Baseball vs softball hitting

[dredge61]

Is there a big difference between the way baseball players swing and the way softball players swing? I recently got in a "discussion" with a travel coach who insisted that baseball does softball players a disjustice by teaching softball hitting clinics.

 

[jimginas]

for years, the answer would have been YES, in recent years, many coaches have decided it shouldn't be. Softball batters, load, working negative-to-Positive and rhythm to the approach to the pitch. Batting today is much more complicated then years past also. Batters must adjust to the game as the game adjusts. More pitchers are working more then ever before and on more varying pitches (more breaking balls, varying changeups).
So the answer is today many if not most softball coaches will say there shouldn't be a difference in the way we teach to hit in softball vice baseball.
**** So the discussion the coach had reference baseball clinics doing softball an injustice.... may be accurate in terms of NOT only swinging away, BUT without knowing what else was taught at the softball clinic, the coach may be referencing softball being a different game then baseball.
Softball is a 60' game, so we teach running soft slap, hard slap, drag bunting, fake bunts-slap, fake bunts-hit, fbunt-hit-bunt...... strategies of softball are MUCH more COMPLICATED then baseball caused by the 60' basepaths...... these are things that softball specific clinics offer that baseball generally doesn't get into.

 

[Mark H]

Is there a big difference between the way baseball players swing and the way softball players swing?

Speaking of full swing type hitters? No, not the good ones. Spend some time looking at these clips. Siggy's Hitting Clips - ImageEvent

I recently got in a "discussion" with a travel coach who insisted that baseball does softball players a disjustice by teaching softball hitting clinics.

The ready availability of clips of elite hitters from both sports have made opinions like this travel coach's a diminishing group.

 

[calgofo]

Is there a big difference between the way baseball players swing and the way softball players swing? I recently got in a "discussion" with a travel coach who insisted that baseball does softball players a disjustice by teaching softball hitting clinics.

After looking at the clips Mark suggested, show them to the "travel ball coach" and have him explain the differences to you. If your "BS-ometer" isn't peggged out after this, please post his responses and opinions here. I would like to hear what he has to say.

 

[jimginas]

I'm not sure the "travel coach" dredge61 is referencing didn't have his comment taken out of context. Times are changing and what we taught years back is changing and coaches have to keep up.
Dredge61: did you get he was saying because the swings ARE the same, that baseball clinics shouldn't have separate clinics or was he saying, the swings are different so baseball coaches shouldn't do softball hitting clinics?

** Easiest argument for me is U of A/Mike Candrea (with collaboration from Don Slaught), arguably the best hitting team in the nation, UCLA and Sue Enquist before she retired and now Kellie I-P, and of course Don Slaught all believe there should NOT be a difference today!

 

[Comp]

My daughter transitioned from little league baseball to softball right during the middle of the big "softball swing" craze. She was a very good hitter in baseball, but without even giving her a chance to try and hit, her softball coaches told her she would never be able to touch the ball with her baseball swing and procedded to change everything about her stance, the way she held the bat etc. Needless to say, no, she couldnt hit the ball.

In retrospect it ultimately ended up being a blessing in disguise. After struggling for a year trying to learn the softball swing, we found a batting coach that suggested moving her to left handed so he could start with a clean slate rather than trying to fix someone elses mess. If you can hit the ball you can hit it, doesnt matter what the swing is. And as indicated, even the "softball swing" fanatics have all pretty much now changed their tune.

 

[CoachKevin]

Interesting thread. Not 2 weeks ago I had a disagrement with the HS Varsity Coach (who is also coaching a 14U team). While in practice he was showing the girls how to hit, and was demonstrating the knob of the bat and hands to the ball, he made the mistake of looking at me and asking don't you agree? To which I said NO. This caused a little problem.
He went on to say that hitting hasn't changed since the 1900's. The problem is, he won't even listen to what I have to say. I got in another discussion with another coach who also thinks the same way as the HS Coach. It's frustrating when coaches have a complete closed mind, and their way is the only way. I am going to keep harping on them until they allow me to actually show them the swing and compare it to what they are teaching.
The other coach (who is coaching the 16U team) didn't know who Slaught, Manikin, Epstein, Englishby or O'Leary were. So that tells me he doesn't even try to do any research, just teaches what he was taught years ago. In fact, listening to what he was saying sounded a lot like what Lau was teaching. Looking at Brett doing the demonstrations in his book vs how he actually swung the bat are two totally different looking swings. But will the coaches even listen to me? Nope!!!!

 

[SBFAMILY]

Good example is Bustos played baseball before she played softball. It is the same, with a difference only in stance. RVP and many other sources prove those teaching above wrong, you can show the hand path in frames as Mark posts. CoachKevin, hear squish the bug, take hands to the ball at many high school games. Keep in mind many of these coaches are only teachers that are doing softball for the money not because they understand softball.

 

[CoachKevin]

Good example is Bustos played baseball before she played softball. It is the same, with a difference only in stance. RVP and many other sources prove those teaching above wrong, you can show the hand path in frames as Mark posts. CoachKevin, hear squish the bug, take hands to the ball at many high school games. Keep in mind many of these coaches are only teachers that are doing softball for the money not because they understand softball.

I would agree with you for most, but this HS Coach isn't a school employee except as the Varsity coach. He has years and years of experience. I guess my problem is that he is closed minded and doesn't even want to hear or see what I have to show him. I have overheard him say little snide comments to parents about "who would you believe, those that read something in a book, or those that have actually done it"? That doesn't bother me too much as a few of the parents I have asked to do research on their own and make their own decision have come back to me and told me that what they saw isn't being taught to their daughters.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I get this question a lot, and my answer has always been that the two swings are basically the same. I just put this clip together to confirm this to myself and others.

The result of the swings were both home runs to LF. The only major difference is that Bush's pitch was a little more inside, and she pulled it more, while Pujols' pitch was more down the middle and he hit it more straight away to LCF.