Good mechanics, makes contact, goes nowhere...

[obbay]

You need to show us some video to get the answers you need. I'm going to try some educated guesses maybe one of them might help.

My first thought was lack of batspeed - sometimes this is caused by swinging a bat that's a little bit too heavy. not heavy enough to show visibly but enough to slow her down a little. My younger DD is suffering from this right now - looks great but not able to drive the ball as far as she would like. we do some long tee work and compare bats to make sure she is using the best bat. I believe if we keep going out to the field on Sunday mornings she will improve week by week.

in my case (and I think yours) the player will benefit from daily dry swings. sometimes with a heavier bat, sometimes lighter.

Watch her bat as she makes contact to see if the ball is deflecting the bat too much.

this is a great idea!

Also as someone else mentioned, lack of follow-thru may indicate a drop-off in energy transfer. Maybe she's not striking out because she's being too careful and not ripping into it with 110%.

with most of the video we have seen on this board, I see in slo mo that which I can't see at regular speed. recently I saw a video where slo mo revealed that the batter's energy transfer peaked before contact and she coasted into contact. I don't know about you but I can't pick up that sort of detail from real life - I need slo-mo video.

I hope this at least gives you some ideas. good luck!

 

[PEPPERS]

Ever wish you could trade good mechanics for some good hits to the grass?

What advice do you offer a girl with pretty swing mechanics, who never K's, but who also doesn't hit the ball out of the infield at 12yo?

Small for age, but even smaller kids can give it a ride.

There are plenty of kids with horrendous mechanics by comparison who hit better. Kid has even been told to try 'swinging for the fence,' and understands that a K is no worse than an easy out generally...still a lot of soft outs.

Without video, what are we talking here? Does this description point to any particular problem?
Thanks,
'dub

You say good mechanics, but the swing happens so quick it is difficult to pick-up flaws in a swing with the naked eye. It could be anything from vision problems and not hitting the ball squarely, to poor follow through and extension. If a hitter is stirring the pot extending the bat too far from the body at contact that can cause weak swings/hits.

Forgot to add the grip is another thing that can cause a poor swing, look at the grip also.

 

[cshilt]

Very often the pitcher or a middle infielder throws her out. She bats left. 30/21 scn5b (swings lighter than a 30/20 1b). It seems to me that the lack of mass is a major factor for smaller kids that must somehow be overcome. An obese kid with a crappy, even slow, swing can jack the ball. Somehow the mass of the player that is attached to the bat seems to figure in. Now, how to compensate as some of her smaller peers have? Some smaller kids with a nice smooth swing hit well even with average (to the eye) bat speed.

This swing is nice and smooth, has wt transfer and rotation, not army, looks connected...at clinics this kid gets singled out as an example of 'how a swing should look.' She has easily one of the 2 best swings on my team but can't make the lineup because her hits have no energy and with zero strikeouts her BA is crap. (The other kid is leadoff but has 35 more pounds of mass.)

This is just frustrating, but something is up because the results are consistent.
Thanks for the replies!
'dub

During my DD's 2nd year in 12U I had her switch from batting right to batting exclusively from the left side. She was, and still is, skinny and fast so I thought I'd make her a slapper and teach her to hit left-handed when the situation called for it. We stressed good mechanics she worked very hard at it. The immediate results were... unimpressive. She put the ball in play over .800 of the time, but batted around the Mendoza line (.200) for the travel season. We were discouraged and it was easy to doubt my decision, but we persisted.

The next year in 14U we saw an improvement in batting average. It climbed to over .320 for the travel season despite being a 1st year 14u and playing better competition. Her slugging percentage, however, was only .020 higher than her average. Every offensive stat was better, but the power was still lacking. Clearly there was improvement, but still a lot of work to do.

Last year we decided to play up at the 16u level, foregoing a 2nd year at 14u. As the youngest and smallest on the team she managed to maintain her stats from the previous year despite playing against older kids. She grew, a lot, over the winter and it helped her. Still had good numbers, but could use more power. I knew, however, that it would come in time. I was encouraged by a Natasha Whately blog that said that it took her until the age of 18 to start hitting for power after she switched.

Last fall we took her to tryout for one of the better travel ball teams in the state, and she made the team. She played in several fall showcase tournaments and lead the team in average. She has faced some of the best pitchers in the state and still managed to hit. Her power numbers started to climb. At the same time, we watched as bigger girls with poor mechanics struggle to hit the better pitchers.

