SB45
Dad, Coach, Chauffeur
I spend a lot of time with younger hitters trying to correct DBSF and often DBSU (I may have made that up)...dropping the hands and dragging the bat through the zone flat or coming up. I see this as a side effect of slow pitching, the batters desire to get moving, an effort to get the bat on plane with the ball... So, a lot of time is spent trying to correct this and work it out of muscle memory. Also have the opportunity to work with kids that are 7, 8, 9...I'm wondering if we (our program) could be doing a better job of teaching hitting in a way that would cut down on this type of swing. For example...we allow variety in striding...but we teach going to toe touch early, prior to deciding whether or not to finish the swing. (As opposed to no stride or striding with their swing) I'm thinking the problem is that we don't have a good way to teach young kids to maintain load and small movement to give them the ability to adjust to the pitch speed. We get them started early (at least they are not late) but then they have to wait to finish the swing...giving them lots of time to drop their hands before attacking the ball. This is a very simplistic approach...but I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better for young kids to stride with their swing (after deciding to swing)...seems like this would be less likely to allow DBSF. And maybe later on work on how to create a swing that is more adjustable to speed?? I'm not saying this is an answer...just thinking that a discussion on preventing the disease might cut down on having to treat it later.