Finish flat or finish high?

[Osric]

The first two clips of the girls swinging are what I would call finishing level. The plane of the bat crosses at about the same plane the ball is traveling. When they finish, their hands aren't low, but they aren't exaggerated like the girl in pink whose bat plane is very steep...granted, the ball is pitched low and the bat must travel in an arc to hit it, but as was mentioned, the on deck batter has the same swing, so it may have been a process taught rather than the position of the ball.

Here is a breakdown of what I was taught (and what makes sense to me). If your bat travels in the same plane as the ball, you can swing early and hit the ball, swing at the right time and hit the ball, and swing late and hit the ball. Since the planes match up, the batter WILL hit the ball so long as the timing is close.

If you swing on a plane different from what the ball is traveling, then there is only ONE point at which those planes intersect, which means that your timing must be extremely close to make contact with the ball, and pretty much perfect in order to hit the ball solid.

 

[rdbass]

 

[rdbass]

All of thes swings are from:http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-hitting-technical/2785-model-swings.html

 

[rdbass]

The first two clips of the girls swinging are what I would call finishing level. The plane of the bat crosses at about the same plane the ball is traveling. When they finish, their hands aren't low, but they aren't exaggerated like the girl in pink whose bat plane is very steep...granted, the ball is pitched low and the bat must travel in an arc to hit it, but as was mentioned, the on deck batter has the same swing, so it may have been a process taught rather than the position of the ball.

Here is a breakdown of what I was taught (and what makes sense to me). If your bat travels in the same plane as the ball, you can swing early and hit the ball, swing at the right time and hit the ball, and swing late and hit the ball. Since the planes match up, the batter WILL hit the ball so long as the timing is close.

If you swing on a plane different from what the ball is traveling, then there is only ONE point at which those planes intersect, which means that your timing must be extremely close to make contact with the ball, and pretty much perfect in order to hit the ball solid.

 

[rdbass]

 

[HYP]

I believe a good rule is shoulder to shoulder. There will be variations based on pitch location. I once heard, "stay inside and reach for the sky".

 

[rdbass]

I believe a good rule is shoulder to shoulder. There will be variations based on pitch location. I once heard, "stay inside and reach for the sky".

 

[jbooth]

I believe a good rule is shoulder to shoulder. There will be variations based on pitch location. I once heard, "stay inside and reach for the sky".

I agree 100%

 

[David Carter]

I think from the videos you can see that is about right given tilt it seems a finish at or slightly above the shoulder is normal, the Cabrera video is most telling you can see how little variation there is on a pitch at the top of the zone versus at the bottom of the zone, there is a slight adjustment but not drastic.

Thanks alot for the videos

 

[Osric]

While I appreciate the gifs, I'm not sold on the thought of a softball swing being the same as a baseball swing. The reason the baseball swing has a steep upward arc is because of the physics involved in the pitching process. A pitcher, standing on a mound (which is 10" higher than the playing field), throws the ball overhand (approximately 2.5' higher than a softball pitcher throws) and the ball has a downward trajectory. Furthermore, offspeed pitches in baseball break down, increasing the degree of slope the batter is facing. Softball's offspeed pitches may break down, but may also rise, but in any case the ball is coming from about 3.5" lower than a pitched baseball. Using the same swing in both instances just doesn't make any sense.

I took my daughter to a hitting clinic at our university a couple years ago and the coaches were telling her things a little different than I had been teaching, so afterwards I asked the coach about what she was teaching and told her what I had been teaching at the time (essentially rotational hitting which I learned from a baseball coach). She looked at me with a pained expression when I said "squash the bug" and said, "umm...ya....don't do that. Baseball and softball swings are different."

About that time, I bought a couple books on softball. To make sure I wasn't mixing things up, I just pulled out Michelle Smith's "Coaches guide to Game Winning Softball Drills." Pg. 103: "Youth softball coaches often admonish their players to make a level swing when hitting the ball. A level swing starts with the bat in the proper launch mode (above the strike zone_ and is executed by swinging the bat down so that the bat is parallel to the ground and on the same plane as the ball. However, to compensate for the upward trajectory of most underhand pitches, the plane of the swing as the bat hits the ball is slightly downward. Keeping the bat in this power plane will help generate line drives. The downward power plane for fast-pitch softball contrasts with the slight upward motion for baseball; baseball's slightly upward power plane compensates fo the generally downward trajectory of a hardball dealt from a raised pitching mound."

I know this may come off as snippy, but it isn't meant to be.