Timing

Hey. My daughter is 10 and she's been working with a well respected hitting coach here in my area. She is really getting her swing down and hitting the ball hard - in the cages with him tossing it to her. He's very encouraged by her progress (she's been seeing him just about every week since July). She plays on a good (for our league) little league (rec) team and while she's probably the most consistent hitter in our league, she still does a lot of the wrong things at the plate in practice and in games. Her hits go over the heads of the other team usually but they aren't hard drives like she appears to be hitting in the cage. I am thinking that because she doesn't get that many reps at the plate in games (we play 2 games at the most per week) and our games are not competitive at all (our team hasn't lost in-league for 3 seasons) that I need to find a good way to help her better learn her timing.

What, besides joining a more competitive league, is recommended? We are considering moving her to a travel league next season so I'm trying to get ahead of the obvious issues that will arise when she makes the move.

The main things that happen in games/practice outside of the private instruction is lunging early and dropping her bat angle. Pitching in our league is pretty bad so most of the time it goes to coach pitch which ends up being slower. Yes - this league does coach pitch after 4 balls.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Annesdad said:

Hey. My daughter is 10 and she's been working with a well respected hitting coach here in my area. She is really getting her swing down and hitting the ball hard - in the cages with him tossing it to her. He's very encouraged by her progress (she's been seeing him just about every week since July). She plays on a good (for our league) little league (rec) team and while she's probably the most consistent hitter in our league, she still does a lot of the wrong things at the plate in practice and in games. Her hits go over the heads of the other team usually but they aren't hard drives like she appears to be hitting in the cage. I am thinking that because she doesn't get that many reps at the plate in games (we play 2 games at the most per week) and our games are not competitive at all (our team hasn't lost in-league for 3 seasons) that I need to find a good way to help her better learn her timing.

What, besides joining a more competitive league, is recommended? We are considering moving her to a travel league next season so I'm trying to get ahead of the obvious issues that will arise when she makes the move.

The main things that happen in games/practice outside of the private instruction is lunging early and dropping her bat angle. Pitching in our league is pretty bad so most of the time it goes to coach pitch which ends up being slower. Yes - this league does coach pitch after 4 balls.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

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This should not be the case...coach pitch should not be lobbing the balls over the plate...coach pitch should be pitched with at least as much velocity just consistently over the heart of the plate.

Given what you are describing it sounds like it is time to go find a more competitive league...girls don't learn anything by standing up there for four pitches waiting for coach to come in a lob the ball to them, there are some rec leagues that are competitive but this does not sound like one of them. Maybe all this is OK for 8U but by 10U this should not be the happening

Annesdad said:

Hey. My daughter is 10 and she's been working with a well respected hitting coach here in my area. She is really getting her swing down and hitting the ball hard - in the cages with him tossing it to her. He's very encouraged by her progress (she's been seeing him just about every week since July). She plays on a good (for our league) little league (rec) team and while she's probably the most consistent hitter in our league, she still does a lot of the wrong things at the plate in practice and in games. Her hits go over the heads of the other team usually but they aren't hard drives like she appears to be hitting in the cage. I am thinking that because she doesn't get that many reps at the plate in games (we play 2 games at the most per week) and our games are not competitive at all (our team hasn't lost in-league for 3 seasons) that I need to find a good way to help her better learn her timing.

What, besides joining a more competitive league, is recommended? We are considering moving her to a travel league next season so I'm trying to get ahead of the obvious issues that will arise when she makes the move.

The main things that happen in games/practice outside of the private instruction is lunging early and dropping her bat angle. Pitching in our league is pretty bad so most of the time it goes to coach pitch which ends up being slower. Yes - this league does coach pitch after 4 balls.

Click to expand...

Is she having trouble timing the coach pitch, or player pitch, or both?

Ball not being lobbed up there but not as quickly as the pitcher from the other team. I always tell the girls that it's going to come slower but they still get out on their front foot and pop it up or just hit a soft grounder.

Anyway - we are likely to move to another league/travel team but what can I do with her to help her? Even in BP when we are throwing the ball harder to them her timing is off. I think she just needs more swings in BP outside of the cages but in addition, is there anything to help her work on timing?

