4-Days to Hit the FastBall Help

[Coach Grady]

What is the best practice to get the team ready for "the Killer" yea! there's a girl that throws in the 50's in the upcoming All-Star Game. My girls haven't seen anything above 45+'s . She is Big Tall and very good at ball control to say the least so that's two strikes on them before they get in the box. Do I speed up the pitching machine, bring in an older girl to pitch "big one" or chair drop balls to increase bat speed ? HELP!, there infield is so-so not really that good due to the fact they don't have to be ?. Should I really work on getting three-four Bunter's ready to see if we can base up on them? she may be slow off the mound? I Need Your Help . I got four days left to work on something and not enough time to work on it all , Thanks CG

 

[lhowser]

Here are a few things I would do -

1. Tell your players that by fastpitch softball standards 50 is not very fast. It is barely average for that age. Thousands of girls hit 50+ every weekend and have done so for years so this pitcher is nothing special. Just like other kids they can hit her if they work hard over the next 4 days.

2. Start at 46 on the machine. Then move to 48. Then to 52 (If they are missing it be positive and tell them you are actually throwing it faster than this pitcher throws in a game just to prepare them).

3. Tell them that hitting is contagious and each one of them has the opportunity to be the player that gets things started and it can happen in any inning so stay focused


4. It's a little late to do much with their swings but you can tell them that if they concentrate on TURNING the barrel into the path of the incoming ball they'll be fine.

5. Bringing in a bigger faster kid is fine as long as this outsider knows they are trying to help your little league team succeed.

6. I don't think drop toss will help much except that it gives reps.

50 isn't very fast, even for kids who have never seen it. If they are not afraid or intimidated they will do fine.

 

[alabama_lowlife]

lhowser's suggestion of gradually increasing speed is a good one IMO. I did that a few times last year with the pitching machine. I'd start slow and just keep bumping it up until they couldn't catch up to it anymore. I'd lie and say it was 5 mph slower than the speed I had it set to. I'd turn it up a mph or two when they weren't looking. I wouldn't let them know how fast it was until after they were done. There was one girl who generally displays the slowest swing on the team, she was making good contact at 63 mph. Granted, it's just a machine but it can remove the intimidation factor for them.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Many of the machines I work with pitch the ball 4 to 6mph slower than the setting. The speed is that of the actual wheel, and does not convert 100% to the speed of the pitched balls. If you need the ball pitched at 50mph, then the setting will need to be more like 54mph - 56mph.

lhowser's positive attitude of "progress can be made" is correct. Challenges produce opportunities to move hitters forward. That should be the goal .... and such opportunities should be embraced. High-speed pepper drills, in which the 45-degree drill is used, but snap-stop swings are performed instead of full swings, can help hitters quickly grasp what is needed to deal with high-speeds. Teaching the Holy Grail of "early and slow" is also a key to dealing with faster pitching.

 

[coach james]

Not a fan of machine hitting because it teaches them a constant location. I'd pitch to them behind a screen from 20' away as well as getting an older pitcher to pitch bp. Or get the bunt down and play small ball

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Not a fan of machine hitting because it teaches them a constant location. I'd pitch to them behind a screen from 20' away as well as getting an older pitcher to pitch bp. Or get the bunt down and play small ball

I'm a big fan of front-toss ..... agree with it's usage over pitching machine work for many cases ...... but for dealing with speed, a pitching machine works quite well, and in fact that may be one of the better uses for pitching machines.

 

[lhowser]

Not a fan of machine hitting because it teaches them a constant location.

Not the machines our group can afford and the dimple balls we use. I'm not sure machine pitches are as accurate and consistent as we assume. Now speed and spin are pretty consistent with the machine.

The thing with machines is contact is not valuable, dead pulls into the net are not valuable. Line drives to center, center left, center right are valuable. Raise the expectation of machine hitting.

 

[Coach Grady]

Thanks Coaches, Rain every afternoon, I am getting my Azz wet everyday at practice, rain is cutting practices short everyday . I tried to Work with wet outfields today "Pop fly's" only to be called off by County Park Manager he was Nice just said NO PLAY TODAY! . Tomorrow's another day I am Praying for the sun to come out.
I Have Three - Four days left "It is what it Is" and the only thing to do is work on fine tuning defense and hitting. Thanks for the Ideas and They will be used .
Coach Grady

 

[Coach Zoomy]

I always liked faster pitchers, the ball comes off the bat harder. that being said crank up some speed in the cage and older pitcher for live hitting and have the girls concentrate on good contact. everything will come out fine.

 

[RichK]

I've never seen a pitching machine put balls in the same spot every time. Especially once you start hitting the balls with any regularity and wearing them down and nicking them up. The real problem, to me, with machines is lack of a timing mechanism akin to a pitcher wind-up. A lot of coaches will simulate a windup but I've found that can be inconsistent too. Lately, I've been sitting next to the machine. I show the ball and then at same pace every time lower my arm and put the ball in the chute. I can be pretty consistent with it. And girls can build their early/slow load against it.

I completely agree that machines in a cage are the only way to have a high-rep fastball hitting practice. Keep challenging them with speed until they are comfortable.

Second, for younger girls the biggest issue I think with speed is fear of getting hit by a fast, wild pitcher. There's just no easy way around this other than reps and experience. I think for most kids teaching them how to get out of the way of a pitch would be counterproductive, but if you DO see kids doing anything dangerous, like dropping their head into the ball or stopping inside pitches with their hands, I've seen both, probably need to do a little coaching re: safety.

Otherwise, nothing beats learning speed better than practicing against speed, even if they miss 10 out of 10 the first time through....