13 YO DD hitting video

[alabama_lowlife]

Thanks for all the replies, I've been reading through a lot of the more active hitting threads but at times all the info gets overwhelming.

There are some things that you all have pointed out that i hadn't noticed. The first would be the lack of coil. I had purchased a DVD that somebody on here had recommended a couple of years ago and started working on hip rotation but never really followed through on implementing it. I have since let somebody borrow it and have not gotten it back. Sports Technique - Baseball Training Videos to improve your Techniques with the power rotational swing and hitting!

I also had not noticed her knuckle position. I had taught her to line up the knocking knuckles when she started playing machine pitch and she was batting that way. I'm not sure when she stopped lining them up. Probably during this season with jv and varsity. I had not noticed the gap between her hands.

I had noticed that compared to pujols her hands are really high. I may try to address that this weekend but i'm afraid to do too much at once and cause her to be uncomfortable at the plate until after the season. Plus i need to get a better grasp on all this or i'll end up contradicting myself every other week and confusing both of us lol.

First thing will be getting the grip changed. We'll see how she takes to the hands being lower and try the coil but not really push the issue on it for a couple more weeks unless she takes to it well.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

One of the more important points about the grip is the angle created wrt the forearms. IMO your daughter does not have an issue with her grip. Further, IMO anyway, a grip in which one aligns the door knocking knuckles would be inferior to your daughter’s current grip. What you describe is a step backwards, IMO anyway.

Don’t know if you saw the batter on the Arizona State team swinging with a “split grip”. It worked for her … got her to having an active role of the 2011 WCWS championship team. What I see in this area of your daughter’s swing is not a major issue … again, IMO anyway.

What I see is a push-like swing that resembles a "hands/knob to the ball" type swing mentality. Her swing never establishes connection. Backside firing process is virtually absent. I know the pitch is high, and we would have learned more on a lower pitch, but this has the look of a "level shoulder", "level to the ground", "shoulder/arm powered" push swing.

 

[Mr T]

Alabama and FFS, yes take my alignment advice carefully. I admit I have a unique view on this. I believe in using knocking knuckles. When a hitter's mechanics reach a certain point I switch them to box. Box can yield problems IMO with hitters who do not have their swings yet squared away. And this bat pushing is precisely one of those problems.

This is a special case because to switch from KK to box is utterly trivial when a hitter has the rest down. It is not a "habit" that has to be broken at all.

Utterly critical is understanding the back elbow from my post. If was already covered in other responses then fine. But, you can coil until the cows come home if you do not fix that problem there will be very limited success.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Mr T, it isn’t a matter of coiling until the cows come home. This girl could coil from here to Timbuktu, but if she doesn’t connect it really won’t matter.

Personally I question the use of aligning the knocking knuckles even at the LL level. This girl is beyond LL age, and wishes to make her Varsity team.

The problem that you see with the rear elbow is indeed a problem … and it symbolizes that she isn’t using her backside properly in powering her swing. The knocking knuckle grip would actually make this particular issue worse ….. IMO anyway.

Watch how the rear elbow lowers without being connected to the lower torso. I believe that’s what you are seeing. This represents a lack of connection. This is why I suggested the drills that I suggested. The notion being to get this girl fueling her swing with a more powerful engine and to put her swing in a more favorable sequence by learning to connect to it.

It doesn’t matter how hard this girl pushes … if she doesn’t learn to connect, and use a more powerful source to fuel her swing, then she’s going to be more challenged in realizing the goal of making her Varsity team and being a significant contributor.

 

[Mr T]

Five, I love your hitting posts. The grip, yes I am in a small minority on this one. There are great batters that use KK alignment though. I would at least examine the grip. From the vid quality I was only guessing, but it looked slightly more wound up than a box grip, which would be a big no no.

I am not sure the golf drills really connect for me. If they do for Alabama then great. Yes I am concerned with the back elbow action you talk about.

Twisting your guy out of the way. Wow, I am going to have to use that. That's so critical and I've never heard it put that way before but it's very clear.

If you don't "get your gut out of the way" you will never create maximum bat whip or power from the body.

