FiveFrameSwing
Banned
Think in terms of the wrists "becoming" snapped.
12yo Maddie
- Thread starter Eric F
- Start date
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Maddie is continuing to have a strong 12U TB season, and leads her team in most offensive categories. There is one category where she is absolutely dominating, however - HBP. Today, she got plunked for the 11th time this year (next most on her team is 3).
It turns out this is a fairly significant part of her team-leading .598 OBP...SMH
It turns out this is a fairly significant part of her team-leading .598 OBP...SMH
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Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
Good job Maddie! IMO, HBP are part of the battle for the inside corner, which determines who dominates the outside corner.
Agree, most kids are not able to get into both legs in time.. They basically try to get moving after pitch recognition..
- Jun 8, 2016
- 16,118
- 113
Depends on the level of play. In 12U TB (and even 10U TB, for the most part), there isn't the time to wait for pitch recognition before starting the process. If you're not getting started early, you won't be on time.
In most rec ball (from my experience), however, I would agree that the pitching is slow enough where batters wait to read the pitch before starting their process. This is a habit that quickly becomes failure as they start to face faster pitching.
I have come across a couple of cases where the batter's first concern is whether or not the pitch will hit them. Once they have evaluated that factor, then they evaluate whether or not it's a pitch to swing at. With these hitters, even moderate pitching quickly becomes a struggle. Fear of getting hit is not an issue for Maddie - LOL.
Eric, I think you would be surprised how many kids move out to late... I worked with some high school boys who were afraid of getting hit... These kids were good athletes but very soft.. I would be willing to bet Maddie is one of the few that doesn't care about getting hit... Most would deny it..
- Jun 8, 2016
- 16,118
- 113
Probably because ESPN shows every gruesome HBP over and over again. When I was growing up unless somebody on the Red Sox got hit I wouldn't have known about it. Probably a good idea to teach
them how to get hit by a pitch at a young age..Maddie is doing it correctly e.g turning your body (lower,shoulders and head) towards the catcher. That way you either get hit in the back of the knee, rear, back or
back of the helmet. Worse thing that ever happened to me with a ball when hitting wasn't even a HBP. Was taking BP in college in a poorly designed outdoor cage and fouled one straight up into a pole the ball then bounced back down off the ground and straight into my face....
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There are certainly kids that move out too late (our #1 pitcher sits those girls down pretty quickly). The ones that come to me that have that issue get it sorted out pretty quickly. It's either that or they fail in the box. So far, all of our players are pretty motivated to be successful hitters.
Maddie cares about getting hit. Sometimes she gets dinged in places that hurt pretty bad. It also frustrates the crap out of her because it takes the bat out of her hands. However, any anxiety over getting HBP gets squashed by her desire to hit the ball.
Maybe so... We did a bunch of drills with these kids (how to wear it).. Unfortunately it had little effect.
