11yo Hitting Analysis

[Jaz146]

My 11yo is having regularly hitting pop ups or ground balls down third base foul. She bats right. I believe she is tilting over the plate to include her head tilting sideways as well. Nothing seems to fix the issue. I'm wondering what the cause of the head tilt could be.

 

[cnardone]

Pause and step through the video, at toe touch, her left shoulder is higher than her right shoulder. Start with getting into a proper position at toe touch.

 

[clemenslee1]

I agree with @cnardone, she is swinging as she is striding. Also the swing in the video she was late and the ball got in on the hands. How is her timing?

The tilting is probably just her adjusting to pitch location. Which is not a bad thing, IMO. How does she do on pitches up in the zone?

 

[Jaz146]

I agree with @cnardone, she is swinging as she is striding. Also the swing in the video she was late and the ball got in on the hands. How is her timing?

The tilting is probably just her getting adjusting to pitch location. Which is not a bad thing, IMO. How does she do on pitches up in the zone?

So this is a new issue that developed over the last couple of weeks. Prior to that she was hitting solid line drives to the gaps (doubles and singles). I would say historically she hasn't been a strong hitter with pitches up in the zone. One of her coaches mentioned that she was dropping her barrel. I believe what looks like dropping the barrel is the shoulder positioning mentioned in both comments. I noticed while working with her yesterday that her bat knob was not pointing at the catcher at setup or stride.

 

[clemenslee1]

So this is a new issue that developed over the last couple of weeks. Prior to that she was hitting solid line drives to the gaps (doubles and singles). I would say historically she hasn't been a strong hitter with pitches up in the zone. One of her coaches mentioned that she was dropping her barrel. I believe what looks like dropping the barrel is the shoulder positioning mentioned in both comments. I noticed while working with her yesterday that her bat knob was not pointing at the catcher at setup or stride.

Do you have video of those swings when she was hitting solid?

I was asking about up in the zone, because I was curious if she tilts over even on those pitch locations.

 

[Jaz146]

Do you have video of those swings when she was hitting solid?

I was asking about up in the zone, because I was curious if she tilts over even on those pitch locations.

Yes, it ended up as a double to left center.

 

[clemenslee1]

When she faces higher velocity, does she start to struggle and starts to pop up or ground to third?

The double hit is a better view to understand what's going on. Basically IMO its a sequence issue. That's causing her to slot, and drop the barrel flat as she is making her forward move.

 

[Jaz146]

Yes, I would say this occurs when facing higher velocity pitches.

 

[clemenslee1]

Yes, I would say this occurs when facing higher velocity pitches.

Yes because of her sequence she is dropping the barrel flat, and then having bat drag through the zone. Elbows leading the hands. All just my opinion of course.

 

[Cornbread]

Clem is correct. It’s timing related. Her body doesn’t have time to sequence properly. She is making adjustments to being late to get the barrel going and to the ball as soon as possible. Learn to get the front foot up (slight knee lift) when the pitcher is at the top of the circle and float forward with the front foot down by the time the ball is half way to home plate. Can use the drill Clem posted on front toss. Tell her to get front foot up before you move to flip the ball. Once you see the front foot up flip it to her.