Letting it get deep

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
Let it get deep!!!
I hear this a lot from hitting coaches.
For the life of me I don't understand! I've coached a ton of kids a lot of different skill sets, but I'm primarily known as a PC. I understand the balls movement and how to achieve that "late break" we hear so much about.
My point is I love teams who "let it get deep" in an attempt to give the batter an extra 1/100 of a second to read the spin and location... all that really did is allow the spin to move the ball even more making it even harder to hit. Secondly, if its an inside pitch, at best the hitter will make contact on the handle. Unless I'm missing something, that's about the worst advise we can give a hitter. I want my hitters to contact the ball where its pitched.... out front on an inside ball, and at the plate on an outside ball. Never purposefully let it get so deep that she can't get extended and is forced to wrist roll. Its so frustrating watching a kid try to make this adjustment of hitting an inside rise or screw while "letting it get deep"... so now the parents continue to pay that "high level" hitting coach $50 an hour while the poor kid can't seem to hit anything other than weak dribblers towards the 3-4 hole.
Can someone shine some light on this for me?
 
Jun 22, 2008
3,731
113
If they are using the term for all conditions then I would agree the advice is misguided. But, my daughters hitting coach didn't use that exact term, he would say let the ball travel but it was in reference to outside pitches. He wanted the girls to let the outside ball travel further and then drive it to the opposite field. Inside pitches he wanted them to attack the ball out in front of the plate and drive it up the middle or pull it.
 
Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
If they are using the term for all conditions then I would agree the advice is misguided. But, my daughters hitting coach didn't use that exact term, he would say let the ball travel but it was in reference to outside pitches. He wanted the girls to let the outside ball travel further and then drive it to the opposite field. Inside pitches he wanted them to attack the ball out in front of the plate and drive it up the middle or pull it.

I agree. This is where the term comes into play for DD. When she is out in front of an outside pitch it is either popped up or weakly pulled to 2nd. When she lets it "get deep" or "travel" it is a line drive into the outfield on the left side.
 

ian

Jun 11, 2015
1,175
48
If a coach teaches his players to hit ground balls with a chopping/downward swing plane the hitters will need to catch the ball in front. If the coach teaches his team to hit bombs with an upward swing plane they will need to let the ball travel.
 
Oct 21, 2015
69
6
With us it's used when the girls aren't being patient . Like when they are out their front foot on a change up .
 
Oct 21, 2016
189
28
I stress to my D to stay middle to front of the box to hit the ball before the late break. Giving up a 1/100 of a second to hit the ball before it has extra time to break is worth it in my mind. Plus I always felt moving to the very back of the box was giving up part of the mind game to the pitcher. When a fast pitcher is used to everyone hugging the back of the box and a hitter, or better yet a whole team, sets up in the front of the box it doesn't go unnoticed by the pitcher. This obviously only works if the hitter(s) can catch up with the pitch.

The only time I have ever told my D or team to let it travel is on a slower pitcher when the batters are swinging too early.
 
Feb 17, 2015
318
18
USA
Let it get deep or let the ball travel applies to the player that is out front of the pitch with their swing. This is just the coach telling the player to let the ball get a little deeper in the hitting zone. I like what Matt Lisle prefers in telling the hitter to slow their load. The end goal is trying to get the player to slow down or start a split second later so they can time up the pitch better thus allowing a ball to be hit off the sweet spot of the barrel instead of the end of the bat. Much easier said than done.
 

obbay

Banned
Aug 21, 2008
2,199
0
Boston, MA
Hit the ball where it is pitched- in front of the front foot on an inside pitch and inside the front knee on an outside pitch.
I don't like the term "let it get deep". Too vague.

As far as front of box/back in box- varies depending on batter and pitcher and umpire. If a pitcher has a lot of movement is umpire going to call a strike on a pitch that the catcher has to reach out of the zone to catch or a ball that hits the dirt before it gets to the catcher? Back of the box can create these scenarios. But this is not a one size fits all thing. Sometimes front, sometimes back adjust to the moment.
 
Last edited:
Oct 2, 2015
615
18
If a coach teaches his players to hit ground balls with a chopping/downward swing plane the hitters will need to catch the ball in front. If the coach teaches his team to hit bombs with an upward swing plane they will need to let the ball travel.

Up here with the Minn/Dak Training Wheel Swing, or Swunt...it's the exact opposite.
For a right handed batter the rear hand (right hand) is not allowed to move away from the body at all. The right hand runs literally in a straight line parallel to the edge of the plate, at all times.
The batter keeps the bat barrel as perpendicular to the ball for as long as they can. Pushing the barrel outward in that perpendicular motion as long as they can.
They normally make contact with the ball, when the ball is directly beside them, (and sometimes I swear the ball is behind them)
Then since the hands are running in such a linear fashion they hands carry the bat momentum up and over their shoulder like a golfer would....and then slap the middle of their back with the bat.

The power hitters up here are the only ones hitting the bat out front...the farther inside the ball, the farther out front the bat head hits the ball
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
I haven't read everything so please forgive me if I'm repeating something already mentioned. I may get flamed, but IDC. Here's my theory and so far, IME it's fully lived up to and surpassed my expectations. Since we don't want our hitter's swing to change whether an inside ball, down the middle ball, or and outside ball, i.e. casting the hands, my hitters change their "power line" hitting just like pitchers do. If it's an inside ball, at stride for a RH hitter, they will stride a little bit open. If the pitch is down the middle, they will stride straight towards the pitcher mostly and if outside, slightly toward the plate. This is no different for golfers than hitters. Where your feet aim is where you'll hit the ball....down your power line. Here's an experiment to try. Have your hitter set up at the plate as they would normally. Next have them stride slightly open. Set a golf club or long straight edge along their feet. Next, set another straight edge perpendicular to the one at their feet approximating the contact point. Now look where it's at in relation to the plate. Do the same thing with an outside pitch. You'll find that in relation to the plate, the contact point with the ball on an inside pitch will be "out front" and the contact point for an outside pitch will "travel deep" in relation to the plate.

I think this is one of the major fallacies that many people, including many hitting coaches believe and are wrong.

Does this mean that the swing itself should change according to the pitch? No. I want my hitter's swings to remain constant. In other words, through thousands of tee swings, front toss, live pitching etc, they developed a constant. That constant is how long it takes for their bat to reach contact from launch. Thus, they need to time only one thing; the ball speed if trained properly. The only other adjustment they need to make is where to stride in order to take full advantage of the pitch location should it be a strike. So to say let it get deep or hit it out front is a fallacy IMO. The contact point is the same for every well trained hitter. Their swing should never change. Of course this is a simplistic overall view of a HL swing (not including body tilt and the rest) but I think the points are valid. For someone to give those clues are only messing with a hitters timing on when to start their launch. JMHO
 

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
42,831
Messages
679,491
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top