Daughter refuses to hit the ball "sooner".

[Lothar241]

I have been trying to conince my 14 yo dd that she needs to make a quicker decision when swinging. She consistently swings just a bit late and ends up hitting ground balls. She is not a candidate for infield singles as she is 5'10" and 180 lbs. When she does get a hold of the ball, it travels....but it doesn't seem to matter whether it is a change-up or a fastball, she always swings too late.

Doe anybody have drills that would help her make the decision to swing a little earlier? I don't have video, sorry.

Besides her 14 yo teenage stubbornness, I just can't get her to change. I thought that maybe a drill or two may help.

 

[coach james]

Vision problems?
Does she stride?
Is she an aggressive personality that wants to crush it or is she timid and is looking for a walk?

 

[rdbass]

I have been trying to conince my 14 yo dd that she needs to make a quicker decision when swinging. She consistently swings just a bit late and ends up hitting ground balls. She is not a candidate for infield singles as she is 5'10" and 180 lbs. When she does get a hold of the ball, it travels....but it doesn't seem to matter whether it is a change-up or a fastball, she always swings too late.

Doe anybody have drills that would help her make the decision to swing a little earlier? I don't have video, sorry.

Besides her 14 yo teenage stubbornness, I just can't get her to change. I thought that maybe a drill or two may help.

Video would help much better. Just for clarification. When you say "consistently swings a bit late and ends up hitting ground balls" Why do you say/think that because your DD swings late that is the cause of ground balls? I seen hitters swing late and hit line drives,HR's,ground balls, foulballs and base hits. If DD swings 'earlier' does she hit groundballs sometimes also? Maybe 'problem' is a result of hitting mechanics?

 

[redhotcoach]

Diddo what rdb said. Watching about 2000? at bats every year, my guess is less than 5% are late. Actually I think I see more ground balls from girls that are coming out of the zone early and hit the top half of the ball.

I would bet on here and in real life I have said "wait" 2000-1 over "earlier".

A complete guess, but would bet it is a bat path issue.

 

[rdbass]

I also believe now that most hitters are early/earlier than you think. I also believe that most hitters can pull the ball. I now think it is harder to get hitters to wait on the ball and let the ball get deeper. That is why I like 'turn the barrel' and 'hitting behind the corner'. Proper hitting sequence allows you adjustablity.

Turning the barrel and attacking opposite.

 

[rdbass]

Diddo what rdb said. Watching about 2000? at bats every year, my guess is less than 5% are late. Actually I think I see more ground balls from girls that are coming out of the zone early and hit the top half of the ball.

I would bet on here and in real life I have said "wait" 2000-1 over "earlier".

A complete guess, but would bet it is a bat path issue.

Scary we think alike. Constatly telling DD to wait, wait. Proper hitting sequence allows you to wait and hit the ball where it is pitched. HR over the rht field fence is still a HR for a rht batter.

 

[CoogansBluff]

It's not uncommon to see girls habitually hit the ball to the opposite field even with pitches down the middle. I don't know that it necessarily causes ground balls. My daughter tends to pop the ball up (often foul) when she's late.

In any event, there could be many causes of this. When my daughter was learning to use her hips/legs correctly, she often wouldn't allow the hands to catch up to the hips. She'd lead w/ the hips, but the hands would never really get going. Instead of the ''all arms'' swing, she had the less common ''all hips'' swing. The result was hitting the ball to the opposite field, usually weakly. She was loading and striding (starting the swing process) on time, but the hands weren't firing and catching up.

Once she got the rhythm/timing/sequence down, she began hitting the ball to all fields. A lot of front toss helped. She also swung a plastic bat against a still punching bag so that she could 'feel' the correct contact point w/ ball.

 

[Lothar241]

I say she is swinging late, because everything she hits seems to go to the 1st base side (she is a right handed hitter).

She has has a problem of turning over her wrists in the past, but I am pretty sure that that has been corrected.

The team just had their first spring tournament this past weekend, and every time she made contact, she would also sting her hands (hitting off the handle?). Maybe I need to back her off the plate since she is on the tall side. Next practice, I will try to get a video and try to figure out how to post it here. I preach to the girls to get their hands to the ball when swinging.

It is hard to watch her during games and at practice since I am coaching the other girls on the team and hitting, and fielding, and doing whatever else is necessary to help out the manager.

 

[rdbass]

Get video. Video will show what is going on with your DD's swing. Post on youtube and then just copy URL and past in the insert video box at top. PM me if/when you get the video, if your having trouble posting. Video will help the best. Right now 'we' are just guessing at the problems.

 

[rdbass]

I say she is swinging late, because everything she hits seems to go to the 1st base side (she is a right handed hitter).

She has has a problem of turning over her wrists in the past, but I am pretty sure that that has been corrected.

The team just had their first spring tournament this past weekend, and every time she made contact, she would also sting her hands (hitting off the handle?). Maybe I need to back her off the plate since she is on the tall side. Next practice, I will try to get a video and try to figure out how to post it here. I preach to the girls to get their hands to the ball when swinging.

It is hard to watch her during games and at practice since I am coaching the other girls on the team and hitting, and fielding, and doing whatever else is necessary to help out the manager.

I stopped my ''macho man" thinking long ago. I use to think that all rht batters had to hit the ball to the left side to be considered a 'good' hit. As long as my DD is swinging properly and the ball goes between 1st and 3rd base. High, low, on the ground or in the air I'm happy. In the book it's a hit.