13yo Maddie

Eric F said:

[video=youtube_share;eEBrbRxbdUg]https://youtu.be/eEBrbRxbdUg[/video]

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djcarter1966 said:

She is doing a lot right here and I'm sorely tempted and if I were her coach I would be sorely tempted to not mess with success.

She looks like a big, strong, athletic and aggressive player and what sense does it make to say she is leaving power on the table and could improve her mechanics as she hits bombs.

She also defies what seems logical

- I think her hands are a little low...so she should have trouble hitting a high pitch...no
- I think her back foot is tied to the ground a little too much...so her balance should be off...no
- I think her hands don't separate enough and bat angle is too up and down just before launch...so she lacks power...no

So in other words whatever I think is meaningless as far as results are concerned so why would I even begin to mess with success...maybe there are a few months to experiment with a couple things but it's going to be really hard to justify if she keep performing as she has been doing...does she have a hitting coach? what do they think?

and my youtube is acting up and I can't make the stills shots I normally would....so maybe we will just go with my comment in the first line of this post.

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pattar said:

Obviously she hit that one well but how do you, and perhaps more importantly Maddie, feel she is swinging the bat right now?
I was going to mention that it seems like she gets started a bit late (I think I mentioned this before) but then I took a look
at Paul Molitor's swing, which is somewhat similar, and he doesn't have much if any pre-pitch release movement either
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9xMMyvleJ4)

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Eric F said:

This particular situation was a 1-2 count. She choked-up a bit, and her intent was to be quick and get solid contact. She didn't feel like it was a full-effort swing. I've seen her have similar results in that kind of situation quite a few times before.

Here's another 2-strike, choked-up swing. This one was drilled 210-220'...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1rTiyn8Gcg

I think there are some things she can be doing a little better to tap into her power potential a little more. Using her core better is probably the biggest thing. I would agree that starting her hands a little higher would be better, as would starting with a slower and earlier flow. These are things that have been discussed. All that said, it's hard to argue with how she's hitting the ball right now.

She does work with a hitting instructor (her ex-head coach). This is mostly because Maddie and I don't do well together in a teacher-student scenario. For her development and my sanity, it's better that she works with someone else. She (the HI) agrees that Maddie could be using her core better. She prefers to have Maddie keep her hands close to the shoulder rather than stretching rearward. Generally speaking, I would prefer to see a hitter hands stay back a little more than Maddie does, but with Maddie, that separation creates other issues. Maddie's quickness and consistency is better when she keeps her hands closer before launch.

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djcarter1966 said:

I actually think she looks better in this clip she has reached a little outside her body frame and the bat angle is a little better versus what I tried capture from rd's gif more up and down bat. I don't think this separation and hand position issue are unrelated to using her core, I think in some of the earlier posts it was described as slack what that does is limit what can happen at the point of contact.

Just as an experiment "in feel" have her while standing at her normal heel plant position like the second picture now "only for demonstration purposes" have her pull her hands back as far as they will go, now raise her back elbow up a foot or so now rotate her hands back (away from plate another foot or so) she should feel her back completely stretch out (think of this almost more of a back stretching exercise you are just keeping the bat in your hand) do this slowly not all at once trying not to rotate her hips or torso. Now have her come back to her normal position or maybe even a more relaxed position hands below armpit within her body frame and maybe slightly in front almost just like a ready position. Think of these two positions as opposite ends of a spectrum one being completely wound up the other just with no wind or stretch at all. She needs to find that sweet spot that will allow her to feel that stretch and not lose form/proper mechanics my guess would be three to six inches up and back with her hands and back elbow from that second picture would be plenty and then some of those fly ball will keep going....but I will go back to my first statement it's hard to mess with results and if the results start slipping because of any changes you are making what's the point.

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