At what age does slap hitting start to loose effectiveness?

[Chaz McNulty]

I know this won't be a popular post, but from my perspective 75% or more of slappers do it because they cannot hit for consistency or power. There are only a few elite slappers in our league that are good lead-off sticks. The other 20 are girls with decent speed who were taught to slap because they weren't the best hitters.

When you slap you take away the threat of a double, triple, and HR. Your slugging percentage is going to be much lower. The slapper needs be near or have the highest avg. and on-base percentage on the team.

I find it funny when someone see's a well executed slap and starts to gush about what a great slap that was. I almost always reply, "that was a great single".

 

[Karchify]

I know this won't be a popular post, but from my perspective 75% or more of slappers do it because they cannot hit for consistency or power. There are only a few elite slappers in our league that are good lead-off sticks. The other 20 are girls with decent speed who were taught to slap because they weren't the best hitters.

When you slap you take away the threat of a double, triple, and HR. Your slugging percentage is going to be much lower. The slapper needs be near or have the highest avg. and on-base percentage on the team.

I find it funny when someone see's a well executed slap and starts to gush about what a great slap that was. I almost always reply, "that was a great single".

I agree, the ideal candidate is both; super fast and cannot get on base. When our leadoff slapper gets on base it's the same as a double because we steal her 99% of the time on the first pitch to the next batter, teams know its coming but most times there's nothing they can do even with a pitch out, they still have to pitch it. So essentially its a double 95% of the time. Also don't discount that the defense is still on edge, especially in the first inning.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I find it funny when someone see's a well executed slap and starts to gush about what a great slap that was. I almost always reply, "that was a great single".

So tell me what the difference is between a sharply hit ball through the left side of the infield and the slapper who beats out a throw on a well placed ball? The last time I looked there was no sub-category for a single in the stats that differentiates between a hard hit ball or well placed slap. Both count as a hit. Slugging percentage is the same. On base percentage is the same. Batting average is the same.

I will agree that in both cases.. "that was a great single."

 

[marriard]

I find it funny when someone see's a well executed slap and starts to gush about what a great slap that was. I almost always reply, "that was a great single".

I love great singles. Especially from girls I can steal and stress the defense. Always good to have someone on base for my power hitters to score.

I really don't care how they get on base - as long as they get on base.

 

[CoachJD]

When you slap you take away the threat of a double, triple, and HR. Your slugging percentage is going to be much lower. The slapper needs be near or have the highest avg. and on-base percentage on the team.

I find it funny when someone see's a well executed slap and starts to gush about what a great slap that was. I almost always reply, "that was a great single".

You don't need your leadoff hitter to have a great slugging percentage. If you have a hitter who's hitting lots of home runs, you're probably wasting her at the top of the order (as nice as that 1-0 lead to start the game may be). Sure, it's nice if your slapper can occasionally hit for some power to keep defenses honest, but I'll take a good slapper who can get on base and steal second if necessary any day.

What's wrong with a "great single" if she's getting on base all the time? And how is that type of single worse than a line drive to the outfield (I'd argue that the well-placed slap is often better since you're forcing a throw that's both unlikely to get the runner at first and has some chance of being a bad throw that results in the runner getting second).

All that said, your first sentence isn't necessarily wrong. It just doesn't mean very much. You're sort of arguing against the point you're trying to make. You make a weaker hitter a better hitter by teaching her specific skills that make it less likely she's going to make an out. That's a good thing.

 

[Greenmonsters]

It can take 4 slap hits to score a run v. 1 good line drive

 

[JAD]

The toughest outs in softball are triple threat slap hitters. A player who can slap, bunt or swing away.

 

[Greenmonsters]

The toughest outs in softball are triple threat slap hitters. A player who can slap, bunt or swing away.

Agreed 100%; however, these triple threats are very much in the minority IME and the other slappers who are not legitimate hitters or speedsters ride their coat tails. Seems like it's a knee jerk reaction, much in the same way that the IF/OF move/get moved in and out based on the size of the hitter, rather than the quality of the swing. In retrospect, I'm sure I would've ended up better off by making unknown slappers prove that they could really hit. Proof v. another team would be preferred, but I'd be willing to risk getting burned first hand every so often in order to benefit by taking away all the short/soft stuff.

 

[JAD]

Agreed 100%; however, these triple threats are very much in the minority IME and the other slappers who are not legitimate hitters or speedsters ride their coat tails. Seems like it's a knee jerk reaction, much in the same way that the IF/OF move/get moved in and out based on the size of the hitter, rather than the quality of the swing. In retrospect, I'm sure I would've ended up better off by making unknown slappers prove that they could really hit. Proof v. another team would be preferred, but I'd be willing to risk getting burned first hand every so often in order to benefit by taking away all the short/soft stuff.

I agree that a true "triple threat" is rare and needs elite speed to be effective. In my DD's younger days (C and low-B level TB) we would try to convert some players to slappers just so to cut down on strike outs with a 1/2 swing. At the younger age groups defenses made a lot of errors, so just putting a ball in play was a key to winning....and we had some players who could not hit to save their lives!

 

[JAD]

Now that I gave a little backround, back to the original question. Does slap hitting loose its effectiveness at older ages?

To attempt to answer the OP's original question - the effectiveness of slappers diminishes as defenses become more proficient at defending it. That is normally a function of age and skill level. A 12U A-level team may be very effective at defending slap hitters while a 16U B-level team may still need some work.

As I mentioned in my previous post, a lot of coaches teach younger players to slap hit to help them put the ball in play. When you reach the older age groups and higher level TB a slapper needs to run a sub-2.8 home to first to really be a threat to slap or bunt.