10U Swing Eval

[Cornbread]

Her sequence is off. We want to see the hips/core begin to rotate while the upper body is still resisting. I always look for the rear knee to move forward and start turning prior to the hands/shoulders moving. I would start with her stance.

Stance: rear knee set slightly inside of rear foot, turn the rear foot inward some, get the rear elbow up some (even with top hand), push the hips back (butt out) and lean her chest slightly over (think 45 degree angle with spine). Get her to get into that position every time! Will take some work. Start there and video her hitting on the tee again. Next step will be to get her into a good launch position (where she's at once the stride foot hits the ground). I think tinkering with her stance will help her get to a better launch position.

To have proper sequence she needs to figure out how to get some pull back (not a huge move) with the rear elbow during her stride. Want the lower to begin to rotate while the upper is still resisting (pulling back). That will prevent her from leading with the hands (opposite of knob to the ball). This video details what the upper body needs to do.

 

[Agcy]

My daughter is 9 and having a hard time hitting. She's a pretty decent fielder and would probably make all-stars if she could just hit, but she rarely hits at all, but when she does they are always softly hit to the infield and are almost always outs. Have gone through a few hitting coaches, it just doesn't seem like she's getting much better, or maybe it's just hard to tell.

Would love some feedback! Drills we can work on to fix her issues would be helpful too!

I am not a fan of spouting off on what I believe as the end all. But, some food for thought on point by point watching...

1. At load (the start) Square up the feet/hips/shoulders so she starts in line with the plate (maybe slightly pigeon toed on the feet)
2. At the start, front shoulder should be lower than back shoulder and hands should be no lower than the back shoulder (this is slightly different from baseball due to the trajectory from the starting point of the pitch)
3. Set the tee so it is even with where her front foot is at contact!!!
4. Both arms should be bent at contact (#3 will help with that)!!!
5. The shoulders and hands should drive around/forward some after contact
- With 4&5 - her shoulders and hand are moving to a point before contact and then just stop - so it is really just the wrists that are 'swinging' the bat after her hands get to their extension

I would start with short bat / one arm drills. Mostly all bottom hand. Do it from one knee (back knee on the ground). Limited body/shoulder movement. Swing from load to extension only (bat pointed at the pitcher and not all the way around).

I would also hit-to-contact. Start loaded, swing (moderatly fast or as fast as they can with control) and stop at the ball where the ball simply 'pops' into the net. Check form: Left elbow bent at 90 degrees, bat angled down, left forearm in line with the bat, shoulders parallel with the bat, palm up/palm down, hips and shoulders square to the pitcher.

Then would hit to extension (bat pointed to right field) with arms straight and palms up / palms down

Then full swing with video to check form at those points.

 

[Shawn]

Her sequence is off. We want to see the hips/core begin to rotate while the upper body is still resisting. I always look for the rear knee to move forward and start turning prior to the hands/shoulders moving. I would start with her stance.

Stance: rear knee set slightly inside of rear foot, turn the rear foot inward some, get the rear elbow up some (even with top hand), push the hips back (butt out) and lean her chest slightly over (think 45 degree angle with spine). Get her to get into that position every time! Will take some work. Start there and video her hitting on the tee again. Next step will be to get her into a good launch position (where she's at once the stride foot hits the ground). I think tinkering with her stance will help her get to a better launch position.

To have proper sequence she needs to figure out how to get some pull back (not a huge move) with the rear elbow during her stride. Want the lower to begin to rotate while the upper is still resisting (pulling back). That will prevent her from leading with the hands (opposite of knob to the ball). This video details what the upper body needs to do.

Yes, I didn’t even get into the lowerbody accept for hitting with no running lowerbody. Even when hitting and hanging out more the lowerbody is ready to run.

I was looking at this video and looking for the lowerbody and upperbody going opposite directions. now that I look at the simplicity of this swing I really like this swing even more. But, beware it is slow mo and what your looking at happens quickly in reality.



I was watching the rearward acceleration, pivot point and the forward pivot point and the stretch between them. No missing frames in the girls swing.

 

[Shawn]

I am not a fan of spouting off on what I believe as the end all. But, some food for thought on point by point watching...

1. At load (the start) Square up the feet/hips/shoulders so she starts in line with the plate (maybe slightly pigeon toed on the feet)
2. At the start, front shoulder should be lower than back shoulder and hands should be no lower than the back shoulder (this is slightly different from baseball due to the trajectory from the starting point of the pitch)
3. Set the tee so it is even with where her front foot is at contact!!!
4. Both arms should be bent at contact (#3 will help with that)!!!
5. The shoulders and hands should drive around/forward some after contact
- With 4&5 - her shoulders and hand are moving to a point before contact and then just stop - so it is really just the wrists that are 'swinging' the bat after her hands get to their extension

I would start with short bat / one arm drills. Mostly all bottom hand. Do it from one knee (back knee on the ground). Limited body/shoulder movement. Swing from load to extension only (bat pointed at the pitcher and not all the way around).

I would also hit-to-contact. Start loaded, swing (moderatly fast or as fast as they can with control) and stop at the ball where the ball simply 'pops' into the net. Check form: Left elbow bent at 90 degrees, bat angled down, left forearm in line with the bat, shoulders parallel with the bat, palm up/palm down, hips and shoulders square to the pitcher.

Then would hit to extension (bat pointed to right field) with arms straight and palms up / palms down

Then full swing with video to check form at those points.

Yeah you can dress them up with a bunch of hitting jargon that they don’t understand.

Or you can teach them how the swing works and let them the check points happen because they are swinging correctly.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen check points starting with the stance. Getting the front shoulder down, back elbow up, hands here bat there, etc. etc.,

And then when comes to actually swinging the bat, they have no clue. Can’t swing out of the setup. Because that have no idea how to swing, and swinging from a setup just makes it worse.

 

[julray]

Just trying to keep it simple... you said she's a decent fielder. What does her throwing hand do when she steps forward to throw the ball? Compared to what does her hands do when she strides forward when hitting?

 

[_MIA_]

Throw to her 3 or 4 times a week. Tell her to try and get it to land in the grass (if you are on a softball field) Or better yet setup the plate near second (or a reasonable distance where it will be a challenge) and tell her to get it over the fence…

A lot of kids are not ready for much instruction at 9 YO..

 

[Bonesaw]

Throw to her 3 or 4 times a week. Tell her to try and get it to land in the grass (if you are on a softball field) Or better yet setup the plate near second (or a reasonable distance where it will be a challenge) and tell her to get it over the fence…

A lot of kids are not ready for much instruction at 9 YO..

This is the best advice. Her swing is serviceable. Let her try to figure it out and have fun. I would add, the more you keep your mouth shut, the more she will listen to you when you have something important to say. If she swings and misses, just throw another one. If she smokes one, say nice hit.

 

[Shawn]

Throw to her 3 or 4 times a week. Tell her to try and get it to land in the grass (if you are on a softball field) Or better yet setup the plate near second (or a reasonable distance where it will be a challenge) and tell her to get it over the fence…

A lot of kids are not ready for much instruction at 9 YO..

And yet she learned that swing.

 

[Bonesaw]

And yet she learned that swing.

I'd take it over yours.

 

[_MIA_]

And yet she learned that swing.

Sometimes kids at that age are better just trying to hit the ball hard vs listening (or trying to at least) to well intentioned adults. Time and place for everything..

You do a poor impression of Rich because deep down you aren’t an arse..