- May 11, 2009
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Got it. Thanks for your patience. I have to make one of those bath mats!
Howard
On the x half of it is for righties - half for lefties. Correct me if I am wrong
Straightleg
My daughter is a big strong kid, I try to emphasize that her role on the team is to hit and drive in runs, not to walk. She is intimidating at the plate and gets walked a lot. One of the college camps they talked about testing you ability to hit balls out of the strike zone/comfort zone.
They suggested that you move the ball out of the zone by small increments until you can no longer make solid contact. I admit we do not work on hitting balls out of the zones as much as we should. This thread has inspired me to work more on hitting balls out of the zone, plus some good suggestions on how to accomplish this.
Thanks guys for your advice and inspiration.
My daughter is also a pitcher, I hope she never runs into one of your students Howard!!!!!!!
She is 15 & 6 foot tall her best friend is also 15 & 5 foot 2 inches I work with both of them a lot on their hitting I am look forward to testing them on what I’ve learned in this thread. I have one of the Schutt square bottom tees, but not one of the swing rite batting tees. After work and feeding the cows I’m heading to Wal-Mart and look for a bath mat, or something similar.
The umpires we see during our tournaments had a wide range of strike zones, so learning to hit balls out of the strike zone will sure come in handy. One think I am curious about is the mind set on the strike zone. Do you want your hitters to have a narrow strike zone early in the count and expand as you get deeper in the count or do you want them to have the same mind set of the strike zone every pitch?
We do not have a strike zone ...we have a hitting zone and if they think they can hit it, then swing at it! If the first pitch is down the middle, hit it! Until they get to college and see a pitcher who understands how to work the ball in/ out and up/ down how will they ever create a swing DNA? Lisa says it best when speaking about pitching...my job is too throw the ball in the black so the umpire and the hitter must make a decision! If I throw it in the white I made a mistake!
This is exactly why we do not use pitching machines for batting practice and we do the Barry Bonds drill. We throw balls out of the official strike zone and expect them to hit it. We do timing drop drills from no higher than the eye level as I have NEVER seen a ball drop from above the eye level so why would I practice tracking the ball that way in practice? We vary the height of the ball however to make them make timing and rhythm adjustments so they must vary when they plant their heel and begin to rotate. We also like to use two tees one low and in and the other high and away and as they load I will say in or out and they must adjust. I look closely for their eyes to be inside and tracking in/ in/ in and then adjusting away just like in a game. I think this is where many coaches miss the mark by not teaching tracking techniques in every drill we do.
I stand behind the soft toss net and throw balls as the hitter sets up off the tee and when they see my arm at the K position they load and as I get to the pitchers window of release they step and hit. WARNING: As the pitcher do not throw regular softballs! Use whiffle balls or tennis balls or a rag ball as sometimes the hitter can match the exact plane of the pitch to the incoming pitch and it can hit you in the face or OTHER parts and it hurts!
My pitchers know who the hitters are and it presents a challenge to them knowing how we teach to find the flaw in the individual hitters mechanics. I had the best experience this past summer when we had 22 kids playing at the same time on different teams in a 23 and under program in Beaver Creek Ohio. Kids from Ohio State, Ohio U. Ashland, Whittenburgh, Capital, Mt. Vernon, WSU, Lincoln Trail, Lincoln Memorial, Rhodes, NKU, Mt. St Joe, Thomas Moore, Miami Valley Express Gold, Storm Club, Hiram, University of the Cumberland's, Belermine, Butler. As an old coach this is what you dream of seeing and why you teach.
Thanks Howard
We played in the PFX Pro-Softball tour about 2 years ago and Lisa took about an hour and spoke to the kids about her experience and was very inspirational in her talk, also seemed like a very nice lady.
The drop drill you talking about is that holding the ball at eye level standing just out of bat reach and dropping the ball in the strike zone? We do it, but I don’t like it!! Every body says they never seen anyone hit, haven't been hit yet, bet I’m going to be the first.
When you do the drop drill do you call load and then drop (this is how I do it) or just drop the ball? If I just drop the ball seems the kids have a problem getting to contact on time if they have to load and then swing.
I can pitch batting practice when I was pitching to a 9 year old, I had a glove full of balls and was pitching to her. She had a bat and glove her mother purchased for $10.00 or as I like to call it a $5.00 bat. She nailed me a one hopper, between the knee and ankle it was bruised and got infected and I spent 5 days in the hospita hooked to an IVl and the doctor was afraid at one time I may loose my leg, so you don’t have to tell me about being careful. My old bottom stays behind a net these days.