DD1 HItting Video - Feedback on Mechanics

[J.R. Strickland]

Link to DD1 hitting off of tee in basement is below. Don't know how to do any of the video embedding or editing to get it to be a smaller file, so it is a link to youtube video. She hits the ball hard but seems to hit too many hard groundballs instead of consistently driving the ball. Any feedback on mechanics is appreciated.

A couple of things we've done since the video (which was only a couple of days ago) is have her get lower in her stance in a more athletic position instead of the standing more upright. Also talked to her about not having a straight back leg.



Thanks in advance!

J.R.

 

[J.R. Strickland]

OK...I guess I do know how to embed a video...

 

[Dragoncoach]

a couple things I noticed

Her Hands need to go further back as she strides/loads and more space between elbow and body
Her bat angle is to straight up and down, tap the pony tail(45 degrees)
Shes turning her back foot instead of colapsing the back side
Try a wider stance and bend at waist then soften knees
Try Howards drill progressions, Matrix, hand over, face the fire or walk thru.
She looks like she hits the ball with good intent and has lots of potential.
Thanks Eric

 

[Ken Krause]

Not bad overall. She looks a bit stiff to me, but that could be the lack of a load/negative move. She seems to go straight from dead stopped to forward. I'd like to see a little rhythm in her swing.

One other thing I see is it seems like it's all top hand. I'd like to see more use of the bottom hand. Try the drill where you turn the top hand over so the thumbs are next to each other, which forces you to use the bottom hand and get to extension more. That's probably why she hits so many ground balls.

Looks like she has a lot of bat speed. If you can introduce those things it should help deliver more line drives.

 

[JC heir]

IMO, theres a lot of wasted power in that back leg/hip. Not much weight transfergoing on there. take my 2 cents for the 2 cents its worth.

 

[RayR]

First thing to work on would how to use her legs, IMO. The hand path and collapsing rear shoulder are issues, but the legs are un involved. Teach her how to throw properly using the legs - crow hops, step behinds, popping the feet, relay throws, etc.

You mentioned getting her lower and more athletic. Those are fine things, but learning how to use her legs is really the goal from a more athletic position.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Since the master's is going on. Watch Tiger Woods or anyone swing a golf club and watch the back foot. Now watch your dd's back foot, see any difference. Have her throw a ball, does she release off the back side ? She is squishing the bug! Start there .

 

[Hitter]

Suggested improvements....

Balance first.Have her bend slightly at the waist and soften the knees a little in an attempt to get the knees moving in the direction of her toes.
You can place a bat right under her butt cheeks and if you feel pressure on the bat like she is sitting on it then her spine is too erect. Keep asking her to allow the knees to go forward a little more so there is more weight on the balls of her feet.

Then to test to see if she can feel it push on her chest and back and she should feel very stable. If not repeat the above.

To prove balance only works one way ask her to soften the knees first and then bend at the waist and you will push her off balance.

Not much of a weight shift in her swing, so look at her throwing technique and see if her back leg comes around when throwing.

If not look to see if she is stepping on the ball of her foot on a flexed front knee.

Get the throwing technique down first in my opinion.

When you think you have the throwing technique down, have her get ready to hit and hold the ball in her top hand and interlock the baby finger of the top hand to the index finger of the bottom hand. Keep both hands together and you stand with your left foot exactly up against the side of her back foot so she can not squish the bug. Ask her to think slow to load and soft to step and land on a flexed knee and throw the ball as if she is hitting by keeping the hands interlocked. I will bet she did not squish the bug!

Now take her to the tee and have her take a swing.

This is where we do the face the fire drill for about 20 swings.

The next suggestion is get a concrete block and place it on the outside edge of her back foot and she will not be able to squish the bug!

Have her set up on the back corner of the tee a bat length away from the plate, with the bat on the outside corner of the plate and the tee positioned in the middle of home plate and about 2 to 3 inches forward of the front edge of home plate.

The concrete block will force her foot up first and she will begin to drive off the inside edge of the back foot very quickly other wise the hips will not be able to open or clear.

Remove the block when she is ready. Then get a softball and place it right next to her back foot outside edge of her heel and if she kicks the ball she is still squishing the bug to some degree.

I would like to know how this works if you try it please.

Thanks Howard

 

[J.R. Strickland]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Now if I can only get her off of the playing field long enough to work on this stuff...

 

[J.R. Strickland]

Howard...I tried the concrete block idea (OK...used a storage bin full of books to achieve the same purpose) and the feedback was immediate. After several swings with this setup and seeming like she had gotten the feel of it, I put the softball in the same location (more towards her heel) and again feedback was immediate. Squish bug - ball moves, no squish bug - ball doesn't move. Overall, worked well and I'm going to suggest this approach to another one of the players having similar problems.

One interesting note on all of this, I was able to get some in game footage (after I posted this but before trying any of the suggestions) and the swings were pretty different. In game, not so much squishing the bug (if at all), wider stance, more of step. Still need to work on some stuff though as the hit was still a hard grounder between 3rd and SS. I'll post as soon as I get it off of my camera. One of the things to work on is getting the same swing (or close to it) off the tee, soft toss, indoors as in the game.