Death by pop up

We are entering the last tournament of the season, "Canadian Open". My DD has been dying from the pop up the last 8 games. We have been working on FFS clean hand path, "attack from the top" and it has helped some but we are looking for a quick fix with only one day left before the tournament begins. What proven quick fix works?

https://youtu.be/YWxO-tFxEmk

Start viewing at the 1:25 mark. Thoughts? Really curious about her quick claim on stop and reverse load process is better then a continual movement.

Little bit of contradictory advice being given here.

A translation of the first portion is that good hitters get on plane late, not early. That is correct.

The comment of not lowering the rear shoulder … of not tilting … does not resolve an issue with pop ups … it actually encourages a poor hand path and will lead to more pop ups. The tilting, or lowering of the rear shoulder, is tied into getting on plane late and maintaining a proper hand path.

Anyone recommending “level shoulders”, or the avoidance of the rear shoulder lowering, is doing a hitter a disservice.

Doc Yeager: "The better the hitter, the later they wait to get on plane."

Hard to say sight unseen, but here are two quick things to look for.

One is the rear shoulder already being lower than the front shoulder at toe touch. You want the front shoulder to be lower at that point. Then the back shoulder lowers as you rotate.

Also check on the bat angle at contact. You want the bat to be angled somewhat down to give you more surface to strike the ball and still get a good hit. With a flat bat, even being slightly below the optimal spot to make contact will likely result in a popup. Keeping the hands above the ball and angling the bat down (rather than the old "take the hands/knob to the ball") will greatly reduce popup problems.

For a quick fix, Rudy Jaramillo suggested high tee for warm ups and swinging over head in on deck circle. Watch Elvis Andrus and Nelson Cruz in on deck circle, they still do this. Obviously can open a whole other can of worms in regard to swing long-term, but may get her back closer to middle of swing spectrum for now until you can do the proper analysis and correction that others have suggested.

If this came out of the blue, take a look at the way team warms up hitting before games. DD's team caught "pop up fever" early in season. Players were using tees at lowest height and when soft-tossing to each other were throwing very low. TCB balls didn't help either, players were swinging like pro slow pitch players trying to hit those for distance. Correcting that seemed to help.

FiveFrameSwing said:

Little bit of contradictory advice being given here.

A translation of the first portion is that good hitters get on plane late, not early. That is correct.

The comment of not lowering the rear shoulder … of not tilting … does not resolve an issue with pop ups … it actually encourages a poor hand path and will lead to more pop ups. The tilting, or lowering of the rear shoulder, is tied into getting on plane late and maintaining a proper hand path.

Anyone recommending “level shoulders”, or the avoidance of the rear shoulder lowering, is doing a hitter a disservice.

Click to expand...

Any thoughts on stop after loading vs continual movement?

Mad4Ball said:

Any thoughts on stop after loading vs continual movement?

Click to expand...

Yes. Recommend removing such pauses.

Mad4Ball said:

...What proven quick fix works?

Click to expand...

Not a big believer in quick fixes. Heading to the plate their swing is their swing. 1) Have a plan at the plate; 2) See the ball; 3) Hit the ball. Thinking about mechanics is more harmful than helpful.

That said, the thing that hitters can do is adjust where they intend for the bat to make contact with the ball. Warm her up with TCBs or front toss and have her 1) Swing just over the ball but don't touch it, 2) Swing just under the ball but don't touch it, 3) Hit the top, 4) Hit the bottom, 5) Hit top half, 6) Hit bottom half, 7) Hit the middle. While this probably has more to do with vision than mechanics, the girls often need to be reminded to make adjustments based on the results they're getting... and to trust those adjustments. Change the thought from being a victim of their swing to having the confidence that they can make the adjustments needed to be successful. If she's been popping up for eight games, have her go up to bat intending to hit the ball 1/4" above the middle. Save the mechanics fixes for after the tournament.

Good thread thanks for sharing