Thread: 12U DD hitting with the new Mizuno F19 PowerCarbon

Originally Posted by pattar

I see this type of swing all the time when I am sitting and watching lessons that the org head gives (while I wait for my DD to finish practice at the indoor facility). He tells all the girls he wants them to be short
so they just keep their hands where they are in their handset and swing from there. Then he tells them good job, nice and short.

Find a different org!

Originally Posted by Rolling Hard

Find a different org!

Those are paid lessons...he leaves us alone. Nice guy though.

Originally Posted by pattar

Those are paid lessons...he leaves us alone. Nice guy though.

Nice guys don't teach to push the hands thru.

All,

Thank you for the feedback!! I’m still digesting it, and frankly learning what some of it means. I went through the posts with DD to help her understand that we still have much to learn to improve her mechanics.

As there is much for us to work on, I don’t want to overwhelm DD in the process by introducing everything at once. So, are there a few key drills we can work on that will cover the top 80% or so of the topics?

Some things DD and I have talked about in the past (e.g., starting hand position), but much of it will be new to her. Short hand set came from a coach last year, and no one wanted to listen to me that shortening the swing doesn’t make it faster, it makes it less powerful. He was mixing up addressing speed vs timing, and losing power in the process. He won bc he was the HC, and I was lowly AC. This obviously affects getting deeper into the scap/coil. As far as showing the numbers to the pitcher, I see how that is maximizing the coil, but I have seen more (rec) girls swinging the gate around when they do that, so I have always discouraged it. I will change that now, but need to prevent the gate action.

For getting the hips out front to pull the hands (starting the torso engine 1st), I think DD and I can accomplish a lot with a discussion on timing and a few vids that are prolific in the threads, and perhaps begin reinforcement with the neck slot drill (high tee) I saw in the “1st year 14u - Swing mechanics what to work on” thread. Rolling Hard mentioned the bat throwing drill also, which we have done in the past, but apparently missed some key takeaways from it (hip thrust, barrel turn). We may try that one again, too (but not with the new F19). Any others that will help reinforce the torso engine starting earlier?

Regardin turning the barrel to the ball, I found the discussion with Tewk’s video that seems to be a good example (also reinforceable with the neck slot drill?), as well as an old Cabrera 4-part swing break down video set from a few years ago. DD seemed to understand from these, but will need to break some very ingrained habits.

As for “bleeds the corners” (new term for me), I think I understand how to prevent that now with the torso engine driving the swing (hands behind the hips), but other than the timing, are there other symptoms to see this? Is starting the torso engine the only thing needed to prep for barrel turn, or just the primary thing?

And as UncDrew pointed out, she needs to simply swing harder. This has been an ongoing discussion. Hoping barrel turn practice will create a bit more explosiveness.

DD plays rec, no TB (yet). I’m just trying to keep her loving the sport and continuing to smile, and would be thankful for her to make the local HS team. I’m also trying to figure out the best ways to present this level of info to the other rec leaguers who are getting worse info than my DD did. Any thoughts for the very best basic drills for rec leaguers is appreciated.

Thank you all again, and apologies for the novel! Much of this discussion has really opened my eyes to many new things, and I like that!

I hear ya. It can be overwhelming and there are so many great drills, core exercises, etc. etc. I joke with the parents on our team that there are so many things I want to work on and teach, especially with my daughter being a pitcher as well as 3B and hitting. And at 10U, we still have some basic fundamentals to teach.

All that, and I want them to simply play and have fun. It's a lot.

Check out the justin Stone video. His best drill.

Originally Posted by Rolling Hard

Nice guys don't teach to push the hands thru.

Lol..fair enough.

Originally Posted by clemenslee1

I'm fairly New to this whole thing too. Learning as much as I can from the guys. They have been a great help and you will receive good advice! This my opinion, take it with a grain of salt because I know many here will probably disagree. Most of the time I hear the following, "She's pushing", "She needs to "turn the barrel". While I agree that pushing is not the ultimate goal that we want the player to keep doing. We do want them to "Pull" the bat through the zone starting from the ground up. Most kids starting from a very young age (T-Ball) have no issue pulling the bat through the zone using their body (Torso). Watch any video of a kid batting at the young ages. They do that naturally. They do that because it feels strong. The main problem is they do nothing with the hands. Therefore leading to issues, dumping the barrel, dropping the hands, elbow drag etc. So most coach a short to the ball hand path. So what am I saying, If your DD can do what she is doing in the video consistently off of a moving ball. Then in my opinion she on the right track. Then she can start trying to learn to turn the barrel etc. How many professional ball players, Learned short to the ball style of batting, before being taught to turn the barrel etc.? From what I understand many of them didn't learn those concepts until HS, college or MLB. If it was me I would just try and teach the following. More separation with the hands. Getting the top arm behind the ball and leading with the swing with the torso. My daughter is only 8 so I don't have a lot of room to give advice to older ages. But its just the conclusions I have come to so far. Again take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.

My guess is the vast majority learned the benefits of 'short to' before learning of 'turning the barrel'. It was one of Barry Bonds' top swing cues.

Originally Posted by FiveFrameSwing

My guess is the vast majority learned the benefits of 'short to' before learning of 'turning the barrel'. It was one of Barry Bonds' top swing cues.

So, Why do we often say to Parent, Coach etc. That has a young player that they need to turn the barrel etc.? I'm not arguing that turning the barrel is not correct etc. by the way, but at the younger ages do you think that learning "Short to" builds a better foundation first to then build upon and add turn the barrel etc.?