Criticism on DD hits please

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Mar 4, 2016
66
6
Thank you Coach James. I am very optimistic that this was our issue as well. We are going to spend the next several weeks working hard on that front hip. I'll make sure to post a follow up video for analysis.

Also, thank you for your help with her pitching. We did all the drills you recommended for several months (still do them actually, its more of a warm-up drill now though) and she has been doing very well with it. Her consistency shot up like crazy. We went from walking 4 or 5 a game during the fall to walking 6 the whole spring season. Huge difference.
 
Last edited:
Dec 26, 2017
487
63
Oklahoma
I have no criticisms because my DD is 10 and half the time couldn't hit water if she fell out of a boat but can I ask what camera and settings you used? The video looks great (and for what it's worth, if my kid hits that well when she's your DD's age, I'll feel pretty good about her).
 
Nov 18, 2015
1,585
113
Related to the launch angle - her hands look a little low at contact, which may be flattening the bat path.

Usually you want to see a nearly straight line across both shoulders to the hands and down the bat - from the viewpoint in the video, it would probably be more of a zigzag. This may be why she has a low follow through.

Getting in a position to allow the bat head to continue upward after contact shouldn’t mean less-solid contact. But changing from a 15 degree line drive to a 20 degree line drive may turn that triple into a HR.

But as others have said - that’s a great swing. She’s done a great job - I can’t imagine what my swing would look like if I’d been through that many hitting coaches!

ETA - took so long to write this, I missed your responses. This is more of a general question for the board than a suggestion - can working on separation help with the foul balls? Will letting the hips come through slightly ahead of the hands allow her to keep her current rhythm/ timing by (ever-so-slightly) delaying the bat head getting to contact? (Note - I may have this completely backwards - does increasing the lag between hips and hands correlate to an increase or decrease in time to contact?)

Also related to shoulder-hand-bat angle (tilt?) above - I like the idea of allowing the front elbow to work up higher. I think Mankin talks about this in many of his videos - lots of examples of the front elbow being almost at mouth level at contact. (And to his credit - he uses softball players in many of his swing analyses). I think the clips of ULL on-deck hitters also show this movement pattern.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Mar 4, 2016
66
6
I have no criticisms because my DD is 10 and half the time couldn't hit water if she fell out of a boat but can I ask what camera and settings you used? The video looks great (and for what it's worth, if my kid hits that well when she's your DD's age, I'll feel pretty good about her).

haha well keep in mind that's a highlight video. She has her struggles at the plate just as much as the next athlete (trust me, I have them videos also. lol). This ballpark has short back stops and turf fields so it makes the videos look a lot better with just that. I use a go pro 6 filmed in 1080p at 60fps.
 
Mar 4, 2016
66
6
Related to the launch angle - her hands look a little low at contact, which may be flattening the bat path.

Usually you want to see a nearly straight line across both shoulders to the hands and down the bat - from the viewpoint in the video, it would probably be more of a zigzag. This may be why she has a low follow through.

Getting in a position to allow the bat head to continue upward after contact shouldn’t mean less-solid contact. But changing from a 15 degree line drive to a 20 degree line drive may turn that triple into a HR.

But as others have said - that’s a great swing. She’s done a great job - I can’t imagine what my swing would look like if I’d been through that many hitting coaches!

ETA - took so long to write this, I missed your responses. This is more of a general question for the board than a suggestion - can working on separation help with the foul balls? Will letting the hips come through slightly ahead of the hands allow her to keep her current rhythm/ timing by (ever-so-slightly) delaying the bat head getting to contact? (Note - I may have this completely backwards - does increasing the lag between hips and hands correlate to an increase or decrease in time to contact?)

Also related to shoulder-hand-bat angle (tilt?) above - I like the idea of allowing the front elbow to work up higher. I think Mankin talks about this in many of his videos - lots of examples of the front elbow being almost at mouth level at contact. (And to his credit - he uses softball players in many of his swing analyses). I think the clips of ULL on-deck hitters also show this movement pattern.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had to go back and pay close attention to this. We do work drills where she is in a "power V" (which is what I am imagining when I picture having a straight line across the shoulders and down the bat. Let me know if I am misunderstanding this.) posture at contact. We got like a punching bag that stands up on his own and she swings to it making sure she makes contact in the power V position. BUT I have to agree in most of these swings she is definitely not straight. We work this very often at home and thought we had this corrected but I guess it's appearing in her game swing again. Any drills other than the one we are doing to help with keeping that V?
 
Mar 4, 2016
66
6
Related to the launch angle - her hands look a little low at contact, which may be flattening the bat path.

Usually you want to see a nearly straight line across both shoulders to the hands and down the bat - from the viewpoint in the video, it would probably be more of a zigzag. This may be why she has a low follow through.

Getting in a position to allow the bat head to continue upward after contact shouldn’t mean less-solid contact. But changing from a 15 degree line drive to a 20 degree line drive may turn that triple into a HR.

But as others have said - that’s a great swing. She’s done a great job - I can’t imagine what my swing would look like if I’d been through that many hitting coaches!

ETA - took so long to write this, I missed your responses. This is more of a general question for the board than a suggestion - can working on separation help with the foul balls? Will letting the hips come through slightly ahead of the hands allow her to keep her current rhythm/ timing by (ever-so-slightly) delaying the bat head getting to contact? (Note - I may have this completely backwards - does increasing the lag between hips and hands correlate to an increase or decrease in time to contact?)