Twisting the hip indeed gets the shoulders tilting and the elbow lowering. However, it is absolutely critical that the elbow be lowering from the proper position. This is why I don't like a very high and away from the body setup like the girl here.

I can setup like she does, coil, twist my guy out of the way, and *still have my hands way too forward* as in the frame I referenced in the Stone vid.

I think we share the philosophy in general that you get that hip twisting, that's what you concentrate on, and a lot of these hands and arms problems go away. So many poor players are caught in a maze of thinking about their upper body while the lower body is the limiting factor.

But, IMO the one prerequisite for the hip magic to take effect is what Stone calls separation. If you bring the hands forward and in front of the body early on, the lower body action cannot save you.

 

[alabama_lowlife]

if i were going to use this advice to teach myself to hit, the part i would have the most trouble with is the rear elbow. In my mind the coil/ uncoil doesn't seem as though it would be all that difficult to overcome. But when i take a slow swing i notice that I LEAD with my rear elbow and i think she probably does the same. Now i was admittedly a crappy hitter when i played lol

 

[RayR]

FFS said knob to the ball mentality - I agree. There needs to be a mentality of barrel to the ball. The hands not only have to stay inside the path of the pitch but also know when to turn the barrel to start creating some automatic whip. Usually the very act of creating an inside hand path creates a tight enough path that induces the hands to work the barrel around on time. Other times (with kids who go knob to the ball) it has to be learned.

 

[alabama_lowlife]

You are both correct in your assessment of a knob to the ball mentality, that's what the head coach was teaching us last year. At this point what I'm gathering is that the rotation of her body that is currently present is a result of her initiating the swing with her hands. By teaching her to initiate the swing with her lower body, it will promote connection of the rear elbow with the shoulders. We want the arm movement to be the result of the rotation, not the cause of the rotation, correct?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Five, I love your hitting posts. The grip, yes I am in a small minority on this one. There are great batters that use KK alignment though. I would at least examine the grip. From the vid quality I was only guessing, but it looked slightly more wound up than a box grip, which would be a big no no.

I am not sure the golf drills really connect for me. If they do for Alabama then great. Yes I am concerned with the back elbow action you talk about.

Twisting your guy out of the way. Wow, I am going to have to use that. That's so critical and I've never heard it put that way before but it's very clear.

If you don't "get your gut out of the way" you will never create maximum bat whip or power from the body.

Twisting the hip indeed gets the shoulders tilting and the elbow lowering. However, it is absolutely critical that the elbow be lowering from the proper position. This is why I don't like a very high and away from the body setup like the girl here.

I can setup like she does, coil, twist my guy out of the way, and *still have my hands way too forward* as in the frame I referenced in the Stone vid.

I think we share the philosophy in general that you get that hip twisting, that's what you concentrate on, and a lot of these hands and arms problems go away. So many poor players are caught in a maze of thinking about their upper body while the lower body is the limiting factor.

But, IMO the one prerequisite for the hip magic to take effect is what Stone calls separation. If you bring the hands forward and in front of the body early on, the lower body action cannot save you.

Mr T, I like the Stone video.

Regarding the 'bold' above ... I'm basically saying the same thing ... and the drill approach I presented was meant to obtain that separation that Stone describes, yet have the lower body fueling the initial lowering of the rear elbow. Sounds like we are in agreement on this part. As for the door knocking knuckle alignment ... we don't agree there ... but disagreement is fine. Perhaps we can get into a more detailed discussion of that at some point.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

if i were going to use this advice to teach myself to hit, the part i would have the most trouble with is the rear elbow. In my mind the coil/ uncoil doesn't seem as though it would be all that difficult to overcome. But when i take a slow swing i notice that I LEAD with my rear elbow and i think she probably does the same. Now i was admittedly a crappy hitter when i played lol

Being a crappy hitter may make you a great instructor. I kid you not. It will force you to learn the swing in more detail and take little for granted.

Run an experiment for me ..... make a few dry swings and try to learn 'what' causes or fuels the "initial" lowering of the rear elbow. That's where your daughter's issue is IMO.