Thoughts and help on young dds swing

I would appreciate the thoughts and help with dds swing. Basically all we do is hit off the T, side toss, front toss with TCBs and live pitching. I would love some new things to help her with.

Practicing with the T - YouTube

That is a really nice swing!! Great job!

You didn't mention a team. I assume she's on a team.

Make sure she sees a variety of pitch locations, not just down the middle. Outside, inside, high, low, fast, slow. Get her in front of the best pitching you can find as much as possible.

She is playing on a team. We do move the tee around and let her work on different locations, I also try to pitch her in different spots. (although I am terrible)

So what looks right with the swing and which parts need the most help right now. I know it is always a work in progress and I just want to help her as much as I can. I will try to get a better video I didnt realize how bad it was until I saw it on the computer screen.

richard said:

She is playing on a team. We do move the tee around and let her work on different locations, I also try to pitch her in different spots. (although I am terrible)

So what looks right with the swing and which parts need the most help right now. I know it is always a work in progress and I just want to help her as much as I can. I will try to get a better video I didnt realize how bad it was until I saw it on the computer screen.

Click to expand...

The lower half looks good and the overall sequence looks good. She is "stretching" a little too much and her front should is turning in too far at separation. This will prevent her from getting a good "two-eyed" look at the ball, which is important for tracking the ball all the way in.

Her hand path needs a little work as she is dropping her hands a little, creating a "lazy L" at the point of contact. There is also a touch of bat drag (both elbows leading the hands. Have her work on creating a hand path that goes from armpit to armpit. Grab a smaller bat she can swing one-handed (like a Swiftstik bat or a teeball bat) and work on one-hand drills off of the tee. Find a large open space where she can practice throwing a bat to see how far she can throw it (works great for training the lead elbow).

I appreciate the insight, as well as what to work on. Thanks

She has a nice little coil, but it is out of sequence. Watch her head in relationship to the window behind her. Notice how her head moves backwards as she turns her hips back. Her hips turn back, her upper torso turns back and her head goes back all at the same time. This is what some of us refer to as all back. Then when she swings everything comes forward. All back-all forward.

Notice though how she doesn't spin. She actually has a pretty decent weight shift; especially given the fact that she is basically standing in place. The reason she doesn't spin is because she does a pretty good job of turning her hips back and then turning them forward. If I were working with her, I would want to preserve her hip action as it is, and see what her current hip action looks like when performed in a proper sequence. My gut says it will look pretty good.

If we use the window in the back ground as a prop; it would be better IMO if she didn't coil her hips back as her head moves backwards in this clip. In the open style stance that she is using, when her head moves back in this clip towards the left side of the window, she should be lifting her front foot and bringing it in square to the tee; but not coiling. She should then let her head come forward towards the right side of the window; and this is when she should be coiling. The backward and forward movement of the head is whatever is required for her to keep her head centered between her feet. She probably could do her entire swing using a good sequence while keeping her head within the two sides of the window.

If she does the above actions in sequence, she should be coiling as her head is moving towards the right side of the window. When her front foot lands, all forward movement should stop; which I think it will given her current front leg block; which is nice. I wouldn't mention anything to her about the front side block right now, because she will likely retain that good movement as she learns a better sequence. All I would do is try and get her to use her current hip coil action at the right time. When she gets the timing of her hip coil action right, then you can re-evaluate her swing and decide where to go from there.

I see exactly what you are talking about. Question? Is the slightly open stance ok? Or is it something I need to get her out of? She just seems to hit better with the open stance at this point.

Here are a few more clips. They are a little lengthy and I have not figured out how to edit them yet. Promise I will figure it out.

First video is of front toss TCB:Front TCB - YouTube

Second is Front toss regular balls:Front Toss - YouTube

There are about 6-8 swings with each one.

richard said:

I see exactly what you are talking about. Question? Is the slightly open stance ok? Or is it something I need to get her out of? She just seems to hit better with the open stance at this point.

Click to expand...

The stance is a style choice. The teachable action is to make sure she coils during her stride. IMO this video from Slaught is one of the best videos around because it takes the emphasis off of the stance and places the emphasis where it belongs; which is on the sequence. If you can get your DD to experiment and start her sequence from different stances as Slaught recommends; she will develop a much better understanding of the swing. IMO, kids learn quicker if they are allowed to experiment with their stance and handset position. Once they figure out the sequence, they actual have fun trying out different stances. A few weeks ago, my DD blurts out; "I think I'll try Pujols' stance".

Slightly open stance by no more than 2" gives you the ablity to look at the pitcher in what we call a good "Two Eye Look" Many kids are trying to hit with one eye. This is pretty common with younger kids. Little test, tape a pencil on the front of the helmet in the middle. I like to hang a plastic golf ball off the end with string. Have them get in a stance and see exactly where the golf ball is pointing at. 9 times out of 10, depending if they are a lefty or righty, its SS or 2B, not the pitcher. By opening up the stance slightly you take the strain off the neck and it allows them to turn just enough to see the pitcher better. Now throw all this out if they have had lazy eye surgery. There are some wild Styles just watch the college playoffs. They have a wide open stance, which is style, but when the front foot comes down, most are the same. You see very few with a closed stance. Bustos did it only to bait the pitcher.

Every hitter should know which is the dominate eye. Tough to hit if you can't see the ball! Chris pointed this out above, since we both teach the same things. His dd is a very successful high school and travel ball player, so he knows how to produce results.