Also related to shoulder-hand-bat angle (tilt?) above - I like the idea of allowing the front elbow to work up higher. I think Mankin talks about this in many of his videos - lots of examples of the front elbow being almost at mouth level at contact. (And to his credit - he uses softball players in many of his swing analyses). I think the clips of ULL on-deck hitters also show this movement pattern.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had to go back and pay close attention to this. We do work drills where she is in a "power V" (which is what I am imagining when I picture having a straight line across the shoulders and down the bat. Let me know if I am misunderstanding this.) posture at contact. We got like a punching bag that stands up on his own and she swings to it making sure she makes contact in the power V position. BUT I have to agree in most of these swings she is definitely not straight. We work this very often at home and thought we had this corrected but I guess it's appearing in her game swing again. Any drills other than the one we are doing to help with keeping that V?
 

SB45

Dad, Coach, Chauffeur
Sep 2, 2016
150
28
Western NY
I would post a video from the side, especially facing her from the 1st base dugout. Give you a better perspective on some things. I think her bat angle looks fine. To your point about separation...most people think of this as the distance from the front foot to the hands...striding forward away from you hands while the hands are staying back or moving back slightly. she has that. So, if that's what you asked...people would probably say it is good. I think she could create more torque by improving her sequence...have her start a swing and just as she begins to rotate the front hip open - hold her hands in place...it should be a little uncomfortable...she is wound up. That uncomfortable feeling is power wanting to be released. Sequencing better should alter the bat path into the zone a little bit...there are some videos on this...putting your hitting zone out in front of the plate (like you want it) which should visually look more like extension through the zone rather than swinging around the torso.



Great observation and also exactly what I was thinking. Leaking power is the perfect way to describe what I was thinking was happening. I knew about separating the hips and hands but I seem to be getting mixed opinions on that. When I brought it up to one of the other parents on the team he said "she's getting plenty of separation" but when I compare her to other hitters its an obvious difference. We will work on rotating that front hip hard tonight and see if we can pull some extra power out of her.

Also, does anyone see an issue with her front elbow or does that look okay? One of the things that stood out to me while comparing her swing on film to other hitters on her team is the front elbow. Looks like she is pulling that front arm across her torso instead of extending it out. Could this be a result of having the gated swing? Meaning if she rotated that front hip sooner would that allow her to extend that front elbow out more instead of pulling it across the front of her body? She has actually hit several that had plenty of distance to go yard but everyone of them were about 15-20 ft foul and every time its been left field side.
 
Mar 4, 2016
66
6
I would post a video from the side, especially facing her from the 1st base dugout. Give you a better perspective on some things. I think her bat angle looks fine. To your point about separation...most people think of this as the distance from the front foot to the hands...striding forward away from you hands while the hands are staying back or moving back slightly. she has that. So, if that's what you asked...people would probably say it is good. I think she could create more torque by improving her sequence...have her start a swing and just as she begins to rotate the front hip open - hold her hands in place...it should be a little uncomfortable...she is wound up. That uncomfortable feeling is power wanting to be released. Sequencing better should alter the bat path into the zone a little bit...there are some videos on this...putting your hitting zone out in front of the plate (like you want it) which should visually look more like extension through the zone rather than swinging around the torso.

Great point. I worry so much about misunderstanding people that it didn't cross my mind that maybe they misunderstood me. Myself along with everyone else here seems to agree that creating more separation with the hips and hands would be the most beneficial to her. So that is where we will focus our attention. She has a showcase this weekend and I have a second go pro that I can set up on the first base side to see if I can get a better view of her entire swing. Maybe even sync it with the go pro behind the plate to get multiple views of the same swing. I'll update on Monday.

Thank you all for taking the time to view and comment on the video. Greatly Appreciated.
 

Chris Delorit

Member
Apr 24, 2016
343
28
Green Bay, WI
To add to what others have already suggested for you...

Your daughter has some corrections to consider in her footwork. Her front foot has to plant hard to provide the strong negative resistance needed by the backside in order to build lots of core torque. In the kinetic energy chain, she won't have to concentrate on anything front hip as the rear hip engine starts the backside load against resistance and will naturally sort out the front side rotation. Once she hits a hard plant resistance, her mind is locked into violent thrust of the backside hip engine against that resistance.

In your video, her front side resistance is not at a level that it can be. She's allowing her weight to transfer a little too easily, too quickly and too far into the front side. In fact, she's not achieving full torso rotation to contact. So, she's struggling to obtain a better level of seperation because her kinetic chain isn't achieving optimization. This probably has a direct effect on her choking off her follow-through by breaking the wrists shortly after contact. Proper extension of the arms will allow that torque energy to be released more effectively. It's easier to do so when your weight is shifted more into the backside at contact and provides the counterbalance to not fall nose over toes.

Around that :08 - :09 mark, she loses some contact with the ground on the backside. The forward weight shift will also work negatively against good explosion of the rear hip engine, rotation and collapse of the rear leg to support good weight shift into the backside. Compare this with the 1:11 - 1:12 mark of the first video provided for you earlier and I think you'll be able to recognize it when comparing both clips.

Right now, I'd say your daughter is finessing the best she can with her arm strength instead of generating explosive power from the core. Think of generating torque similarly to wringing out a wet kitchen rag.

Watch what's going on with #21. Remember, you can slo-mo YouTube videos by using the period and comma buttons on your keyboard.

She'll get there, keep up the good work!

Chris
 
Last edited:

SB45

Dad, Coach, Chauffeur
Sep 2, 2016
150
28
Western NY
Great point. I worry so much about misunderstanding people that it didn't cross my mind that maybe they misunderstood me. Myself along with everyone else here seems to agree that creating more separation with the hips and hands would be the most beneficial to her. So that is where we will focus our attention. She has a showcase this weekend and I have a second go pro that I can set up on the first base side to see if I can get a better view of her entire swing. Maybe even sync it with the go pro behind the plate to get multiple views of the same swing. I'll update on Monday.

Thank you all for taking the time to view and comment on the video. Greatly Appreciated.

any update?
 

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