How to build aggressiveness at the plate

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Apr 9, 2017
6
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Daughter is struggling at the plate. No confidence and is very hesitant to swing. She has struck out multiple times on called 3rd strike. She is 10 and in 2nd year of fast pitch. Her reasoning for not swinging is she is scared of striking out which is counterintuitive to not swinging the bat at strikes. She was one of the best hitters I have ever seen at the 8U age level. Absolutely crushed the ball and had tons of confidence. Her mechanics are very good and she has very fast hand speed.

I have talked to her till her and I are sick of talking. She is not happy with how she is doing. I know it is a mental issue and those usually are only worked out by the individual. I am 99.9% sure the best thing to do is just support her and let here work through it but, I want to see if anyone else has had the same issue before with their daughter or any other player. It is very frustrating for her because I don't think it is a problem she can work on by hitting in the cage or off the tee. She can do that all day and hits very well. She has to do it in a game against a good pitcher over and over to change the mindset.

TL / DR

Basically lost all confidence at the plate and won't swing at strikes. What to do
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
At this age. you need to get her in the mentality of she's going to swing at every pitch. That means the only decision she has to make is STOP if it's going to be a ball. Tons of front toss from 15-20 feet away and have her start her swing no matter what. She should be thinking Yes, yes, yes swing if it's a strike or yes, yes no or stop if it's a ball. At this age group, I've had a lot of success having the my hitters be vocal during practice. They will actually say the words Yes' Yes, Yes and hit the ball if it's a strike or Yes, Yes, STOP if it's a ball. In games. they internalize this dialogue but it helps. Also, a lot of this comes from lack of recognition of the actual strike zone itself. I take my hitters and actually throw them pitches varying around and in the strike zone. All I ask them to do is track the ball from release to the catchers mitt or matt behind them and tell me if it's a strike or a ball. I'll go through 150 balls of this for 2-3 lessons until they get every one correct. Some get it sooner and some get it later. Either way, they all get it in the end.

ETA: I also tell them that the easiest way to make me, their coaches and their parents really, really, really mad is to go down with the bat on the shoulder:D
 
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rdbass

It wasn't me.
Jun 5, 2010
9,131
83
Not here.
She has struck out multiple times on called 3rd strike.
Her reasoning for not swinging is she is scared of striking out which is counterintuitive to not swinging the bat at strikes.
Tell her not worry any more because she is already striking out.
I know it is a mental issue and those usually are only worked out by the individual
She has to do it in a game against a good pitcher over and over to change the mindset.
I'll bet it's not a 'mental thing' but, a 'mechanical thing'.
She was one of the best hitters I have ever seen at the 8U age level.
I'll bet mechanical....fix that 'little thing' and I'll bet the 'mental thing' will go away.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
Tell her not worry any more because she is already striking out.


I'll bet it's not a 'mental thing' but, a 'mechanical thing'.

I'll bet mechanical....fix that 'little thing' and I'll bet the 'mental thing' will go away.


Possibly. But without seeing her swing, it's a guessing game as you well know. The best thing to do would be to have travisj1915 post a video to let us see what could possibly be the problem. At worst, he'd get some very constructive and insightful criticism/advice. In the meantime, it's all conjecture on our parts. That said, I have many of my 10U hitters that just started bailing out of the box during games every pitch. During hitting lessons they're fine and smash the ball. However, during games, some don't trust the 10U pitcher not to hit them and others don't know pitch recognition for their strike zone. I've gotten to the point where I've taught them how to protect themselves and then HBP intentionally. The others, I've done the aforementioned drill. Now they're not bailing out. It could be either or.
 
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Apr 9, 2017
6
0
Thanks for the input, I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has faced this issue. I have told her over and over that she is already striking out so it doesn't matter if she swings and misses, the results will be the same. At least give yourself a chance to make contact. I could be in agreement that is a mechanical thing if she would swing away and wasn't able to make solid contact but I can't get her to that point. I just think she is intimidated by fast pitchers and fear of striking out. I agree with YOCOACH as I am to the point of telling her to swing away to get her into the aggressive mentality and get the back into the feel of not holding back. Once I get here there I can work backwards on pitch selection and how to be selective.
 
