Enlighten me on hitting

[NWITom]

Okay,well here is the deal.I have 3 DD's.

Twins are 9(other twin is better hitter but not perfect)

8 yr old is a great hitter.

Reason I am explaining is this.Last year the one on the video did not hit good against live pitching.Other twin hit good and 8yr old was 13-19.

Now I am trying to get this one up to par as She actually is the BEST athlete of them all.I can post a video of 8 yr old later after She comes home .

I have recently taped them all and the other 2 slightly pull front elbow away from rear from what I can see.Its driving me crazy as to why the 8yr old is a better hitter so I am trying to find out if its mechanical.Its not eyes as She can stand and swing without movement and hit the ball.But once we turn up the pitching machine She loses it.

From front I have noticed her swinging under the ball consistently.The younger DD goes up or down and gets the ball.This is why I believe its mechanical.

I am not looking to have the best right now just trying to get her improved as She is a very good player and this is only thing holding her down.

 

[Mark H]

.I can do drills all day with them but I have to know what to do and why.

Ring the bell again. EXACTLY. Any drill can be perverted if you don't know where you are going. I've given you my resource list.

 

[Mark H]

This is a technique that Patrick Murphy uses on his hitting videos. I really like it as well, especially for young hitters. Good post, lhowser!

Yes, basic backward chaining.

 

[Mark H]

Sounds promising.Thanks ,we will try that.

I am wondering though.Is the whipit something that they can learn with?

It looks like it would force them to swing straight to the ball correctly or else.It seems the feedback might work.Any thoughts?

If you go straight to the ball Photo 18 of 31, Analysis it shouldn't work well at all. If you swing it in an arc such that the ball continues to pull out against the rope Photo 10 of 16, Fastpitch it should work. Doesn't mean you can't use bat drag to keep the ball swinging so again, you have to understand where you are going with the drill. Notice the way the arms and shoulders work in the second clip as opposed to your DD.

 

[Mark H]

NWITom:

When my DD was 9 years old I started teaching her rotational hitting using Epstein's "On Target" dvds. She is now 12 and I am very pleased with the results, especially considering how little my DD actually dedicates to doing his drills. I measure her results where it counts, which is in games against good pitching.

Tom is correct about your DD's bat lag. However if you freeze the video of your daughter at 7.75 to 8 seconds, you will see an amazingly close representation of the training position recommended by Epstein for younger kids. To get it exactly right she would just have to bring her lead forearm down closer to her body, while keeping the angles in her elbows exactly how she has them. The bat then rest against the side of her deltoid, which is very close to where she already has it at the 8 second mark.

From this position she simultaneously rotates and tilts her upper body as a unit, which is pretty much what she is already doing. In other words the move where her front elbow comes up while her back elbow drops (as she is rotating) is really good and is very close to how Ted Williams worked his upper body. Getting her palms flat quickly like she does is something TW felt was very important.

Some on here don't like the bat on the deltoid position because they believe it is constraining and doesn't teach proper loading of the upper body. What you will find out is that when a hitter turns in their front shoulder during their negative move the back elbow naturally wants to come up away from the body. Some of the greatest power hitters of all time including Ruth, Mantle and Williams positioned their hands in their stance very close to how your DD looks at the 8 second mark.

My DD at age 11 in All-Stars killed the ball hitting with the bat on her deltoid.
The coach of her team was the Varsity FB coach at one of the better FB highschool programs in my state and he asked me want she did to get so much power. I think you will find that if you focus on the lower body the power will always be there. The other reason she hit the ball so hard was because her timing was good. The reason her timing was good was because her negative move was simplified. If a hitter can't get to the proper launch position on time it doesn't matter how good their negative move is, they will never hit the ball square. At your DD's age the further away from the body her back elbow and hand gets, the less chance she has of getting then correctly repositioned as she launches her swing.

In my experience, the odds of a 9, 10, 11, 12 year old performing a ML level negative move and then getting the arms, hands and elbows properly positioned ontime to launch their swing to hit a pitch coming at them from 35 or 40 feet at 48 plus miles per hour is slim to none.

At the younger ages, keep it simple, keep it simple, keep it simple.

The bat on the deltoid would be a good intermediate step for this kid. Good call. I do understand Epstein has made an adjustment in what he teaches concerning weight shift. Good. Previous to this, my experience is his stuff killed All Star pitching but not so much gold pitching.

 

[tom.guerry]

nw -

How about a clip of the overhand throw ?

 

[NWITom]

Okay I will get both-overhand and the other DD hitting.

Stay tuned.LOL

 

[NWITom]

Mark I registered there before after reading about everyone arguing(LOL) about hitting styles but never got an email from them.

 

[Mark H]

Did you register as NWiDad?

 

[NWITom]

Can't remember .It was awhile ago.


Ok,I just got back in.How I don't know.LOL