So far for the high school season, she has a HR (over the fence - her first), a couple of triples, and a bunch of doubles (I lost count, but mom could probably tell me). She leads the team in average, slugging, runs, and RBI's. I'm very proud of her and how hard she has worked.

So... keep the faith. Don't sacrifice her good mechanics for shortcuts, they don't pay off in the long run. Stay positive and don't focus too much on the results as long as she is putting the ball in play and giving good effort. Work on getting stronger and staying athletic, when she catches up with the bigger kids she may very well end up passing them.

Now, for some practical advice. We didn't go with a lighter bat, we actually went the other way. I had her switch to swinging the longest and heaviest bat that she could still swing without slowing down or sacrificing mechanics. We moved away from the -12 and -10 drops and went with a 30" end loaded RockeTech at 14u. This season she is swinging a 33" RockeTech. As one poster pointed out, the physics don't change. Force still equals mass times acceleration.

I'd encourage you to do some video taping of game swings. One of the things we've been working on lately is properly timing the weight shift. Staying connected and having a properly timed weight shift is extremely important. That and the other hundred little things.

 

[starsnuffer]

I agree with others and think that this can either be bat speed (most likely) or poor grip.

My own daughter struggled with this. She had a very "pretty" swing, but never hit the ball very far, usually everything fielded by the middle infielders or straight up the middle for a single. Her first problem was that she was focusing entirely on her swing mechanics and having that "perfect" swing her coaches wanted instead of focusing on actually hitting the ball. Her second problem was that she would adjust her swing timing to the pitch. This means that instead of waiting for the pitch to get to her before initiating her swing, she would slow down her entire swing to match the velocity of the pitch. . and thus diminish bat speed resulting in infield hits. To fix this we started working on some drills that Howard sent me to improve her timing and getting her to wait before exploding into the pitch.

-W

 

[jinjet95]

You mention that your daughter is 12 and small. How small? The reason I ask is my DD is also small. A '96 birthday she's 5'2" and 110. At 12, she was maybe 4"11 and 95 lbs, but is a gymnast, so is strong for size. I'm wondering if the bat size is affecting her bat speed. 21 oz seems awfully heavy for a 12 year old that is small.

 

[druer]

who never K's

There is the problem. There is no possible way to take aggressive, powerful swings and yet never strike out. The only possible way to never strike out is to approach at bat's with that as the goal. The swings are thus late, and intended only to put the bat on the ball and avoid striking out. I call that "being a goalie at the plate instead of being a batter." Batter's aggressively attack the ball, and occasionally that means they will swing and miss. Once she mentally gets over the fear of strking out and knows it's ok to attack the ball she'll do just that.

 

[Wellphyt]

There is the problem. There is no possible way to take aggressive, powerful swings and yet never strike out. The only possible way to never strike out is to approach at bat's with that as the goal. The swings are thus late, and intended only to put the bat on the ball and avoid striking out. I call that "being a goalie at the plate instead of being a batter." Batter's aggressively attack the ball, and occasionally that means they will swing and miss. Once she mentally gets over the fear of strking out and knows it's ok to attack the ball she'll do just that.

I agree. I see a lot of coaches who put a priority on not striking out. Just putting the ball in play works at the younger ages, but as the fielders get bigger, quicker and more skilled, that approach doesn't work. Hitting is about production. It's about getting on base yourself, and driving in runners.

 

[ArmWhip]

Try soft toss on an open field, if possible position a couple of outfielders out there and encourage her to hit it over their heads. As others have stated often times girls are happy to just make contact and not strike out. I often ask my girls, "Is that as far as you can hit it?"

 

[starsnuffer]

Seems to me that having her hit off a T and seeing how far it goes will make it pretty clear if it's a mechanical issue or a mental issue.

-W

 

[Ken Krause]

I agree. I see a lot of coaches who put a priority on not striking out. Just putting the ball in play works at the younger ages, but as the fielders get bigger, quicker and more skilled, that approach doesn't work. Hitting is about production. It's about getting on base yourself, and driving in runners.

Me too. I've had girls who never strike out. Instead they hit a lot of weak ground balls and pop-ups. An out's an out. While you don't want to go Dave Kingman, a little more intent to hit the ball hard, even if it means an occasional K, usually produces better results.