First off lets work on the bunting. Since that is all your DD is getting to do now. Been there with my DD and now see it with other hitters on my DD's team. If and when that is all my DD was allowed/able to do that is what we worked on alot. We worked on that then work on her hitting. Coached didn't see my DD hit in our practice so how well she did at 'our' practice didn't/don't matter. I would teach my DD how to correctly bunt. Go to the model hitting thread to see hitters bunting. I would rent a cage with a machine. I would throw hard front toss to her. Practice bunting. Truthfully if your DD can't bunt against the pitching she is facing the chances off hitting off of the pitcher doesn't look good. Especially with 2 strikes. Be the best bunter now and work on being the best hitter.
Another Dad looking for swing analysis and some hitting advice
- Thread starter Chance42
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When hitting off the tee, place the ball at the front foot rather than the middle of the body (as she has it) if you're working on contact point for a pitch down the middle.
- Oct 25, 2009
- 3,331
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Actually, when working off the tee you want the ball a little more toward the center of the body than the front foot. I see this over and over where players hit the ball off of the tee at the front foot. True, they can hit it harder at the point of contact off of the tee, but that translates to "reaching" for the ball when facing live pitching.
Cabrera, and other elite batters hit the ball deeper in the zone.
FiveFrameSwing
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I've been lurking for several months now, absorbing all of the great information and advice in these forums. I'm at a point where I need some additional sets of eyes to help me get my daughter's swing to the next level.
A little background first. Maybe it isn't relevant, short version of questions and video clips are down below if not. This is 15yo DD's first season of TB, on a 14U B-level team (she just turned 15 in May, so will age out of 14U after this season). Last year, she was on a C-level league-play team, and prior to that played rec softball and tee-ball, going back to when she was four years old. She has always been an excellent contact hitter. Last year, season average was .625, highest average and OBP on the team, leadoff hitter, etc. She had trouble during the batting portion of tryouts with several teams because everyone used pitching machines. She was able to hit live pitchers with no problems, but couldn't hit a machine to save her life. Finally, she made a team on her speed and fielding abilities.
New coach immediately spends the winter working on her batting. Altered her swing and batting footwork noticeably. She can now hit the heck out of a pitching machine. However, it became apparent during the first live scrimmages and tournament games that she could no longer hit against a live pitcher. She just couldn't make contact, she was always just above or just below the ball, and had no power in the rare instances when she did make contact. Coach basically moved on to all-fielding practices once the weather warmed up, and left her to fend for herself. I went online, found this site, and have been working with her to try and improve her swing the rest of the way.
We've made progress; she is consistently making contact now, lots of foul balls and a fair amount of weak grounders and slow/low line drives that are easily fielded. Average is ugly, hovering around .190 after 30+ games. Coach always wants her to bunt because he doesn't trust her batting, and although her bunts are beautiful when she can lay them down, it is still a 1-in-4 probability against the improved pitching she sees, and she often finds herself with two failed bunt attempts for strikes, having only one strike left to actually swing away on. She has typically been an adjusting hitter, and will give up a couple of strikes while zoning in on the pitches, then hits the next one. Now, she can rarely do that because coach nearly always wants her to try a couple of bunt attempts first.
So, at this point I have two questions:
1. Any advice for improving her ability to make quality contact when she only has one strike left to work with?
2. Are there any other elements of her swing that need to be addressed, hopefully with an eye towards getting the additional power she needs to get the ball past the infielders?
I've taped a tee hit in full and slow motion, and a front toss hit in full and slow motion. Since I made these last Friday, I've been doing additional work on getting her to fire her hips ahead of her shoulders to a greater degree, but she hasn't made quality contact in the two games she has played since then, so I am unable to judge the results just yet. Any advice will be greatly appreciated! It looks like I can do one video per post, so I'll add the others in additional replies.
Turning the triangle is goods advice
Sticking your butt out will get you some tilt, then barely soften knees. Maintain that tilt through swing
That will also give you some bat angle, take some of that level / circular swing away and it will be more straight through the ball.
I like her 2 eyed look at the pitcher.
Straightleg
- Oct 25, 2009
- 3,331
- 48
In this particular swing he is reaching. (Or, at least the placement of the tee makes it look that way.) In the following few posts the batters are making good contact inside the front foot.
My point is that, from the tee, if a batter practices hitting it that far out front, they will have a tendency to reach for that point instead of trying to let it get deeper and then, against live pitching, they will reach for that point.
Inside the foot is a good poc for a middle pitch, no doubt. But. IMO, they were trying to let the ball get deeper.
Not to mention that the "tee" could have been placed farther back in the edited images and still looked real. I guess we can now do with pictures what we can do with statistics.
