Eye Training

[NewBucketDad]

You are on the right track IMO.

Some of the information shared in this thread is pretty bad ... again, IMO.

Well then what is good?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Well then what is good?

My views on this topic are different than what is typical. Rather than repeat, let me put up some links from past discussions on the topic.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/17290-what-drills-do-improve-my-daughters-succes-plate-2.html#post214157

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/17290-what-drills-do-improve-my-daughters-succes-plate-2.html#post214159

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Start at this post here and follow the thread forward ..... intermixed with discussion on vision. IMO Bluedog has a lot correct here.

Vision thread discussion |

 

[RubberBiscuit]

OK my answer is going to be a "no duh" answer but I believe it is the answer.

My DD I believe has the best batter-eye I have seen. Why? 2 reasons:

1. Because she is a pitcher. Ya just can't beat the experience looking down the line of a pitch over and over (pitchers/catchers)
2. She had an amazing hitting coach that had all the pitches that used to throw pitches then talk to DD on where she thought she saw the pitch after each pitch.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I can tell you these drills work. They are not meant to make the player micro-focus. I respect my players more than that

It is good that you respect your players and would not have them micro-focus.

By the way, this here would have a hitter working on a hard focus ....

For batters you alternate having them watch the pitches knowing what they are, then you mix it up and have them hit and identify them. You can write on the ball (but you have to hide and switch them...) and they have to call out what it says.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I know that I new to the site and still learning and sure other people have some wonderful suggestion. One of the drill that my dd used was having her stand in the batters box with her head turned the opposite direction from the pitcher. The person soft tosses from 1/2 the distance that is normally pitched from. The person doing the soft toss would yell ball as the ball is being pitched and the batter would turn their head toward the pitcher,locate the ball and then swing the bat.



A lot of girls were swinging late when they first started this because they were completely turning their head to try to find the pitch. Once they realized they could use their peripheral vision to find the ball, they were making contact with the ball.

Despite the edit, this drill that is described is pretty bad.

Having the hitter’s head turned away from the pitcher until after release removes the hitter’s timing of the pitcher … it removes the ability to have a running start with the eyes … it removes their ability to time their hitting sequence … and it removes the portion of the ball path when the batter collects important information. Simply put, it’s a terrible drill.

 

[Crystol Owens Brown]

Despite the edit, this drill that is described is pretty bad.

Having the hitter’s head turned away from the pitcher until after release removes the hitter’s timing of the pitcher … it removes the ability to have a running start with the eyes … it removes their ability to time their hitting sequence … and it removes the portion of the ball path when the batter collects important information. Simply put, it’s a terrible drill.

It was a drill that her coach on her tb team had her do. It seemed like a pretty good drill when seeing the girls do it. After the above explanation, I could see how it is not as good as originally thought. For now, I will probably reserve my right to browsing the site and asking questions and leave any input for the more experienced poster.

 

[rdbass]

http://xtremesight.com/documents/A Visual Profile of Major League Hitters.pdf

 

[moe]

RD, I sent this to my kids hitting instructor...former D1 BASEBALL coach, 10K hitting lessons over 30 years. I thought this response was pretty impressive.
"Interesting. Beware of doc studies. They can complicate simple things. Good article but the subjects are strong adult hitters that can keep the head still through contact. Their core is stable through contact. They are much more able to use soft focus to tracking hard focus because their body control is at such a high auto response level. When the pitch gets faster they do not change the process. Many concentrate on facial relaxation during practice. They also have mastered the 3 parts to timing a pitch. One of my game ?'s is did you see the ball well? When the older hitters get to a certain level we do vision tests some are written and times."

Thoughts?