That's a great idea. My other coach has the good $$$ pitching machine. I will pass that along.
Thanks.
Edited
I am going to get her to use a balanced bat at our indoor cage Saturday. ( off machine ) And see what it looks like.
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Dead Pull Hitters
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That's a great idea. My other coach has the good $$$ pitching machine. I will pass that along.
Thanks.
Edited
I am going to get her to use a balanced bat at our indoor cage Saturday. ( off machine ) And see what it looks like.
lol - good point!
- Oct 25, 2009
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I'm talking about the weight of the bat, not the balance. If she likes end-loaded bats I actually think that's a positive. Just keep in mind that if the problem is related to too heavy a bat it will take some time before she realizes that she can wait longer due to the increase in speed because of the lighter bat. A strong batter with fast bat speed is more dangerous than a strong batter with average bat speed.
As mentioned above, this is all guesswork without seeing a video. But a lot can be learned when you experiment, regardless.
Sorry I misunderstood. We still have 33/24, 32/23 RT's. We will give it a try and see what it looks like. Maybe I can borrow a video camera and get some shots.
- Oct 19, 2009
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Howard it took me a few times reading your post but it finally sank in. You posts are so precise and full of information, and I thank you for that. I would love to take one of your 'clinics' but I feel this old country boy might need a translator..
Ditto here also!!!!!!!!!!!
Much thanks for your suggestion Howard for the hitting into a net, we have a batting cage that we use when the fields are wet and we kind do the same thing look for balls to hit the back of the net on the down the middle pitch the sides on the inside and outside pitch. If you have a field the kids seem to like seeing the distance the ball travels and if it’s just a few kids I take a bat and hit fly balls back to them. I also do a challenge where each kid places a ball at their favorite contact point and hit for distance against me I’m an old man and well I guess fat too, but I’m still undefeated at this game. It gives the kids an incentive to push their limit, beating me is always an incentive for them and I push the old and fat thing.
The lighter bat is a good suggestion; a too heavy can cause some mechanical problems. I’ve had small girls swing a RT bat that was way to heavy, but dad paid good money and she is going to use it.
Another drill we do is I place 3 softballs on the ground at each contact point, inside in front of front foot where she strides, equal front foot stride in the middle of the plate at the stride, and between the legs on the out side of the plate at the stride. These are for reference contact points.
We don’t hit balls just dry swings. The first few times through the batter stops at contact point and we check her bat angel at contact. When we get that working we stop at contact briefly then continue and look for good follow through. We do this for low pitch, down the middle, and the high pitch, using the balls on the ground as a reference. We work this hopefully to plug any holes in the players swing.
I have a cage that I work in at times and we put hula hoops of different colors across the back of the cage and then use caution tape on the walls to where we feel left field and right field balls should go. It gives the hitters different release points to direct the barrel of the bat towards. I try very hard to make what we say understandable to all without all the scientific terms of the body parts being understood as the kids, parents and coaches do not and will not understand it for the most part. See it, feel it and fix it.
Mark has great points about seeing the video however most parents want something to JUST try and see if there is a difference. This is not life and death it is supposed to be fun and some site contributors, NOT THIS ONE, make it personal, which is why after meeting Marc while doing a clinic with him I thought I would try to just help. The people on the form have been kind and the PM's have been great.
I worked with one parent over the phone for about 45 minutes with their daughter and asked where the ball went and I said something is not right as it should have gone there. He marked the net and then repeated and I said move the tee back as it is probably too far forward. He said how could you possibly know that and I said I am 61 with a lot of gray hair!
We worked on her release more and I said now she is hitting the net dead center and he said how could you know that? If she measured off where I told her to it should go there and listen to the sound the bat is making as she was on a speaker phone. We are doing a clinic in Pittsburgh this weekend so we get to meet him and his daughter. It should be fun!
Thanks Howard
- Oct 19, 2009
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Howard the more I read from you the more I grow to respect you.
See it, feel it, correct it is so true.
I tell my kids that a coach is not at the batters box whispering in your ear. You have to adjust and feel when something in your mechanics are off and adjust to where you need to be.
I heard some where that the definition of stupidly is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
See it, feel it, correct it is so true.
I tell my kids that a coach is not at the batters box whispering in your ear. You have to adjust and feel when something in your mechanics are off and adjust to where you need to be.
I heard some where that the definition of stupidly is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
We try to teach our kids to be their own instructors as to making adjustments. By hitting into a marked net they understand what makes the ball fly where and then using the belly button as an indicator to rotate as needed and then the release of the barrel or unhinging of the wrist. Once they start to grasp that it seems to get better and they have more confidence in them self. This is why we teach to hit up the middle first for bat control and then opposite field for learning to rotate as needed. Then we teach bat angle adjustment and start from low to high pointing out the hands are always above the ball no matter where pitch is. Visualization helps so hold a ball high in the zone and ask them to slowly come to contact. What did you observe?
Now at the knees and what did you observe? Elbow higher than the hands and hands below the elbow and bat head angled below the hands no matter where the ball is. It is the degree of the angle of the bat that is being understood or matching the plane of the pitch.
Thanks Howard
Thanks Howard
Now that sounds vaguely familiar Ha HA
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