Leaning In

Ok so my younger daughter has this really bad issue with leaning in/forward on pitches of any kind. On a tee, she has much better form and body control, but when it is time to hit live pitching, soft toss, front toss or any toss, her top half decides it wants to lean forward.

I have never seen this before and don't know any way to correct this.

Any ideas???

Do you mean that she gets over her front leg/knee? Do you mean that she leans over the plate?

Actually a little of both. Mainly over her front leg but it usually gravitates to over the plate as well.

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Hi Ken,

What jumps out at me is that she's your younger DD, and that her stance and control is better while working the tee. Once she faces any live pitch scenario, her stance and balance changes. I would assume that she's just more anxious and placing more pressure on herself "not to fail" when it counts. I suppose she could also be being taught this by a individual or team coach, or copy-catting it from another player. Maybe she's watching games and trying to pick up on that forward timing shift that sooooo many kids are being exposed to. It's extra movement, that sometimes can be more of a detriment than a benefit.

Regardless, you'll have to take some time to work on her balance, stance and overall mechanics live. Work on a good foundation and build upon her self-confidence. The more she has success, the less she should experience anxiety. She'll start to relax and the mechanics should start to just flow.

You could isolate several points in her mechanics, and break her swing down accordingly. For example, something like...50/50 balance, load, plant, rotation, contact, extension and finish. Work on blending those together with a nice, quiet rhythym. Begin with easy swings and work your way up from there. Deep breathing exercises will also help. Work on vision. You can start small with side/front toss and again, work your way up from there. Ball placement could be concentrated deep in the zone and inside...to try to help her break out of the forward lean and the lean out over the plate. Another drill that comes to mind is the one-legged drill used for change-ups from the tee. You can easily adapt this to any ball toss work. Start balanced, weight shift to her back leg (front leg off momentarily held up off the ground), transition to plant and continue to cycle through to her finish. Of course, there are other drills you can research that will help.

Balance and posture is important. Find a routine that she can try to employ the same for every pitch. She won't achieve her maximum power if her posture is poor. If she leans out over the plate too much, she's also losing the possibility of compact core power.

Remember, old habits tend to die slowly. As she starts out, it's about her new posture, balance and rhythym...not perfection in hits or misses.

Chris

Does she lean from her waist or hips or does her entire body lean forward?

(You are right, normally they are bailing out unless they want to intentionally get hit)

Ken Kramer said:

Ok so my younger daughter has this really bad issue with leaning in/forward on pitches of any kind. On a tee, she has much better form and body control, but when it is time to hit live pitching, soft toss, front toss or any toss, her top half decides it wants to lean forward.

I have never seen this before and don't know any way to correct this.

Any ideas???

Click to expand...

I would try telling her that when she transfers weight back to feel most it on her inside rear heel. We sometimes do a drill where the player actually hits while raising her rear toes up off the sole of her shoe.

go4um said:

I would try telling her that when she transfers weight back to feel most it on her inside rear heel. We sometimes do a drill where the player actually hits while raising her rear toes up off the sole of her shoe.

Click to expand...

Do you mind explaining what this drill promotes? I have seen video of the Babe doing this in some of his swings. The reason I am asking is because my DD seems to lose that back side anchor early when she swings. I am not sure what the cause is as of yet but I have reason to believe she is pushing with the back foot "Toe Pressure" instead of allowing the swing to pull the foot.

My youngest son did this last year. Casting. Pushing. Arm swing. Chopping down at the ball. Work to get a little stretch and try to power with the core instead of the arms and you will see improvement.

My daughter has a lot of that. Most everything is to right field. Never, ever pulls the ball. She has good bat speed and great power for being 11, but always casting. She has good lower half, when she isn't bending over.

go4um said:

I would try telling her that when she transfers weight back to feel most it on her inside rear heel. We sometimes do a drill where the player actually hits while raising her rear toes up off the sole of her shoe.

Click to expand...

Can help with the lean/posture but we mostly use it to promote getting the feel of hip coil. The muscles around the hip are doing the coil but the player can feel the effect in the foot so we have them transfer their weight mostly into the inside of the rear heel and feel their pinky toe push into the back of their shoe.