Daughter is a tee warrior, but back hip stops on live pitching

[SonicMojo]

We will make sure the bucket is not there next time. It's not a normal thing, and she does not take a bucket with her to the batters box. LOL

 

[SonicMojo]

Maybe everything should be high tee to start with too?

 

[SonicMojo]

I think we're making good progress. The "get in the way, get out of the way" seems to be an effective cue. Hopefully I'll have something to post later today.

 

[julray]

I think we're making good progress. The "get in the way, get out of the way" seems to be an effective cue. Hopefully I'll have something to post later today.

Can you please explain how you are using this cue to help your DD?

 

[Bobby Shirer]

First, the gif I posted is "full size," not a thumbnail. It's just a small source, but I think there's enough there to see what I'm talking about.

Daughter is a tee warrior. She goes to college camps and gets lots of attention when there's tee work, and the coaches use her to demonstrate proper technique. She gets in a game, though, and everything goes south. The back hip stops and she becomes disconnected, all arms and her head pops up. Much to our chagrin, the tee swing does not translate to her live swing. I don't know much about the RVP connection point thing, but it looks like she's almost there before the bottom half shuts down.

How do we change this??? (Please don't say "turn the barrel" -- I've been on this forum for years and still cannot figure out what that is supposed to mean)

(She experimented with a split grip this weekend after seeing it on TV, but I don't believe that impacts the fundamental issue)

View attachment 14307

Stop hitting off the tee! Use actual pitching distance as much as possible. I know it's hard and so tee work and front toss are an easy substitute. But she needs to practice hitting as close to live pitch as possible to be able to first use her brain to fix the swing and then turn it off and focus in the pitch.

That being said, she only gets against her front leg momentarily and instead of using it to drive her hip turn, she uses it to prevent the hip turn. I've used spare tires at the gym and had mine step onto the edge of the tire (not on top of the tire) and push against it with the front leg....then finish the turn with the bat turned all the way through and on the ground at the catchers feet. Have her practice this against front toss and then a pitching machine and live pitch.
She's trying too hard to get her hands to the ball.
Have her practice hitting with the bat lying on her back shoulder and bring that shoulder to the ball without removing the bat from her shoulder. I tell mine to swap her shoulder position....finish with back shoulder in the front...front in the back.

 

[Gags]

To help with the hand path - the cue “swing behind the ball” or “swing behind you” has helped a few of my players. She’s swinging in a “U” shape - show her that you want her to get the barrel to its lowest point back by the catcher, and come UP through the ball - she’s going DOWN to the ball, then coming up for the follow through.

This thought process may help keep her hands by her rear shoulder, creating more of a pivot point that was mentioned earlier. Keeping her hands back may also let her better feel the shoulders turning when / if you try something like the tire drill.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SonicMojo]

The rear forearm looks better. Pulling like a bow. good.

Still no inward coil of the hips (you're going from open to even). Exagerate this like crazy. (It is hard to coil the hips in using the tee, most just coil the shoulders like you) Try to simply rotate the hips and shoulders together.

Still reaching with the front leg/knee. better, but not good [try to hold/move the front knee up/back during the coil inward.]

The heel is staying down. good

With an MLB swing, you will be making contact typically approx at the ball of the front foot. So move the tee back to ball of foot after stride, maybe 2-3 inches. Outside pitches are at the front heel. [almost everyone gets the tee positioning wrong]

You still have some bat drag (I think). I think you're not getting much barrel turn when the back elbow drives down. Maybe practice (isolate) just bringing the back elbow down and notice how the bat head moves - it should move backwards at the same rate. Make sure you eliminate any slack in the top/back wrist. Make sure you are using a box grip, not door knockers. Finally, always be thinking that you must keep the hands ahead of the elbow throughout the swing (this is not to mean you push the elbow forward). This, plus the other changes, and proper coiling will fix bat drag for good.

There seems to be a frame missing in the video from heel plant to contact, so can't tell what's going on there. But, honestly I wouldn't worry about post toe touch right now. Get the stride right and the rest will follow. Try to get the ball to lift above tee height, not to the ground, or level.

She was able to replicate the inward coil in a game vs live pitching, but couldn't maintain the horizontal rear forearm it until toe touch. As soon as the ball was half way to plate the rear forearm went vertical and we were right back to old swing.

 

[efastball]

She was able to replicate the inward coil in a game vs live pitching, but couldn't maintain the horizontal rear forearm it until toe touch. As soon as the ball was half way to plate the rear forearm went vertical and we were right back to old swing.

Sometimes it looks like a person is coiling inward, but they may be only coiling in over the back foot. Then as soon as you start moving forward, you are coiling out/open. So check this in videos.

Typically, the outward coil begins the swing, which is why the back elbow drops. So, either she is uncoiling too soon, and/or she is never getting to flat forearm.

The important thing is that she is working on this at home or the cages. The live hitting will come soon enough. She will know for a lifetime how to fix her swing.

 

[SonicMojo]

Appreciate the feedback. Definitely is getting to the flat forearm, just not keeping it long enough. I'll watch the coil.

 

[SonicMojo]

She's been hard at work on the coil and forearm. I don't have a gif or video handy, but the next step appears to be incorporating hand path fixes. She's ending up with her hands at her belt a lot (this is not new) and popping balls up. What drills do we have to keep our hands high?