Mechanics and sequencing is important but not as important as eye-hand coordination, timing and competitiveness. Nobody is modeling this swing but the guy is made 13 mil with HIS swing.
"but my swing works on lower level pitching"
- Thread starter radness
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radness
Possibilities & Opportunities!
- Dec 13, 2019
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Nahhh not everyone tanks and struggles when playing at the upper level.
Some struggle for an adjustment to it...but continued struggle to where the coach is expressing make a change...is the question.
Change or?
These are upper levels in players path.
10u to 12u
12u to 14u
16u to 18u
college...
Or Gold vs. Silver brackets
Or Premier vs. Platinum
Should they keep struggling with the same swing that works on lower level-/weaker pitching?
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I've seen it lots of times - young athletic players who have success with poor mechanics. At some point, however, the athleticism isn't enough on it's own, and their swing mechanics become a limiting factor in their ability to be successful. Just as pitchers continue to work on improving speed, location, and movement, hitters must continue to work on developing a swing that can respond. As soon as you say "that's good enough" you are about to be left behind.
I don't know if anyone is going to answer that question with "but my swing works on lower level pitching".. Usually when a hitter is getting smoked, its a result of not enough reps against hi caliber pitching and most importantly, the confidence change when a batter is feeling outclassed.
My DD has a non-DFP approved swing.. I've tried to incorporate things that I know (or believe) to be better, but she resorts back to her natural tendencies. What she has is a ferocious offensive mindset between the ears. Her confidence and methodology of an at bat gets the most out of her flawed swing. We will still work on her swing but there are still so many years to go, she's 1st yr 14. There is no rush to have a perfect swing right now.
There are good hitters and bad hitters. There are good hitters with "bad" swings and there are bad hitters with "good" swings.To answer the main question, yes you can hit all pitching with the same flawed swing.
radness
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That certification side-note deserves recognition!
- Jul 6, 2020
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DD was late to the travel ball scene not joining her 1st team until the middle of 8th grade. Dominated hitting wise on her first lower level team (.400+ season average with lots of extra base hits), but she was a huge pull hitter who 'wrapped' around the ball instead of driving her hands inside of the ball and snapping and also had a lot going on in her load before she started her swing (flat bat and dropping her hands before the pitch came). This was successful for her in the short run off weaker to mid level pitching, but it became clear once we got to high school that if she wanted to get to the next level and have success off of elite pitching she'd need to put in the work to fix those fundamentals. So we spent her 9th grade year rebuilding her swing which caused her short-term results to dip in the process but had HUGE long-term payoff and made her overall a much better hitter by the end of the year. 10th grade fall we joined an elite travel team (finished top 10 PGF for reference) and she was able to be very successful at this level because of the time we invested on relearning how to hit the right way with the right fundamentals.
What I'll say is great hitters can be successful against pitching at any level, while mediocre hitters look like studs against lower level pitching but as soon as you put them against a solid pitcher who can exploit the weaknesses/holes in their foundation they're toast.
What I'll say is great hitters can be successful against pitching at any level, while mediocre hitters look like studs against lower level pitching but as soon as you put them against a solid pitcher who can exploit the weaknesses/holes in their foundation they're toast.
Hitting = Timing
If the swing can deliver the barrel with good timing, I don’t care how it got there. Bad swings with good timing will produce solid results. Great swings with bad timing will produce bad results. The best swings have adjustability to match good timing. You can’t even try to fix swing mechanics if timing is bad. I think it’s mentality. Do damage to every pitch!
If the swing can deliver the barrel with good timing, I don’t care how it got there. Bad swings with good timing will produce solid results. Great swings with bad timing will produce bad results. The best swings have adjustability to match good timing. You can’t even try to fix swing mechanics if timing is bad. I think it’s mentality. Do damage to every pitch!
Someone hitting .400+ off lower level pitching will not have as much success against better throwers.
We see it all the time. The players who get to the highest levels of D1 softball often can't break .300. You know they were closer to .500 as HS players or they wouldn't have been recruited by the likes of Oklahoma, Florida St, or UCLA. In fact, I watched a girl in a tournament a few days ago who is headed to one of those schools. She is something special, but she was having her issues with some of the top-level pitchers she was facing.
Timing...which to me means hand-eye coordination. I know a couple of kids with mechanically solid swings. They can hit soft or front toss like the ball is fired out of a cannon. Throw them a ball at speed from a pitching machine or a live pitcher...right over the plate...and they miss...often. Head right on the ball, and it's as if they can't see it.
