Critique 8u DD Swing

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Apr 30, 2018
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I'm moving this from technical hitting as I realize I posted it in the wrong spot.

Spring ball was my daughters first time playing softball. She made our regions 3rd string All-Star team so she has gotten to play another 7 weeks of ball. She is 2nd smallest girl on the team, but is the fastest 8u girl out of 60 girls in our region. Bats 1st in the line up. Gets on base almost every at bat. We have been taking her to a hitting coach once a week for a couple of months (former division 1 scholarship player). This is her heavy bat that we only use for batting practice at home to build arm strength. She uses a 27" 15 oz bat during games. Looking for some critiques.

zc6LYOR.gif
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I'm moving this from technical hitting as I realize I posted it in the wrong spot.

Spring ball was my daughters first time playing softball. She made our regions 3rd string All-Star team so she has gotten to play another 7 weeks of ball. She is 2nd smallest girl on the team, but is the fastest 8u girl out of 60 girls in our region. Bats 1st in the line up. Gets on base almost every at bat. We have been taking her to a hitting coach once a week for a couple of months (former division 1 scholarship player). This is her heavy bat that we only use for batting practice at home to build arm strength. She uses a 27" 15 oz bat during games. Looking for some critiques.

zc6LYOR.gif

Have her track an imaginary ball coming from the pitcher instead of staring at the tee the whole time. Other than that I agree with what Eric wrote in his (now deleted) post to your original thread. Also, I would be careful using
the heavy bat if she is unable to swing it properly. Overload training can be useful but only if the hitter's mechanics are not compromised . How heavy is the LXT she is using in the video and how does her swing with her lighter bat look in comparison to this video. Finally I won't comment on mechanics, other than to say it is a good start, since you are working with a hitting instructor. If you are having doubts about the instructor than post what he/she is working on with your DD and I am sure people would be happy to comment.
 
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rdbass

It wasn't me.
Jun 5, 2010
9,131
83
Not here.
I'll second this...I'll even say for now just have DD swing her game bat.
I would be careful using
the heavy bat if she is unable to swing it properly. Overload training can be useful but only if the hitter's mechanics are not compromised
Not bad for an 8u but, I'd loose that forced rear toe drag. I'd also have a look at DD's front leg during the swing 'launch'. More I look at the swing seems there are a lot of 'forced/coached' movements(finish).
 
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Apr 30, 2018
349
43
Have her track an imaginary ball coming from the pitcher instead of staring at the tee the whole time. Other than that I agree with what Eric wrote in his (now deleted) post to your original thread. Also, I would be careful using
the heavy bat if she is unable to swing it properly. Overload training can be useful but only if the hitter's mechanics are not compromised . How heavy is the LXT she is using in the video and how does her swing with her lighter bat look in comparison to this video. Finally I won't comment on mechanics, other than to say it is a good start, since you are working with a hitting instructor. If you are having doubts about the instructor than post what he/she is working on with your DD and I am sure people would be happy to comment.

The LTX is a 28" 17 oz compared to her regular bat which is 27" 15 oz. We live in a small town so don't really have a good place to go and test different weight/length bats so I guessed when I bought it a couple of months ago. It was obvious when she first started using it that it was too heavy as she started missing the ball during practice. That is when I bought the 27". We have only recently tried the 28" bat again and she is doing better with it. She is able to control it and hit the ball. Bat speed is noticeably slower with the 28", but on average the balls are traveling the same distance with either bat. Still going to stay with the 27" for these last two tournaments before the summer break.

Biggest thing the batting instructor is working with her on now is consistency in her starting position. Feet set correctly, grip is correct, knees and waist bent, hands in correct position, etc. She can be prone to forgetting to reset her feet between each swing and her hand position can vary a bit. Have some decisions to make over the summer. She is moving up to 10u in the fall and a couple of people have suggested with her speed that she would make a good slap hitter. That means switching her to hit left. That will be a different thread though.
 
Apr 30, 2018
349
43
Now that you mention the back foot, I noticed something too. Right at the very beginning when she starts the negative move you can see the toes on the right foot come up, so her weight has to be back on her heels instead of on the balls of her feet.
 

rdbass

It wasn't me.
Jun 5, 2010
9,131
83
Not here.
Now that you mention the back foot, I noticed something too. Right at the very beginning when she starts the negative move you can see the toes on the right foot come up, so her weight has to be back on her heels instead of on the balls of her feet.

Right at the very beginning when she starts the negative move you can see the toes on the right foot come up,
No, that is the correct movement. I'm just pointing out that at the finish the 'toes pointed to China' seemed to be forced and not a 'natural finish of what a swing would/should be. I don't teach a 'position'. I believe the rear foot will do what it needs to do and doesn't need to be coach.
The swing shifts the weight.
"My weight is my left (rear) foot, as I start swinging, my weight shifts to my right (lead) foot at the time of contact with the ball." - Babe Ruth
 
Apr 30, 2018
349
43
No, that is the correct movement. I'm just pointing out that at the finish the 'toes pointed to China' seemed to be forced and not a 'natural finish of what a swing would/should be. I don't teach a 'position'. I believe the rear foot will do what it needs to do and doesn't need to be coach.
The swing shifts the weight.

That hasn't been taught. She is doing that on her own. It is a recent thing though. I haven't seen that in previous videos from a few weeks ago. I'll dig thru my phone and see if I have one of her early swings.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
People have already given you a lot of info to work on... so I am going to comment on another post you made originally.

Slapping: Unless both parents had ELITE speed when they were younger and you are sure those genes were passed down to the kid, be very careful deciding to turn around to the left side so young. It is very hard to project elite speed at an early age and if they mature into just good speed slappers they are just easy outs when you hit the high school ages. It is also hard to predict true triple threats - single hitting slappers are not much harder to defend (just move the outfield in and dare them to try to power slap which most are not really capable of). Not saying don't do it - just giving you some things to think about.

It doesn't take all that much work to develop a small ball slapper at 14U (or even 16U and college) if they have elite speed. We have had two girls it took less than a month to get to this point and then moving on to teaching power slapping from there. It is not something they HAVE to learn in 10U or 12U.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
It doesn't take all that much work to develop a small ball slapper at 14U (or even 16U and college) if they have elite speed. We have had two girls it took less than a month to get to this point and then moving on to teaching power slapping from there. It is not something they HAVE to learn in 10U or 12U.

Agree with this. At the moment my 8 year old 2nd grader can run, best shuttle run time for girls in grades K-5 and both I and her mother could run (Mom ran hurdles/sprints in college) but you are going to have to kill me before somebody tries to turn her into a slapper before anybody figures out whether she can hit or not. Coming from baseball slapping makes my eyes bleed but I do realize it is part of the game in softball..just don't think it needs to be taught at 10U level necessarily. That said, almost every 10U team my DD has played this spring has at least one kid who slaps..
 
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Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
That is a very good swing for an 8 year old. The bat does appear to be a little heavy for her. I noticed 2 things. She gets taller as she comes into contact. Stands up a little, comes out of her posture early or what ever you want to call it. Also, the "box" gets a little over stretched (elbows to close to each other)

Over all she has a very good foundation and she coils(loads). This is way better than the average 8 year old. I am surprised she only made 3rd string team.
 

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