At what age does slap hitting start to loose effectiveness?

[GiasDad]

If she has good speed, stick with it. my DD is now 12 and she started slapping at about 8 and it was a struggle at first. We did teach her the fundamentals of the full swing before we got into slapping and still work on everything from the full swing, power slap, soft slap and drag bunts every time we hit. My theory was always and still is, nobody cares what your OBP or batting average is at 10U or 12U or if you are the best 10U or 12U player, just keep improving and she has. If she has good speed, keep at it. My experience has been it is still very effective and she is 12 playing 14U A ball. Speed puts pressure on a defense and she probably reaches base 20% of the time because the defense makes a mistake because they know they do not have much time.

 

[Chaz McNulty]

The point that I'm trying to make is that a sharply hit single will get a "nice hit" comment from a few people. A well executed slap has some of the parents gushing. A single is a single in my books.

 

[DiamondDad316]

To me, slapping is a specialization just like pitching and catching. Have to be committed to learning slapping mechanics and ball placement. DD is right handed, but has hit from left side, relatively good speed. I think we did it backwards, at early age she wanted to learn how to hit so developed good mechanics for hitting. At 12U, started to dabble at slapping and she liked it. We are at 16U and she's what I would consider a true triple threat. This worked out well at PGF Nationals, early in game she was taking what defense gave her, did a soft slap first at bat, then dropped a nice bunt down first base for her second at bat. Third at bat, we had bases loaded, and defense was in. She hit a hard line drive gap shot to right center, cleared the bases.

I think just slapping will run its course by 14U, but to be effective on left side should be able to hit as well.

 

[JAD]

I understand that slap hitting (soft slap, and power slap, etc.) can be extremely effective at all levels of play, including college and professional levels. At what age level do you start to see the slap hitters start to loose their effectiveness?

We (myself and hitting instructor) have been practicing slap hitting with my daughter who will be an 8u player playing up at the 10u level next year for about 9 months. She only bats left handed. She is the fastest player on the team and has very good quickness, but I don't think she will ever be a legit track star. That kind of speed just does not run in the family.

The slap hitting is definitely what you would call a work in progress. She can do it well in batting practice but come game time she struggles to put the ball between the lines, lots of foul balls. No big deal, she is only 8 years old. She also enjoys practicing slap hitting, it usually takes about 10 pitches in batting practice for her to get her foot work down correctly and keep her hand high. That is where the difference is come game time, you don't get 10 practice pitches in a game.

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

Slap hitting never looses it's effectiveness, but the skillset (speed, timing, pitch selection) required to be a successful slap hitter goes up TREMENDOUSLY as a player gets older and plays higher level TB. There are a lot of younger players who are taught to slap as a way to cut down on strikeouts. They are not really good candidates to slap, but coaches teach them to slap because they get tired of watching them strike out swinging..

 

[Chaz McNulty]

Slap hitting never looses it's effectiveness, but the skillset (speed, timing, pitch selection) required to be a successful slap hitter goes up TREMENDOUSLY as a player gets older and plays higher level TB. There are a lot of younger players who are taught to slap as a way to cut down on strikeouts. They are not really good candidates to slap, but coaches teach them to slap because they get tired of watching them strike out swinging..

This is so true and it's unfortunate. Unfortunately at younger age groups, those who cant hit, slap. There are exceptions, but you seldom see a coach or hitting instructor take a number 3 or 4 hitter and teach them to slap (even if they are left handed and fast).