My daughter has struck out 6 times in the last 7 at bats....

julray said:

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I feel like she swings for the fences on every pitch, which I know can be a major part of the problem as well. It's not necessary because she has tons of bat speed when swinging at 80% capacity. But I'm not sure it would be a good move to tell her to settle down and not swing so hard... she's not off balance when swinging hard and she keeps her head on the ball. I think because she has been striking out so much it might be a mental thing now. Soft toss, hitting off the tee etc she is hitting the ball just fine.

Sorry, I don't have a video to post. Any general advice would help, she's quite frustrated right now. I keep assuring her that she will turn it around once she adjusts.

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I completely, whole-heartedly disagree. I wouldn't ever ask my DD to slow it down, just make contact, just put it in play...especially in a slump.

My DD is coming out of a slump that has been about a year or more. She went in 10u hitting pretty good for doubles and some triples, home run, etc. Then in 12u she completely flattened out. Pop ups, late, fouls, strike outs, watching pitches...you name it! Throughout all this, I never ever asked her to "choke up", "just put it in play"...to me, that's a defeatist attitude to take whatever you can...because you basically have to because you're skill level sucks, your attitude sucks, whatever.

Hitters should swing for the fence especially when they're down in a slump. They should become extremely aggressive - yet focused. So far, my DD has been climbing out with an in-park HR couple weeks ago, before that double and RBI for 2 runs...she's coming back. Without her keeping on ripping each and every swing I have no doubt she wouldn't tempered down her desire as well. Tell the body to slow down, over time in a prolonged slump I believe the mind and motivation will follow too.

I'd tell her to keep up the hard work, keep swinging for the fences, remain focused and keep working the mechanics at FULL THROTTLE. Her next mis-hit could turn into a triple or something productive.

Get a video, you must. Chances are you just need to do much more front-toss so she can get timing back. Ask your DD how she looks at the ball, where she's looking at the ball as it's coming. Video will tell you where she's hitting the ball or missing - too far out front, too deep. That will let you know her timing is early or late.

Is she popping up or grounding out? Try adjusting her vision, ask her to look at the top half of the ball. Believe it or not, nearly all batters have no idea what they're looking at. It took me a few weeks to get my DD to learn where she's looking at, which was at the bottom of the ball as it's dropping on the way to her. This causes under-swings resulting in misses under or pop ups. The ball is dropping naturally and hitters over compensate that drop thru vision.

DD now looks (or tries to) at top half of the ball and to "swing up" at that half. Gravity naturally drops the ball so in effect you have a better chance of contacting the middle-ish area of the ball. A mis-hit will result in a hard-hit grounder but you'll see more contact possibly if it's her vision. Try this, you just may see a difference.

If she's only grounding out - reverse it. Have her try to look more at the bottom half of the ball and to again, swing up at it.

When I say, Swing Up - that's just a cue to keep the swing from flattening out in a desperate attempt to "make contact". That's all, nothing more and it does take some explaining and reminding them. At 12 this shouldn't be confusing after a couple weeks of practicing with this cue.

In fact, video can show you if she's even looking at the ball when she's swinging. So much video can reveal, then you or coach can put in the reps.

DD now looks (or tries to) at top half of the ball and to "swing up" at that half. Gravity naturally drops the ball so in effect you have a better chance of contacting the middle-ish area of the ball

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if she's swinging slightly upward (like a Nike "swoosh"), aiming for the top half of the ball and gravity is doing it's job, wouldn't that result in topping the ball, giving the batter a smaller window for success?

otherwise I agree and recommend using the baseball-sized TCBs for front toss where you can achieve a lot of varying speed and locations.

Something I have been contemplating... My daughter currently uses a no step approach. There are successful hitters out there that do this. However I am a little worried that without the no step approach she might be lacking a timing mechanism in her swing. I like the no step approach because it simplifies things for her... but I think I might need to implement a toe tap or a small stride to help her get her timing down. She has a big tournament next weekend and I am worried it might be a little too late to implement this... but like I said previously what she is doing know isn't working...

I will post a video this weekend.. thx everybody

There are many aspects to hitting I talked of vision earlier because if you can't see it you can't hit it.

IMO another important part of hitting is the mental part of hitting getting getting a young lady in the right mental frame after experience a number of strikeouts is not always easy. You have to also consider that it can take time and is not always easily accomplished. I have kids practice getting in the batters box and relaxing and getting into the hitting position. You can tell a hitter to relax, but getting them to relax is not always that easy.

Practice getting into a routine getting into the batters box, step in back foot first, bat on the shoulder, muscles relaxed and deep breaths. When the pitcher begins her motion bat comes straight up, get into hitting position and then the batter begins to dance with the pitcher, rhythm and movement.
I tell the hitter only think about see and hit it or something like that no negative thoughts.

Did forget to mention DD college team had a Sports Psychologist who worked with the team daily.

Below is an article that IMO you can take some good pointers from.

Mental Side of Hitting & Uber Keys to Consistency

Good news. my DD snapped her slump last night. 1 for 2 with a triple, fielders choice and a walk. Triple was deep line drive over the left fielders head, would of been a home run but the grass was long and the fields are so soft due to so much rain that the ball did not roll at all. But I was even happier with her fielders choice believe it or not. Like I said earlier on she was having issues with being too far out in front of everything. The fielders choice happened on a two strike change up and she recognized the pitch and managed to get a piece of it. Is there anything better than seeing progress and results due to hard training? . I noticed she was all back all forward type swing. Because we are in the midst of the season I didn't want to change too much in her swing, but I implemented a little step or toe tap and taught her to load her scap at or just before heel plant which gives her a moments hesitation to read the pitch and stay back on the change up... even though it was a weak grounder she read the pitch and hesitated long enough to get a piece. Her swings not technically perfect but I am hoping it can work for the remainder of this season and retool in the off season.

julray said:

Good news. my DD snapped her slump last night. 1 for 2 with a triple, fielders choice and a walk. Triple was deep line drive over the left fielders head, would of been a home run but the grass was long and the fields are so soft due to so much rain that the ball did not roll at all. But I was even happier with her fielders choice believe it or not. Like I said earlier on she was having issues with being too far out in front of everything. The fielders choice happened on a two strike change up and she recognized the pitch and managed to get a piece of it. Is there anything better than seeing progress and results due to hard training? . I noticed she was all back all forward type swing. Because we are in the midst of the season I didn't want to change too much in her swing, but I implemented a little step or toe tap and taught her to load her scap at or just before heel plant which gives her a moments hesitation to read the pitch and stay back on the change up... even though it was a weak grounder she read the pitch and hesitated long enough to get a piece. Her swings not technically perfect but I am hoping it can work for the remainder of this season and retool in the off season.

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Don't be afraid to still post a video and work on her swing the odds are very high that she has several mechanical issues to work out. Also don't be afraid to work on things mid season I would not scrap everything and rebuild from scratch but I would find the one thing I thought would make the biggest impact and start working on that build some good muscle memory and find a cue that helps her remember it (the cue is not for you to yell at her over and over in a game it's for HER to whisper to herself as she steps into the box)

Thanks DJ... always improving but nothing to drastic right now in mid season. Of course will tweak to improve