Mar 20, 2014
918
28
Northwest
DD took hitting lessons from Julie Wright, current head coach at the University of Maryland. Julie teaches the mental game as well as the physical one. The first thing that Julie pointed out to DD was that a good batting average in college is a .300 and that means that the batter hitting that average fails 70% of the time. She taught that softball hitting is failing and that you need to learn to have a very short memory. Learning that and accepting that helps you face each plate appearance as an opportunity to succeed instead of the possibility of failing. Great coach.
 
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Nov 18, 2015
1,585
113
DD took hitting lessons from Julie Wright, current head coach at the University of Maryland. Julie teaches the mental game as well as the physical one. The first thing that Julie pointed out to DD was that a good batting average in college is a .300 and that means that the batter hitting that average fails 70% of the time. She taught that softball hitting is failing and learning to have a very short memory. Learning that and accepting that helps you face each plate appearance as an opportunity to succeed instead of the possibility of failing. Great coach.

I've been waiting to use similar logic with my teams - something along the lines of "What do you call someone who fails 7 out of 10 times? A Hall of Famer." Sadly, I don't think my 2nd graders would get it. I'll have to track down Collegiate batting averages. Fortunately, at my level, the girls still have a short term memory (unless it's something important, like who got to play pitcher or bat 1st in a game), but I like the idea of using each AB as an "opportunity to succeed".
 
Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
I think she's probably thinking too much.... tell her to turn her brain off when at the plate and just react to the ball... keep it simple

Now obviously there will need to be extensive practice picking up timing, spin, location. swing mechanics, etc... these things are for practice.
On game day...go hit a ball hard, have fun doing it, and I'll have a high 5 waiting on you after you score!
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
In working with my DD and her teammates (10U rec, 10U all-stars, 10U TB, 12U TB), here's some of the things I've done to help them work through the issues...

Prove that they can hit - Front toss from 15-20 feet. When they are hitting successfully, bring it to their attention. "You can hit these pitches just fine. It's just a ball coming at you, just like in a game. We just saw that you have the ability to hit, right? (Get them to acknowledge their success). The next time you step into the box in a game, show me exactly what you showed me here. Believe in yourself as much as I believe in you."

Be a badass in the box...even if you're faking it - "When you step into the batter's box, I want you to make the pitcher think you're the best hitter in the game. Even if you're scared, don't let her know that. It gives her the advantage. Who would she rather pitch to, someone who looks scared to swing, or someone who looks like they can't wait to get a chance to crush the ball?" What I have found is that faking a confident swag often becomes real confidence.

Swing the bat! - "Your job in the batter's box is to hit the ball, right? To hit, you have to swing, right? I don't care if you strike out...as long as you gave yourself a chance to hit by swinging the bat. Close your eyes and swing (seriously, have them do that). You just gave yourself a 100% better chance of hitting the ball than by not swinging at all."
 
Aug 23, 2016
359
43
A year ago (first year in 8U rec), DD would not swing the bat. Her hitting coach told her that he wanted her to swing at the first pitch if it was anywhere her bat could reach. He said she could be selective the rest of the at bat, but he wanted her to go for it on the first pitch.

As her hitting mechanics improved, he told her she could be more selective on the first pitch, but by then she had gotten used to the idea that if the first pitch was there, she should swing. Hitting coach basically had her fake being a hitter until he could get her there for real.

A year later, she has a little swagger. She walks up to the box, puts her hand up to call time out as she gets settled, and before she puts her hand down she looks down at the pitcher like, "Show me what you got." And then she's ready.

Her aggressiveness has really paid off, too. She's turning into a strong hitter, which is hard to believe given where she was a year ago.
 

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