Cause/Fix of Righty hitting every pitch to right field

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Aug 21, 2008
76
0
My daughter consistently hits all pitches to right field, including inside pitches. Often if the pitch is inside or middle of plate, she will hit a ground ball that hits about 5-10 feet in front of the plate. She very rarely hits/pulls the ball to left field and only once in a while hits up the middle.

Any thoughts on cause and drills that can help in fixing these issues?

Thanks.
 
Jan 15, 2009
585
0
More often I've dealt with kids that can only hit pull, but I would do the same things either way.

Tee work-working on hitting off a tee to all three fields based on position of the tee
i.e.
hit inside pitch to left field (tee placed inside and forward of the stance)
hit middle pitch to center (tee placed middle of plate, even with front foot)
hit outside pitch to RF (tee placed outside but in middle of the hitters stance

The inherent problem with Tees is that most are designed to look like home plate with the ball right in the middle. If a kid is just told to hit off the tee they are going to line up as if that was home plate with the ball in the middle of their stance and that ball should probably go to Right Center. That creates two problems, one it reinforces that they should always make contact with the ball in the middle of their feet which makes them late on middle to inside pitches. The other problem is that the kid assumes (or is coached) that the ball should be going to center field from the tee so they start compensating to try to hit a ball in the middle of their stance to center field and then you end up with a pull hitter.
 
Aug 4, 2008
2,364
0
Lexington,Ohio
SnocatzDad is correct. We always use a plate and a T. I would have her do one hand drills to isolate which hand is the issue. Back hand controls up and down, as it goes into the slot. Front hand is right or left. Hard to determine without seeing the swing. Sounds like she is not releasing the wrists and pushing the bat to the ball. I'm sure I will catch it, but the hammer drill that Candrea uses will demo this issue. I bet she can't drive a nail with a hammer in a board, without bending it.
Temp plate. We have one cut for each kid, out of carpet. Easy to use.
 
May 7, 2008
39
6
I agree with SnowCatz & SB. When we do these tee drills, we put a plate down (we make a bunch of these out of the heavy rubberish shelf liner materials - work great, and each player can roll it up and put it in their bat bag), place the tee accordingly, and, frequently, even move the popup net or whatever we're hitting into to give added visual emphasis on where that outside ball (for example) needs to go. It doesn't take them long to figure out the bat angles for the various pitch positions.
 
May 22, 2008
351
0
NW Pennsylvania
Great advise above- I would add that if she is still having trouble on live pitching after tee work, you need to stress to her that if she hits the inside pitchout in FRONT of the plate(as opposed to deep in the zone) with any kind of proper mechanics at all, it will go to the left side.
 
Aug 4, 2008
2,364
0
Lexington,Ohio
To determine if hand path is a problem put the tee forward of home plate about 2 inches and in the middle...have the hitter use the back corner of home plate to measure off from home plate by laying the bat across home plate to determine coverage of the bat with the sweet part of it. Hang a rag about 45 inches off the floor and in line with the tee. They should be able to be within 8 inches up or down left or right of the rag IF the tee is about 4.5 feet from the net. If they get that close to the rag they are not hitting it off the end of the bat or the handle otherwise they would not be close to the rag. If they are wide left of the rag as a right handed hitter they may have the front side opening by landing too rigid on the front knee or not getting to toe touch and spinning out or open. Wide right could be casting out with their hands over the plate and hitting it off the handle of the bat.

Rotating as needed to the ball can be checked by using a piece of chalk and drawing a line on a dark shirt by the belly button or using a piece of tape. If the tee is set up the middle the belly button should be lined up with or towards the rag. If facing the short stop or third baseman's playing position you over rotated and are hitting around the ball...if facing the first baseman or second baseman's position you are probably casting out the hands over the plate.
This might help determine why they are hitting it right.
 
Feb 8, 2009
272
18
Some kids never get out of the habit of hitting inside out. For some, I believe it is a fear of getting hit on the hands. For others, I believe it's just an issue of being comfortable. Some will never leave their comfort zone. When fixing problems, we need to think of things in objective terms, but the problem may be upstairs.
 
Aug 21, 2008
76
0
Since several posts were lost yesterday, could the person who suggested a hitting coach by Chicago PLEASE either repost it or send a private message? Thanks again for all the replies. Kgertie
 
Jun 4, 2008
81
0
Anaheim Ca.
kgertie, See Mark Doran in Mokena Il one of a few who work with MLB players and Olympic softball. Have seen him at U of A and Washington, he's legit!
 
Feb 14, 2009
23
0
Great advise above- I would add that if she is still having trouble on live pitching after tee work, you need to stress to her that if she hits the inside pitchout in FRONT of the plate(as opposed to deep in the zone) with any kind of proper mechanics at all, it will go to the left side.
You right about hitting the inside pitch out in FRONT of the plate . have she try choking up on the bat and speeding up her swing . I think her swing is to slow . just trying to help
 

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