Help with 12U swing

[sru]

UPDATE: Help with 12U swing

Hi All,

First off, I want to say that this is a great forum. The amount of useful information here is incredible.

My 13 yo is in her fourth year of travel ball. She has been inconsistant at the plate for the last year or so. She is one of the veterans on the team, the coach looks to her for leadership, which she does when catching or playing third and in the dugout. Her problem has been hitting. She is a smart batter, with a decent OBP, but seems to miss hittable pitches when she swings sometimes.

I have noticed that she always swings under the ball. No matter where the pitch is in the strike zone, she is below the ball. Her bat speed is great, when she hits the ball clean, it goes deep, but most of her hits are shallow pop-ups with a few grounders to 2nd or the SS. Her timing is also good. It gets her down sometimes when she strikes out with three easily hittable pitches.

So my question to you hitting pros, what would cause my kid to swing below the ball regularly?

I will post a video of her swing later this week, but for discussions sake, I'd like to hear your comments.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

So my question to you hitting pros, what would cause my kid to swing below the ball regularly?

She could be dropping her hands or chopping down on the ball.

 

[sru]

She could be dropping her hands or chopping down on the ball.

Thanks Chris, she doesn't seem to be choping down on the ball, so I'll assume it the latter.

So are there any basic things I can watch for in her swing that is causing her to drop her hands?

I just finished reading the thread on bat drag. I will definately be watching her elbows at BP tomorrow night.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

She may need her eyes checked.

 

[Ken Krause]

I agree with Chris. She is probably dropping her hands (sight unseen), trying to get the bat in line with the ball early. Look to see if when she's swinging the bat is pretty much level to the ground no matter where the pitch is. That often causes this type of result. Unless the pitch is very high, the bat should be on angle at contact, not flat.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I agree with Chris. She is probably dropping her hands (sight unseen), trying to get the bat in line with the ball early. Look to see if when she's swinging the bat is pretty much level to the ground no matter where the pitch is. That often causes this type of result. Unless the pitch is very high, the bat should be on angle at contact, not flat.

This clip may help ... it shows the difference in the "diagonal barrel" at contact, for the same batter, for three different pitch heights.

 

[sru]

Eyes have been checked, she is 20/20.

Will watch for bat angle tonight. The video helps. I will certainly show this to her.

 

[Wellphyt]

My experience matches that of Chris and Ken. The easiest way I've found to determine how a player gets the bat started is to stare at their hands during the pitch. If the batter drops their hands as the pitch is being delivered, that is a telltale sign that they are using their hands to get on plane. The swing will look like the letter "L".

We have four players on our 14U team swinging this way. These four players tend to pop up or hit choppy grounders. They also have a tendency to hit to the oppo field because their swing is very long. They get moved down in the order when we face faster pitching and up some when we face slower pitching. If they get a letter high pitch against slower pitching they typically drive the ball to the outfield.

In the clip that FFS posted, notice the direction of the barrel in relationship to the hands as the barrel starts in motion. This is the motion that I'm teaching my DD and the motion I'm trying to get the other girls on our team motivated enough to learn. When a batter starts the bat like Yunel Escobar does, it's impossible to drop the hands because the hands are busy.

The girls instinctively know that they have to get the barrel started early in order to be quick enough to hit the pitch. Most get the barrel started simply by dropping their hands which essentially pre-slots the back elbow. Right idea; inefficient execution. Starting the bat the way Escobar does is much more efficient.

Jen Yee of Georgia Tech does it as good as any FP player I've ever seen. When you learn to do it as good as Yee, it's almost like cheating because the barrel is moving prior to the batter initiating their swing. It's a huge advantage for the batter if they can get the barrel started without moving the barrel or their hands towards the pitcher.

 

[sru]

Update:

So I finally got a chance to video DD at a tournament this weekend.

After slowing down and reviewing the video, I noticed 3 things, and some of you hit the nail on the head. Her hands are dropping, her rear elbow is firmly planted in her torso and the bat is almost flat as it crosses the plate.

So my immediate plan of attack is lots of high tee work. I am also going to get her to have her rear elbow "follow her hands throught the swing". Am I headed in the right direction?

Any other tips or tricks you can offer would be greatly appreciated. She struck out swinging twice in an ellimination game this weekend, it really bummed her out because she knows she's a hitter, but is struggling.

Thanks for the input.