out many more times than not.

But I "think of" girls who are slappers, who have the gift of speed. That allows them to be able to learn how to slap and refine that skill.
I do NOT think of girls who slap, as someone who can't hit the ball.

From what I've been told is that it is much harder to learn to be a slapper than to learn a good "standard" batting technique.
We have played teams in travel ball and HS level that had ultra quick slappers, and the ONLY reason we got them out was the slapper made a mistake by hitting the ball too hard, directly into the glove of our defense, or popped up.
If the quick slapper laid down a good hit, they were almost impossible to get out from 12U up to 16U....if they were quick...
 
Feb 13, 2015
164
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A good Slapper get on base almost every at bat.

She reads the ball well, takes a lot of pitches for the team to see.

She power slaps at the weakest infielder that she knows she can beat to first base.

She slow slaps into no man's land that confuses the defense on who can make the play.

She power slaps line drives into gaps when infield plays too close on her or there are runners on base.

She's dependable to make contact on hit and runs.

She makes defenses nervous and induces errors.

This is how I see my Slapper.
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
To be valuable as a slapper you need to be more than a 1 trick pony. Unfortunately at lower levels some find success feasting on weak infielders. Then when they get older they struggle to get the ball to the outfield and become useless. :)
 
Mar 1, 2015
131
0
Slappers can put immense pressure on the defense. I've seen teams, especially at the 12u and 14u level, that can score 3-4 runs quickly. Slapper comes up, gets on. Then steals on the next pitch. Next girls slaps, or bunts and D hesitates as they "look back" the runner at 2nd. By then it's too late and batter is safe at first. All of the sudden it's two on with no outs. Next girl comes up, lefty slapper looking girl. Shows soft slap or bunt on the first pitch. Coaches and parents are yelling at the D to move up. Then she executes a perfect hard slap right over the drawn in 3B and SS. Now it's based loaded. Next girl comes up and lines a double to the wall clearing the bases. Parents, coaches, players of other team are looking at themselves going "what the heck just happened?"

Slappers can also be easy outs if the D is well coached, capable, everyone does their job and the pitcher and pitch calling is right. It's a fine line as I've seen teams with slappers put up crazy stats against weaker defensive teams, then the next game get shut out because they are playing a team that knows how to defend and pitch to slappers, and the slappers aren't used to seeing that level of D and pitching.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
113
Dallas, Texas
a) A "slapper" has to do more than just slap. She should be able to bunt, slap, and swing. (She doesn't need to be able to hit the ball over the fence...she needs to be able hit the ball into a gap.) It takes a couple of years to develop a good slapper.

b) She is an analyst. She sees the defensive alignment, and she attacks the defense If the defense play to take away the bunt, she slaps. If the defense plays to stop the slap and bunt, she swings away.

c) She knows how to steal and runs the bases. She attacks when she is on the base. She makes the SS and 2B shade.

d) A good slapper will cause the defense to be nervous.

Slappers can also be easy outs if the D is well coached, capable, everyone does their job and the pitcher and pitch calling is right.

If you believe this, then you need to get out more. Find a really good slapper. Any change in the basic defensive alignment creates vulnerabilities.

The whole point of a slapper is that the D has to play perfectly to get her out. Over the course of a game, the D will probably make one or two mistakes playing her.
 
Feb 17, 2014
7,152
113
Orlando, FL
a) A "slapper" has to do more than just slap. She should be able to bunt, slap, and swing. (She doesn't need to be able to hit the ball over the fence...she needs to be able hit the ball into a gap.) It takes a couple of years to develop a good slapper.

b) She is an analyst. She sees the defensive alignment, and she attacks the defense If the defense play to take away the bunt, she slaps. If the defense plays to stop the slap and bunt, she swings away.

c) She knows how to steal and runs the bases. She attacks when she is on the base. She makes the SS and 2B shade.

d) A good slapper will cause the defense to be nervous.



If you believe this, then you need to get out more. Find a really good slapper. Any change in the basic defensive alignment creates vulnerabilities.

The whole point of a slapper is that the D has to play perfectly to get her out. Over the course of a game, the D will probably make one or two mistakes playing her.

From where I am sitting in the stands in Tuscaloosa, I could not agree with you more. :)
 
Apr 26, 2015
704
43
I am going to respond to my own post now...I know I am a little biased as DD is a slapper. She is fast. She can lay down a great bunt. But she can also swing away and last week actually hit the fence. She is learning to read the defense and getting pretty good at knowing when to soft slap, hard slap and power slap. She is little and gets underestimated many times.

Her team played in Vegas a couple weekends ago and for a little Colorado team played some pretty good competition. She made some of those defenses look pretty silly.

She is only 13 so she has a LONG way to go and has tons of room for improvement, but IMO is pretty valuable to her team. It is a rartity when she doesn't find a way to get on base and once on she is a smart base runnner. Watching her hitting lessons is almost overwhelming to me. She works on slapping and hitting and there are so many moving parts to remember. I am pretty impressed with the progress she has made over the past year.

I didn't reapond to the dad mentioned above because I am guessing he hasn't seen the havoc a good slapper can inflict.
 
It's case-by-case. I consider:

Does the girl have the potential to hit multi-base hits when hitting stationary? (If she's grounding the left side half the time anyway, why not try to shave half a second off their time to first?)
Is the girl taking too many pitches? Sometimes the early activation of a slapper breaks that mindset.
Is the girl already mis-hitting (versus solid contact) or hitting balls off the plate?

Strike zone recognition is more important than speed, IMHO, when deciding to go down that route. Even if she's only 4.0 to first normally, getting her to 3.5 with a run-up may make the difference with a bobble.

I've only seen 3-4 girls in the last 3 years (2 at 10U, 1 at 12U) that was trying, and only one that was effective. (Mix of New England A, B, C teams faced about 30 games/year). I tried to switch my daughter from the right side, but she didn't care for it and bailed. I'm coaching a naturally LH hitter this year to work on triple threat. She's below average speed (~4.0 to 1st with the run-up). Not enough data in the fall to estimate how many she beat because she was slapping. We'll see how it goes.

My feeling is that it could be effective at 12U for the small percentage of girls who fit into that criteria, but so few know how to coach it and so few girls are willing to embrace and develop it (in my area at least).

Here are some things to consider when developing a slapper:

- trigger foot: decide on whether they need that front foot sliding back on the initial movement or going directly to the cross-over
- hands: Separate hands on bunt or keep together? Drop bat down on slap for better bat control?
- target: target left side exclusively or attack right side too?
 
Mar 3, 2016
47
0
My DD has been working on slapping for 3 years-a lot of girls try it, but it takes a lot of patience and dedication, plus speed, and a good head for the opposition and the best play to move the runner. So it needs to be a strategic player.
She also hits righty and can really wack a ball. Coach will often have her switch sides depending on the pitcher's speed and the situation-it really upsets the infield and the outfield because they just don't know how to play her.
She also has always been able to work the strike zone, and has always had more BBs than anyone on her team, and of course she is fast.

I would highly recommend it for a speedy, thinking player who loves to run. Be prepared for a year of a lower batting average. And get a coach/instructor who actually knows how to do it. We watched a college coach try to explain and demonstrate it to one of her players. After a few minutes, my DD turned to me and whispered "That hurts my heart!"
 

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