Heavy balls? Total control balls?

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Jan 8, 2019
664
93
Not trying to be a pain in the arse here but I can see no physical reason why this is true. Care to give an explanation? I get that the advantage gained, via the trampoline effect, from hitting it off the barrel probably won't happen with these but the fact that they travel further doesn't make any sense.

I would think you are losing more energy by the ball wrapping around more of the barrel the lower it gets toward the hands.

I can say that the girls I have seen hit TCBs the farthest are all hitting the sweet spot, hitting the ball square in the middle, and are hitting through the ball, Off the hands makes them push the ball to their left (RHH) and does not go as far.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
I talking about TCB balls here specifically. These balls really travel when hit off the hands. They do not mimic true feedback you get from a normal softball. Like I previously said, feedback is very very misleading with these balls. They are excellent for warm up, but awful for feedback for the hitter

You've already said all that. I asked what you mean by the term 'off the hands'. You keep using it without defining it.
 
Feb 12, 2014
648
43
I love having my hitters hit TCB balls from front toss. It gives my hitters instant feedback. Also, I think that they are "safer" than the real balls for my more inexperienced players to feed. As I mentioned in another thread, we try to have 2 front toss stations in all of our HS cage practices. One of those is always going to be TCB balls.

Cannon - Do you limit the number of swings a kid takes with the heavies? I've read places that hitting more than 10 can be counter-productive.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
I think hitters must be coached when hitting them. Use the barrel. Thru it, not to it. Some younger girls are going to slow down in anticipating contact. The younger the player the lighter the ball. They come in different weights including the Atomic Ball which 900 grams(almost 2 lbs) which maybe too heavy for anybody.

Also the ones off the handle that go the furthest. I think they stay in contact with the bat and the hitter kind of flings them out there.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
Cannon - Do you limit the number of swings a kid takes with the heavies? I've read places that hitting more than 10 can be counter-productive.
We don't hit heavy balls. We hit TCB balls. The kind that have holes in them.

TCB-12L-80-2.jpg
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
You've already said all that. I asked what you mean by the term 'off the hands'. You keep using it without defining it.
You don't know what I mean by "Off the hands"? Sorry, I didn't think I needed to define it
I think hitters must be coached when hitting them. Use the barrel. Thru it, not to it. Some younger girls are going to slow down in anticipating contact. The younger the player the lighter the ball. They come in different weights including the Atomic Ball which 900 grams(almost 2 lbs) which maybe too heavy for anybody.

Also the ones off the handle that go the furthest. I think they stay in contact with the bat and the hitter kind of flings them out there.

That's not what I see happen, it's not like a double hit, nothing being flinged. I agree with everybody who states that squaring it up on the barrel results in the heavy ball going further vs getting a piece of one of these balls on the barrel. However, the further the hit towards the handle, the ball travels further. I guess if I had to compare to something, try lifting a heavy object with your arms straight out in front of you, now try lifting that same object with it closer to your body. I believe this is why these heavy balls travels further when contact occurs closer to the hands because it's more supported
 
Feb 20, 2019
109
28
I've used heavy balls with all ages and found them to be most beneficial with the younger girls. In 8U rec, most girls tend to have a slow, lazy swing and are just looking to make contact. Hitting the heavy balls about 12x prior to the game teaches them to swing hard and swing through the pitch. I've never had any issues with a girl making adjustments to swing mechanics to offset the weight of the balls. But, of course, I am watching/coaching their swing mechanics on every swing.

The results have been quite remarkable in the games. By the end of the season, every girl was hitting hard line drives to the outfield.
 
Feb 20, 2019
109
28
I think hitters must be coached when hitting them. Use the barrel. Thru it, not to it. Some younger girls are going to slow down in anticipating contact. The younger the player the lighter the ball. They come in different weights including the Atomic Ball which 900 grams(almost 2 lbs) which maybe too heavy for anybody.

Also the ones off the handle that go the furthest. I think they stay in contact with the bat and the hitter kind of flings them out there.

Completely agree with the first sentence.

And I've seen what you're talking about occur. I have one girl who consistently "flings" the balls. It's like the ball hits the upper part of the handle and rolls all the way down the barrel. That's not the proper way to use heavy balls. Again, coaching is the key. The goal for hitting heavy balls shouldn't be distance, but rather impact and exploding the bat through the hitting zone and completing the swing.
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
I've used heavy balls with all ages and found them to be most beneficial with the younger girls. In 8U rec, most girls tend to have a slow, lazy swing and are just looking to make contact. Hitting the heavy balls about 12x prior to the game teaches them to swing hard and swing through the pitch. I've never had any issues with a girl making adjustments to swing mechanics to offset the weight of the balls. But, of course, I am watching/coaching their swing mechanics on every swing.

The results have been quite remarkable in the games. By the end of the season, every girl was hitting hard line drives to the outfield.
You sound like the VP of Marketing for Total Control Sports.. LOL. I'm yet to see a coach coaching mechanics on every swing during warm up before a game and have any success with it. Over-coaching mechanics during a warm up before a game is not the best approach IMO.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,468
Members
21,443
Latest member
sstop28
Top