Steve,
I happen to agree that the hand path will change a little based off the location of the pitch, IMO it has to. The idea is to to throw the barrel, not the hands at the ball. I've seen several ELITE hitters change their hand path to hit pitches and the common factor in them is they do what they need to in order to square up the ball. That's why you have to have great hands to be to be a great hitter IMO.
I also agree with you that you don't teach every kid the same. For example just look at Brooke's bat angle, it's relatively flat compared to most hitters. We tried using the conventional 45' but she was one of the "weird" ones that it didn't feel natural to her and it robbed her of some power and control, that's just her personal preference. You can't conform your DD to every standard rule, their has to be some personal preferences in everybody's swing.
As for turning the barrel analogy, I personally believe it bigtime. IMO it creates live and active hands and I really think that is one the biggest things being miss taught nowadays, people are so caught up in the rotational aspect of the swing. It may sound stupid but I used this que with Brooke, you use your hands to write with, if you use your arms/shoulders to control your pen your writing is going to be terrible, your bat is your pen write with it, control it. The way I taught it to Brooke is your are just trying to get the barrel behind the ball to give you a longer hitting zone. The old shirt to long through. Ive never told her to take the catchers mask off, if you are doing that your swing is going to be wide and slow.
Brooke is 5'9" and around 150#. We try to hit every night and she works out with a fantastic personal trainer 3x a week for an hr each session. She's a very driven young lady and has had the dream of playing bigtime D1 and hopefully the WCWS.
I agree and like everything you said, but the "turning the barrel" issue bothers me. pstein said it is dropping the barrel angle. What has changed? We always called that flattening the barrel. Even baseball players generally do it. Some don't! I have a video here of Brett Jackson, formerly top prospect of the Cubs. He goes from 25 degrees up to vertical, and loads actually in front of his face, bat overhead cocked toward 2nd base. Comes down and turns a corner over and through the strike zone. They said they changed his swing, but did not say how. Wanna bet? I try to start girls at about 25 degrees and hope it sticks, but some it doesn't.
Yes, look at Mendoza and Bustos. They don't have a big bat wrap.
No, no, I can see Brooke's swing. It isn't a rearward reach. That was only a suggestion about the wall drill, that it prevents that. I have only seen one gif where there is a reach back, and that was Jeter. But I don't know if it is common for him. I hate the Yankees. Brooke is a really good looking athlete. Like Olivia, she has some good fast-twitch muscles. Also like Olivia, her swing is way ahead of the pack. Like I said before, I looked at 500-700 recruiting videos every year. Some I watched for 2 minutes, some all the way through. It doesn't take long to see what you are going to see. I don't know what either girls defense looks like, but you can assume a few things by the way they do other tasks. I don't know her age either or year in school. But I would consider them both in the top 1-2% of videos we received. There are plenty of DI girls who come in with fairly flawed swings, even from teams like the So. Cal Batbusters and other top programs. Take heart! So what do you know about your SAT's and the NCAA Clearinghouse?
Brett Jackson, CF, Chicago Cubs Prospect - YouTube