CoogansBluff said:

Is she having trouble timing the coach pitch, or player pitch, or both?

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At this point, in this league, pitching stinks pretty badly. We have a 6 team league in which 3 of the teams really don't have one pitcher who can throw strikes. One has a decent strike throwing pitcher but it's slow and the other is a decent pitcher. So, in most games the girls are hitting coach pitch pretty regularly. I guess she's having trouble timing the coach pitch.

Realistically though, she's not getting many cuts other than in the batting cage with the instructor. Our practices aren't as well drawn out as travel teams or even other rec teams I'm sure. I've tried to implement some structure but being just an assistant coach I can only do so much. I'm willing to practice with her but want to know what I should do so it helps not hinders!

The goal....wait as long as they can, and swing as fast as they can. With fast pitching, the waiting won't be long. With slow pitching, the waiting is longer. On both, the swing should be as fast as they are able to swing the bat with good mechanics.

My DD started in kind of the same way. Rec/travel team against mostly weak pitching. Made the jump to tourney ball. That is when DD realized that her hitting needed work if she was going to succeed/continue to play.
Hit off of a tee. Must hit line drives off of tee. Started with learning to hit opposite field off a tee. Must hit line drives.
A lot of front toss BP. First session would be simulating the pitching speed DD would face. Then I would gradually increase the pitching speed. During BP still stressing line drives.
I would also sprinkle in change ups to correct any 'lunging'. Also to prevent DD to just 'sit' on fast balls. I also would stress to DD to hit the ball where it was pitched. Outside pitches should not be pulled and should go to opposite field. Our goal was always to practice for the next level. If in fact that is your goal.

rdbass said:

My DD started in kind of the same way. Rec/travel team against mostly weak pitching. Made the jump to tourney ball. That is when DD realized that her hitting needed work if she was going to succeed/continue to play.
Hit off of a tee. Must hit line drives off of tee. Started with learning to hit opposite field off a tee. Must hit line drives.
A lot of front toss BP. First session would be simulating the pitching speed DD would face. Then I would gradually increase the pitching speed. During BP still stressing line drives.
I would also sprinkle in change ups to correct any 'lunging'. Also to prevent DD to just 'sit' on fast balls. I also would stress to DD to hit the ball where it was pitched. Outside pitches should not be pulled and should go to opposite field. Our goal was always to practice for the next level. If in fact that is your goal.

Click to expand...

What you describe is very similar to what her hitting coach is doing. She hits nice line drives right up the middle off the tee as well as during front toss. He throws changes in there too or just holds the ball to see what she's doing. She's gotten pretty good at waiting back in these situations - but not during games or when we are doing BP from the mound. I guess it's just not clicking in her in live situations yet. But how can I help bring that along more quickly?

Annesdad,

It sounds like you have your daughter with a respectable coach, and one that you both seem to like. That's a great start!

Hitting is really just a reactionary event, where you're reacting to the movement of a pitched ball. The ball has a level of velocity & movement & there is rarely ever duplication in an AB, or a game. Every pitch is just a fresh AB. Timing isn't a word I use much in a training vocabulary, as I find it can confuse more than it defines. Sure, the entire process of the swing could certainly be considered a process involving some timing.

Back to your daughter.

Two common mistakes that I see with kids is that they are being taught to hyper-focus much too hard on a common release point, and then to time every pitch relative to starting their swing. Every pitcher can have a different motion, multiple release points and different pitch speeds. So, hopefully you can see that timing by counting, etc., can be the cause of inconsistancy & performance anxiety. In your daughter's scenario, that could be causing her to get out on the front foot too early.

In addition to your hitting lessons, I would suggest some drills that help relax your daughter, relax & reposition her focal points & eliminate the need to time-to-swing. If your daughter has a static stance, she can also experiment with one that incorporates a more dynamic approach.

A couple easy drills that you can experiment with are walk-throughs & tee work off the three contact points (inside/middle/outside). Live pitching emulating a variety of motion styles & speeds. Very importantly is to train out any hints of counting, focal tension & performance anxiety.

It sounds simple, but can require alot of time & patience. She's just 10U.

Remember to relax, react & have fun!