Help with DD's swing

[n10sivern]

I know she is puling her head looking at the ball and there are probably 15 million other mistakes, but can you all help me with DD's swing please. I'm lost at this point. I plan on going back this afternoon and working with her on just turning her hips, keeping her head down, and we will practice with a half bat on hammering the nail and skipping the stone. Any and all help is greatly appreciated because she is not hitting to her potential.

 

[n10sivern]

 

[n10sivern]

 

[n10sivern]

 

[Mr T]

Your DD looks to be extremely athletic to me and I'm sure there is a lot of potential there. She's doing a lot right, obviously has a lot of natural talent, has a pretty good swing going there so first off don't be down.

Some thoughts:

Is she making a lot of contact? Are you trying to improve contact, or power? Because I would guess she is doing pretty well at making contact.

About your setup, I wouldn't put the tee so deep in her swing. Get the ball at least to the inside of her stride foot at toe touch.

She could make a pretty big gain in power by improving her coil. She stretches, or keeps her hands back well, but her lower body action could improve. I see the same lower body action all the time, and it's no easy fix to get them to change.

In a nutshell, most kids when they first try to make a negative move to add power do exactly what your DD does. The back toe starts pointing towards the catcher, the hitter leans back over a back leg that is too straight, and the shoulders stay level.

The goal is to go from that to a stance where the knees are inside the feet. The player coils the hips, dipping the front shoulder down, against the back leg which doesn't straighten. It's a strange feeling at first and again, tough for them to change.

One thing that might help her get the feeling of the position she should be in when coiled is to place a bat across the back of her shoulders, knob pointing at the pitcher. Make sure the back foot isn't pointing towards the catcher at all. How far should she coil, and how much tilt should there be in her shoulders? A pretty good answer is the knob of her bat should be pointing down the first base line, and also at the ground at a point maybe 10 or 15 feet down the line. If you have her coil into this position and hold it, and check the position, it may help her get the feel of it.

 

[n10sivern]

Unfortunately, she doesn't make a lot of contact AND she doesn't hit with that much power. I know the power part is secondary to her lack of lower body involvement. The lack of contact is an issue though. She hits fine off the tee and with front/side toss. But she is a completely different person against live pitch or the machine. Unfortunately, she doesn't see much live pitch except for games so we are stuck with the machine for now.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

so we are stuck with the machine for now.

Take her off of the machine completely. You can pitch to her (softies). She is too straight, both up and down and through the shoulders. Tell her how her posture needs to relate to a good infield, overhand throw.

Yes, to moving the tee off of home plate. She needs to know about "point of contact" and that isn't when the ball is crossing the plate. Take the knob of the bat and draw the box for her, so she is always set up in the same place. She doesn't need to move around in the box. Then, her posture needs to be almost like she is sitting back on a stool.

There is a ton of good info here on this site. I notice that posting is dying down because we are repeating ourselves, so much. Someone could organize it, if they had time.

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

Take her off of the machine completely. You can pitch to her (softies). She is too straight, both up and down and through the shoulders. Tell her how her posture needs to relate to a good infield, overhand throw.

Yes, to moving the tee off of home plate. She needs to know about "point of contact" and that isn't when the ball is crossing the plate. Take the knob of the bat and draw the box for her, so she is always set up in the same place. She doesn't need to move around in the box. Then, her posture needs to be almost like she is sitting back on a stool.

There is a ton of good info here on this site. I notice that posting is dying down because we are repeating ourselves, so much. Someone could organize it, if they had time.

I dont think the machine is a bad thing. Especially for girls that are just learning basic mechanical stuff. The pitches are at least consistent and the batter has to hit a moving ball.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I know she is puling her head looking at the ball and there are probably 15 million other mistakes, but can you all help me with DD's swing please. I'm lost at this point. I plan on going back this afternoon and working with her on just turning her hips, keeping her head down, and we will practice with a half bat on hammering the nail and skipping the stone. Any and all help is greatly appreciated because she is not hitting to her potential.

Does she put the same swing on every pitch, regardless of the height of the pitch? Was she taught to swing level, to stay upright, or to not drop her back shoulder at some point?

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I dont think the machine is a bad thing. Especially for girls that are just learning basic mechanical stuff. The pitches are at least consistent and the batter has to hit a moving ball.

The problem with the machine is that it can be too consistent and never force the hitter to adjust.

They learn to hit the ball middle middle and that's it.

Fortunately, our machine doesn't have that problem.