10u Batting Practice

[forkliftgator]

My DD is in her 2nd season of 10u kid pitch. Her swing mechanics have improved significantly since we started lessons. However, it hasn’t translated to game success.

My hypothesis is that the batting practice is all short distance under hand toss. In this enviro environment she’s a beast. When she sees a 45’ pitch she swings late regardless of velocity, which led to my theory that the short distance requires immediate reaction vs the mound distance that requires her to decide when to move.

i pulled the 8u sling out the other day and she couldn’t hit anything after being a very consistent hitter just a 2 seasons ago, which seemed to confirm my hypothesis.

im considering prioritizing full distance with a sling or machine over shorter from an arm.

is this rational? Anyone else experienced this

 

[Westwind]

45’? Isn’t 10u distance 35’ minus some stride?

Sling?

You mention lessons, if the instructor is experienced I would think they would be matching reaction time to the pitching in games she sees.

I suspect she is trying to decide when TO swing in games. Instead, Intend to hit EVERY pitch no matter what and sometimes the decision is to NOT swing.

I also bet that during batting practice almost every pitch is a strike and therefore there is no decision. Mix in REALLY bad pitches so she can practice an easy decision to not swing. Slowly, over the course of weeks, get closer to the zone with the bad pitches and make the decisions just slightly harder.

Impress on her that she is a hitter- hitters hit and no one ever got their picture in the paper or on Sportscenter taking a walk.

 

[forkliftgator]

45’? Isn’t 10u distance 35’ minus some stride?

Sling?

You mention lessons, if the instructor is experienced I would think they would be matching reaction time to the pitching in games she sees.

I suspect she is trying to decide when TO swing in games. Instead, Intend to hit EVERY pitch no matter what and sometimes the decision is to NOT swing.

I also bet that during batting practice almost every pitch is a strike and therefore there is no decision. Mix in REALLY bad pitches so she can practice an easy decision to not swing. Slowly, over the course of weeks, get closer to the zone with the bad pitches and make the decisions just slightly harder.

Impress on her that she is a hitter- hitters hit and no one ever got their picture in the paper or on Sportscenter taking a walk.

You’re right 35’ I got the distance confused with baseball. Sling is the spring loaded machine they use in our leagues for 8u machine pitch.

The swing rate has picked up this season (lots of time with the bat on the shoulder first season), which is why I’m thinking it’s a timing issue rather than a pitch selection issue. They did drill the “yes, yes, yes, no” vs “no, no, no, yes” which hit home well.

 

[_MIA_]

The swing rate has picked up this season (lots of time with the bat on the shoulder first season), which is why I’m thinking it’s a timing issue rather than a pitch selection issue. They did drill the “yes, yes, yes, no” vs “no, no, no, yes” which hit home well.

Does she ever check her swing, in BP or in games? If not then as WW asserted, and which you referred to, she doesn't have the 'yes,yes,yes,no' thing down yet...That really isn't a timing thing but more
of a mental approach thing.

 

[Westwind]

Ok, that makes sense.

It sounds like you are on the right track.

One thing about the spring loaded arm device is there isn’t any prepitch timing mechanism- the old, “when the pitcher moves, you move/dance with the pitcher” deal.

I really like a mix of moving ball hitting practice. Of course live arm pitching at the right speed from the right distance is the gold standard, just not always available. That’s where machine work with a consistent feeder that gives the hitter a realistic timing mechanism comes in. That being said, there are a lot of good hitters that don’t see machine work.

Tee drill you might try is “command drill”

 

[So Cal Seth]

Try to record the batting lesson swings vs the in-game swings and see if she's maintaining the technicality that she displays during lessons. Could be she simply is not.