Daugher walking and striking out but not hitting much

[Eugene Stryke]

The below quotation by Eric F describes my daughter's present state. She has a fundamentally pretty good swing. She swings hard and she hit a home run a few tournaments back. We have spent years on the mechanics of her swing. It is frustrating at this stage because I am watching her teammates just hack at the ball and put it in play.

But, she rarely hits the ball: mostly walks and a few strike outs. Last tournament she was swinging late and looking back at the catcher as she swung through a pitch. She has been striking out more recently because I told her to quit looking to walk. It is 10U so there are a ton of walks. I am thinking we need to work on early pitch recognition and an earlier load. Any drills or other input greatly appreciated!




"The girls that are looking to draw a walk are obvious. When they do swing, it's late and hurried once they realize it's a good pitch. They either walk or strike out, but very rarely hit the ball hard because their mechanics are lost in their panic to swing. 6 months ago, my DD was this girl."

 

[Eric F]

I responded to you via PM, but I'm going to put this here so other it might help other people, too...


The single biggest part of hitting well is the mental side of the game

Many young hitters wait to see if the pitch is going to be in the hitting zone before they make the decision to start their swing. As the pitching gets faster, this means they don't have the time to execute the process of a good swing once they realize it's a pitch to hit. Getting the swing started is a long process, and needs to get started on EVERY pitch. Stopping a swing is fast, and can be done after swing process has started, when the ball is seen to be out of the zone.

Look at Miguel Cabrera in this sequence. This is one at bat. On EVERY pitch, his swing process is getting started.

The hitter must expect that EVERY pitch will be one to hit.

The start of this video is important stuff...


Another big part of the equation is confidence. If your DD is hitting the ball regularly in batting practice, turn that into a mental lesson about how she has the ABILITY to hit the ball well anywhere near the strike zone. In a game, remind her of her ABILITY to hit, and to trust in herself. A strikeout swinging is okay because the desire to hit is there. WANT to be a hitter.

A good hitter not only expects every pitch to be one to hit, but also WANTS it to be one to hit.

 

[Greenmonsters]

IIRC, there were more balls than strikes thrown during 10U. Telling her to swing so she doesn't walk likely isn't helping! IMO, it would be more constructive to tell her to hit the first good pitch she gets. Here's what I would work on to help make that happen:

1. Use a Go, Go, Go.....Stop mentality. Make sure she is intending and starting to swing at each pitch and only stops the swing IF it isn't a "good" pitch. This will make sure that she is on time when she does get a pitch worth hitting.

2. Although what constitutes a "good" pitch varies by situation and count, generally with less than 2 strikes it is simply a pitch that she wants to/can hit well. Work on this during front toss and batting practice - start with no swinging, just good or bad pitch verbal ID then progress to swinging at only the good pitches. It is better to only swing 2 times out of 10 at good pitches than swing 10 out 10 at poor pitches. If you are not consistent at this during games, it won't carry over to games.

 

[Lenski]

The main reason a hitter does not hit the ball is because they do not FOCUS ON THE BALL. She needs to focus on the ball from the release point (literally see it and focus on the ball coming out of the hand) to as far as she possibly can. This alone will make for much better contact. Any break in focus of the ball during the pitch is greatly reducing the odds of making contact.

 

[Eric F]

The main reason a hitter does not hit the ball is because they do not FOCUS ON THE BALL. She needs to focus on the ball from the release point (literally see it and focus on the ball coming out of the hand) to as far as she possibly can. This alone will make for much better contact. Any break in focus of the ball during the pitch is greatly reducing the odds of making contact.

I tell the young hitters I deal with to start tracking the movement of the ball as soon as the pitcher's arm starts moving.

 

[Lenski]

I teach to track the ball from a 6"x6" window. Focus on the pitcher releasing the ball through the window, then track the ball as far as you can until you hit it.

Too many batters track the ball for a very short distance. Some do not pick up the ball until well after release. Some focus on release and do not track the path of the pitch.

 

[Cowdogz]

As a [baseball] hitter, when I get in the box I focus my eyes on the emblem on the pitcher's hat. That gets my eyes trained at the approximate distance and point where the ball is coming from. I see the ball earlier, and longer. I would not be trying to follow the ball in the pitcher's hand all the way through his delivery.

 

[wave_twister]

FWIW I have been having my DD practice the soft/hard focus. When I watch college sb I always see girls staring at the barrel of the bat before stepping into the box. I would jokingly make comments to DD like, "look, she's talking to her bat for good luck". What I learned was that players can pick out an object far off (about 200ft) and focus on it for a breath. Then hold the bat up close and focus on a logo for a breath and repeat that a couple times.

They are shifting from a soft focus (far object) to a hard focus (logo on bat) prepping their vision. Before the pitch the batter stays in a soft focus and then switch to a hard focus when it's time to track the ball. Yes, it happens super quick but just training the vision prior to stepping in the box can help. I am having my DD soft focus around the hip area while staying loose and relaxed and then hard focus when the ball is about to be released while she loads.

Any thoughts on this? My anecdotal results so far have been encouraging with DD making more contact when we have our own, father and DD practice over the last week and a half. Haven't tested this game time or with a machine as I have limited access to machine time. I can somewhat pitch with acceptable speed - I figure if DD is learning pitching then I may as well too so I can pitch to her for hitting.

 

[1bucketmom]

Mental, Mental, Mental

DD has always been a strong hitter (only thing I could do well when I played). This season she lead in strike outs and second in walks. WHY?
Mama got into her head. That's right. I messed it up. I own it.

We've worked on the mental side - a lot. Basically, I need to shut up more, she needs to breathe more and trust her swing.
We tweaked her swing a little to adjust for recent growth spurt (9 yo 4'11" and 101 lbs) and started using a drill for eye/focus coordination.

Lots of good stuff posted in this thread......

 

[Coach Al]

Some good responses! My DGD has the same problem. I believe the main problem is timing the pitch. They have to learn when to trigger their swing then hold up when the pitch is bad. You can't go up to bat wait for a good pitch to swing at. You have to go up to bat with the plan to hit the ball on every pitch until you stop when it is bad. Hard concept for a kid to grasp.