16 yo struggling with SO and pop ups

[BigSkyHi]

Maybe she can pick something up from this video to help with sequencing from the ground up.

 

[ccal]

I have 2 daughters age 17 and 15 that were struggling with similar issues. Both athletic with good power. What worked for both of them was what I call the contact drill. Front toss the ball from 10 to 15 feet away right down the middle. Have her swing to the point of contact, not a full swing, stopping at contact, with the point being to stay on top of the ball producing ground balls or line drives, not balls on a upward trajectory. Once she is able to accomplish that with down the middle pitches start working the pitches inside and outside. Start with having her do that with at least a bucket a day 3 or 4 days a week. Once she is proficient with that you can cut it down to half a bucket warm up before taking full swings. On full swings have her focus on driving inside pitches back towards the middle of the field. This will help correct swinging around the ball. Have her focus on staying on top of, hard ground balls or line driving outside pitches towards right field. This will stop the pop ups and strike outs. This will allow her to teach herself the proper swing path and what is required to get into the proper position to hit successfully. It may not happen overnight, but I bet it won’t take more than a month or two. It just depends on how many times per week you work on it. Your daughter looks like she is athletic and very close to being successful.

 

[TDS]

I have 2 daughters age 17 and 15 that were struggling with similar issues. Both athletic with good power. What worked for both of them was what I call the contact drill. Front toss the ball from 10 to 15 feet away right down the middle. Have her swing to the point of contact, not a full swing, stopping at contact, with the point being to stay on top of the ball producing ground balls or line drives, not balls on a upward trajectory. Once she is able to accomplish that with down the middle pitches start working the pitches inside and outside. Start with having her do that with at least a bucket a day 3 or 4 days a week. Once she is proficient with that you can cut it down to half a bucket warm up before taking full swings. On full swings have her focus on driving inside pitches back towards the middle of the field. This will help correct swinging around the ball. Have her focus on staying on top of, hard ground balls or line driving outside pitches towards right field. This will stop the pop ups and strike outs. This will allow her to teach herself the proper swing path and what is required to get into the proper position to hit successfully. It may not happen overnight, but I bet it won’t take more than a month or two. It just depends on how many times per week you work on it. Your daughter looks like she is athletic and very close to being successful.

Sounds similar to "stop swings" where you connect the hands to the core and stop vs releasing the barrel.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Sounds similar to "stop swings" where you connect the hands to the core and stop vs releasing the barrel.

Did he go?

 

[cufan99]

Did he go?

Yes he did!

 

[RichK]

She is producing pop ups not because she has an upward swing path at contact (she doesn't) but she because she has a swing-down path with weight shifted to the front leg, which KEEPS the swing path slicing down through contact (resulting in pop-ups and misses). Learn how to work the front elbow up (per Mike above) coupled with proper tilt -- that will turn her swing-down path (which isn't wrong if placed within the right body movement) into a nike swoosh path and produce more squared-up, solid ball contact.

 

[clemenslee1]

She is producing pop ups not because she has an upward swing path at contact (she doesn't) but she because she has a swing-down path with weight shifted to the front leg, which KEEPS the swing path slicing down through contact (resulting in pop-ups and misses). Learn how to work the front elbow up (per Mike above) coupled with proper tilt -- that will turn her swing-down path (which isn't wrong if placed within the right body movement) into a nike swoosh path and produce more squared-up, solid ball contact.

bingo

 

[cufan99]

She is producing pop ups not because she has an upward swing path at contact (she doesn't) but she because she has a swing-down path with weight shifted to the front leg, which KEEPS the swing path slicing down through contact (resulting in pop-ups and misses). Learn how to work the front elbow up (per Mike above) coupled with proper tilt -- that will turn her swing-down path (which isn't wrong if placed within the right body movement) into a nike swoosh path and produce more squared-up, solid ball contact.

Some tee work last night trying to work on weight back, turning on back hip then hands while front elbow works up. I see from this video that she still starts everything by shifting hips forward.

 

[Eric F]

Some tee work last night trying to work on weight back, turning on back hip then hands while front elbow works up. I see from this video that she still starts everything by shifting hips forward.

That tee is forcing her downward barrel path. It doesn't allow her to turn the barrel down behind and up through the ball. The ball is coming to her on a downward plane from the pitcher. We want the barrel of the bat matching that plane by coming slightly upward towards to contact. Think of the path of the barrel as a Nike swoosh. That path is impossible with that tee.

 

[clemenslee1]

Some tee work last night trying to work on weight back, turning on back hip then hands while front elbow works up. I see from this video that she still starts everything by shifting hips forward.

Just my .02



Her thought process of the upper half seems to be to turn or rotate in a flat down angle circle type action around. In reality it should be the thought of the upper half (shoulders etc.) working back and behind the turning lower half. Rear shoulder works underneath. Think more north and south barrel path vs east to west barrel path.



One way I explained it to my DD (Still a work in progress) is we went to the hallway of the house. I placed a ball on the tee. I asked her how would she hit the ball up the middle with out hitting the walls of the hallway (Slowly of course LOL). She had to self adjust her body and barrel path to be able to accomplish the goal.