Timing help

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Jul 30, 2014
12
1
Ok DFP, I am in need of some help. I have an 11 yr old who is struggling with timing. Even hitting soft toss in the cage, she struggles (at first) to find her timing. After a bucket or two, she starts barreling the ball and driving it well. But in live pitching, the ball is almost in the mitt before she swings. Or she is fouling balls off toward first base dugout. At 10U, she didn’t have this problem and was a pretty consistent hitter. Even at PGF in Cali she was hitting the fastest pitching that she had seen all year and actually hit better in that one, than she did all year. But since moving up to 12U, it’s like she’s frozen in time. Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have any drills or thoughts to help her with timing? We already draw the line and all that, but that hasn’t seemed to help. It’s like the extra 5’ gives her too much time to think.


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Jun 17, 2009
15,105
0
Portland, OR
After a bucket or two, she starts barreling the ball and driving it well.

A hitter that can not adjust within a swing or two often has a mechanical swing issue.

the ball is almost in the mitt before she swings

Make sure you have this correct and that you are not simply perceiving this because she is hitting foul balls to the opposite batter's box side of the field.

Or she is fouling balls off toward first base dugout.

This, coupled with the prior comment, could lead one to believe that she is simply late with the initiation of her swing.

A common reason for a high percentage of foul balls towards the 1B side of the field, for a RH batter, is having the initial axis of rotation of the barrel too wide. You can pitch a kid with this issue right down the middle of the plate and a large percentage of their swings will result in a foul ball to the 1B side of the field (reference RH batter). A kid like this can get into a battle with a pitcher in which they foul off several pitches ... ten or more foul balls ... they think they are battling effectively, but in reality they are fouling off balls that should have been squared for solid hits.
 
Last edited:
Dec 10, 2015
845
63
Chautauqua County
something I use with my team is to make sure they understand loading before ball release and then counting 1,2 and swinging on 2. at first, I count with them to get them used to it. I found a too early swing, followed by slowing down the count works well. just an option to try.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Ok DFP, I am in need of some help. I have an 11 yr old who is struggling with timing. Even hitting soft toss in the cage, she struggles (at first) to find her timing. After a bucket or two, she starts barreling the ball and driving it well. But in live pitching, the ball is almost in the mitt before she swings. Or she is fouling balls off toward first base dugout. At 10U, she didn’t have this problem and was a pretty consistent hitter. Even at PGF in Cali she was hitting the fastest pitching that she had seen all year and actually hit better in that one, than she did all year. But since moving up to 12U, it’s like she’s frozen in time. Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have any drills or thoughts to help her with timing? We already draw the line and all that, but that hasn’t seemed to help. It’s like the extra 5’ gives her too much time to think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When you are throwing front toss to her (or if you are watching somebody else throw) pay attention to when she starts her initial movement (gather is a word sometimes used) as FFS mentioned. If she is waiting till the arm is swinging forward, or worse till the ball is released, she is starting too late. If she cannot get this correct with front toss she is going to have a heck of a time doing it in a game. My DD is pretty good with it with front toss but in a game she gets going too late a good portion of the time. I see this a lot with kids who are just starting with live pitching. 3/4 of the kids on my DDs team have an issue with it.
 
Last edited:
Jun 17, 2009
15,105
0
Portland, OR
something I use with my team is to make sure they understand loading before ball release and then counting 1,2 and swinging on 2. at first, I count with them to get them used to it. I found a too early swing, followed by slowing down the count works well. just an option to try.

I would like to understand. What is being loaded, how is it being loaded and when in the swing sequence is this loading occurring?
 
Dec 10, 2015
845
63
Chautauqua County
I would like to understand. What is being loaded, how is it being loaded and when in the swing sequence is this loading occurring?

hah! you're one of those techie hitting guys, who I enjoy reading. perhaps loading isn't correct. I make sure they have separated (is that word Ok?) so that their muscles have now told their brains, yo, we're going to swing on 1 and a 2. if they are waiting to actually see the ball come out of the pitcher's hand before they do anything, they're usually too late, eh.:D
 
Aug 20, 2017
1,474
113
Fix the mental side and then address the mechanical side. Mental side is to get the swing going at every pitch. Front toss, side toss, live, whatever! Get going at every pitch! Stop swinging when you see it’s not a strike. You need to be ok with swinging at a bad pitch every now and then. Nothing worse then a girl swinging at a bad pitch and every adult yells “don’t swing at that” yada yada yada. Teach her to assume every pitch will be down the gut and get going!
 
Mar 2, 2018
88
0
I make sure they have separated (is that word Ok?) so that their muscles have now told their brains, yo, we're going to swing on 1 and a 2.

The brain is the software and the muscles are the hardware. So your saying the hardware tells the software what to do?
 
Sep 7, 2017
187
18
After a bucket or two, she starts barreling the ball and driving it well.

A hitter that can not adjust within a swing or two often has a mechanical swing issue.

the ball is almost in the mitt before she swings

Make sure you have this correct and that you are not simply perceiving this because she is hitting foul balls to the opposite batter's box side of the field.

Or she is fouling balls off toward first base dugout.

This, coupled with the prior comment, could lead one to believe that she is simply late with the initiation of her swing.

A common reason for a high percentage of foul balls towards the 1B side of the field, for a RH batter, is having the initial axis of rotation of the barrel too wide. You can pitch a kid with this issue right down the middle of the plate and a large percentage of their swings will result in a foul ball to the 1B side of the field (reference RH batter). A kid like this can get into a battle with a pitcher in which they foul off several pitches ... ten or more foul balls ... they think they are battling effectively, but in reality they are fouling off balls that should have been squared for solid hits.

To wide meaning gets to extension to soon?

To wide meaning pulls off the ball.

Can you explain what action is taking place with the to wide comment.

What I see happens with this is the batter will rotate the shoulders and not use the hands and leave the bat behind. The batter will be facing the pitcher and the bat is in tow! Point to the catcher almost. This is not what I would define as to wide but dragging the bat and/or swinging with the shoulders.

This is a common problem but when I think swinging to wide I cant picture that angle? How can you swing to wide and hit it oppo? Normally to wide is an extreme pull. I'm just not picturing the angle properly
 
Jun 17, 2009
15,105
0
Portland, OR
Too wide ... as in the initial axis of barrel rotation is too wide. Since I recently posted a GIF of the 'mouse test', think in terms of failing the mouse test.

What you describe in your fourth paragraph would be an example of 'too wide of an initial axis of barrel rotation'.
 

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