Crushing inside pitches but can't hit anything away

[Jujube]

My daughter (15 years old) can crush inside pitches. She rockets them.

But, if she get something on the outside part of the plate, she'll miss it by a mile.

Any ideas on what we can do?

Thanks.

 

[straightleg]

On inside pitches were is the ball flight. What happens on outside pitches? Swing and miss or were is the ball flight.



Straightleg

 

[Mark H]

Good questions. A video would be very helpful in identifying the problem. What happens when you set up a tee on the outside black at the knees between her feet and tell her to drive the ball? What happens when you have her crowd thhe plate in games?

 

[imported_Lady_Knights]

I would say that she is over rotating and pulling off the ball, along with a few other things, which include her hand path. Check her belly button location after swinging. On an outside pitch she should only "rotate as needed" and her belly button should be facing the direction she is trying to drive the ball. If working opposite field, it should be facing that direction.

 

[FJRGerry]

We need her team name & number so if anyone pitches against her...

But seriously, does she stand off the plate a bit so inside pitches aren't so "inside" and outside pitches are too "outside"?

Maybe she's good at deciding early what's hittable so inside pitches are naturally favored by her?

 

[Hitter]

Set up off the plate is important for consistency; we measure off from the back corner of home plate by laying the bat down over the plate so the end of the barrel touches the outside corner and then the knob is facing the hitter for drill work and tee work. Put your lead foot at the knob of your bat and adjust the width of your stance to about 1.5 the width of your shoulders plus or minus 2 inches. Wider has proved to be better than narrow especially with the girls. Mark the foot print so you have a starting point to judge progress. Most of our kids use a parallel stance or a 5 degree open stance by moving the back foot towards home plate about two inches. This will take the tension out of the shoulder and neck area and allow the head to turn more towards the pitcher. The only kids who use a closed stance are those who have had lazy left eye surgery of which there are three. To start her off I would recommend she hit 10 balls up the middle to demonstrate she has bat control. Place the tee in the middle and forward of home plate about two to three inches. Her stride foot should land even or slightly behind the tee. If they do not stride move the tee back towards the lead foot. We use a center line (vertical) in the middle of the net and two lines horizontal of 39 and 51 inches. Bend at the waist and soften the knees, getting a good two eyed look at some thing through the net so she is tracking the ball to the tee verses starring at the ball on the tee. Where did the balls go? If they went exactly up the middle she has bat control. If the balls went up the middle then have her stand facing you belly button to belly button and you become the hitter. Place the bat head in her belly button and position your self as if you are hitting a ball off the tee at contact so the end of the bat just brushes the area of her belly button and stop. Now point out to her that with your hands not moving you are going to rotate your belly button further towards the pitcher and then towards the short stop as a (RH) and observe how the bat is pulling away from her. This is usually the light bulb moment of I get it it now. We explain we rotate as needed, so if we want the ball to go to the opposite field we rotate our belly button towards the position of where the second baseman usually plays and no further than where the first basemen usually plays. Now repeat and and have her hold up her left hand and load, stride, separate and the elbows are being lead by the knob of the bat towards her right hip area and your belly button rotates as needed and we release the bat head early into her left rib cage area and gently move her in the direction of right field. Stress we only rotate our hips as needed and because the ball is an outside pitch and has traveled further towards the catcher and (we term that depth in box) we must release the bat angle sooner as to angle to direct the ball or unhinge the wrist like we are using the bat as a hammer driving a nail. Then set up a tee at the back corner of the plate and outside 5 inches and ask her to hit the ball super slowly or what we term Matrix slow and simply flip the ball into the net towards the opposite field. Then have her hit the ball a little harder. We find it helps to put some tape on her belly button area so at the end of her swing she can visually see how far her hips moved.. After 10 or 15 balls move the tee back up the middle again pointing out now we are rotating as needed and the belly button is pointing towards the pitcher to check her rotation so she can see it, feel it and fix it. Then go back to outside again. Then we soft toss working from inside to outside. Look for the following if not hitting up the middle. Left of center look down at her feet first and work up to create a foundation. Is she striding in a straight line or what we term a line of force? Did she land on the inside edge of her foot or flat footed? Is she over her front leg or angled up against it? Is her front foot pointing at he pitcher? Hand path can be determined by using a rope verses a bat. Use 1/2 inch rope and stand behind her back shoulder from the catchers position and take some slack out of the rope and load, step, separate and slowly have her start her swing and tell her she is hitting a ball up the middle. Look to see where the hands went first (make sure you have some tension on the rope) and we find in most cases the hands went towards the incoming pitch and not inside the path of the ball.

Thanks Howard

 

[bcasper10]

It might be as simple as where she is trying to make contact with the pitch. Usually younger girls have a hard time letting the ball get deep enough to hit.

 

[Mark H]

Yes, it might be a lot of things. It's all a SWAG at best till we see a clip.