Anyone know of any good point of contact drills.

[cbullard]

This is what happens! It’s due to being early and coming out posture. The hitter straightens arms out to try prevent running out of barrel due to head coming up and barrel going left. I’ve had hitters do this that will slow the barrel down to keep from swinging and missing early.
I think she can get some more pop from controlling her stride more with the rear leg and starting a little sooner. She will still need to let the ball get deep but I think controlling more with the back leg will create a more explosive swing. JMO

Thanks! I definitely think controlling her moves better would help. She’s very front side dominant. So she’s definitely leaking power.

 

[cbullard]

trifecta!(inside joke w myself!) there is no initial separation. I think a sequential change will pay big dividends.

I use a few different drills to get this done. all depends on whatever sticks w the kid best. What she’s missing is the first moment of separation.

you need to make the hands create more stretch so they can plane deeper and create deeper acceleration via the core(obliques). Then the barrel will have a chance to get loaded. You basically need a core stretch in both directions.

this will also balance the move better and the frontside dominant landing position should disappear.

I use a tip drill w the hands gathering the swing. The hands will gather the body and drift back ever so slightly creating separation.

or a more deliberate move where the hands drift back from the midline and gather the swing.

the back leg will get weighted. The forward move occurs while the hands still drift back a bit. this helps one to stay ‘back’.

Appreciate you. Do you have specific drill that you like?

 

[Cornbread]

Do this: maintain good posture and coil until toe touch
Do it dry, then do it on a tee with a pause at toe touch, then do it without a pause on a tee, then do it on front toss (start off tossing pretty slowly to make sure she controls the stride and maintains posture and coil), then front toss with your normal speed. Teach her to get her front foot up while you still have the ball on front toss.
Make sure she’s moving forward some (I use belly button for reference). Make sure she’s not reaching with front foot. Exaggerate the slowness of the move out to help her feel like she is controlling it and staying balanced.

 

[Work=wins]

Appreciate you. Do you have specific drill that you like?

i use these 2.

hands start forward and drift back against the back leg. See the back leg stabilize, but the hands drift back and up some more. more up. A ‘float’ if you will. That’s what your dd is missing. I do it dry, then tee then off firm front toss.



I use a pump ‘tip’ drill also. The hands gather the swing down and then drift back and up against the back leg load which creates the forward move.



it’s all about the sequence of the moves. Watch the hands initiate the gather then the back leg gets engaged. The feel of gather is in the hands. The result is ‘walking away from the hands’. It shouldn’t be over baked. It’s smooth, slow and deliberate. This is ‘slow and early’ to me. Once learned add your own style in.

the top gif is a newer student. not perfect but she’s learning how to load the barrel deeper and can ‘pull’ it pretty well wo pulling it foul. Still learning how to stay through and ’pull’ outside pitches to CF. Her lower half isn’t as stable as it should be.

keeping the body square to the plate is paramount. if you rotate the hips actively, then you will lose the core stretch. All bc the core rotates against the hips. Try to land square to the plate and not rotate the back leg or drive w the legs. They stabilize the swing. not power it.

what you’re looking for is early barrel acceleration at ‘go’. Not a first move w the hands forward then acceleration. Not a dump or a cast either to create speed. The stretch powers the initial acceleration of the swing.

FYI. I try to teach the swing to be as natural as possible. Through movement and feel. not positions.

 

[Shawn]

W=W

I don’t like what you are saying about the hands moving back and that action stabilizes the back leg. There is another post where you said the same thing.

Instead of muddying up this thread, I will find the other post and start a new thread.

 

[Shawn]

W=W

I finished reading your post, there is a lot I disagree with.

 

[Work=wins]

W=W

I finished reading your post, there is a lot I disagree with.

we can discuss if you like. But I’m pretty sure we both like different patterns. so I don’t know how much we will agree on.

 

[Shawn]

we can discuss if you like. But I’m pretty sure we both like different patterns. so I don’t know how much we will agree on.

I was thinking the same thing, lol.

I once thought it was all about the torso. We just see the swing completely different.

 

[Maxx]

Use a throw down plate when hitting off the tee and then turn the plate when working on in/out and hitting into a net (turning the plate keeps the ball going straight into the net). I do not allow players to hit off a tee without a plate. Even with a plate you would be surprised how much players move their body in relation to the tee instead of moving the tee. I break out a yardstick if I have to to make sure they are consistently setting up their feet in the same spot.

Also do more tee work with a plate on a field to see the results better.

Finally, I agree with contact/stop swings. This all will help to develop better contact points and a feel where the barrel should be.

This is just strictly recommendations for determining contact points of various pitches, not an analysis of her mechanics

 

[cnardone]

Use a throw down plate when hitting off the tee and then turn the plate when working on in/out and hitting into a net (turning the plate keeps the ball going straight into the net). I do not allow players to hit off a tee without a plate. Even with a plate you would be surprised how much players move their body in relation to the tee instead of moving the tee.

uhhggggg. I wish I could say I did not learn this the hard way. MY dd was placing the tee way too inside and way too deep. It created a choked off, all spin swing that cost me too many $$ to fix and even worse, cost her many AB's.