Help With Seeing The Ball Earlier

[Jim]

You might be able to see it hit the bat but only as a spectator. We could probably have a very long discussion of how we guess this actually works. Suffice it say that it can't hurt to track it as long as possible, yet at the same time tracking it longer would probably be near the bottom of my list of importance with regards to making good contact.

I hope you don't tell the players that. The most important aspect to being a great hitter is seeing your target (the ball) as well and as long into the zone as possible. I don't care how good your swing is, if you shut your eyes off you will not hit as consistently as you should.

 

[Mr T]

I hope you don't tell the players that. The most important aspect to being a great hitter is seeing your target (the ball) as well and as long into the zone as possible. I don't care how good your swing is, if you shut your eyes off you will not hit as consistently as you should.

No, I tell them to watch it all the way, just like you guys. It can't hurt. Still, if a girl is not making contact one might look at :

* swing mechanics, is she getting the bat on plane? or some other problem
* vision, is she setup so that both eyes see the pitcher
* vision, is her head moving during the critical part of her swing?
* vision, is she picking up the ball early?
* bat control, is the player just not able to put their bat to where they need to? (possibly just needs reps, bunting, pepper, etc)
* vision, is she tracking the ball for as long as possible?

It is my experience that I get probably 1 girl at the young ages like phreak who is simply staring at me pitching the whole time. I can tell that girl to track it all the way and voila! she's hitting it, I can pat myself on the back

In the vast majority of cases the problems lie somewhere on my list and can be a combo of problems, and again, tracking it deep is low on the list of what the real problem usually is

 

[FPMark]

Sometimes not seeing the ball is a matter of not being able to keep focus. If you "keep your eye on the ball" during the arm circle, (eyes moving), it is hard to focus on the release point and puts you behind on tracking the pitch. It may be as simple as telling her to focus on the release point and ignore the arm circle.

It is hard for the younger ages to remain focused where the ball WILL be coming from instead of where it IS during the delivery. That's usually not a problem hitting off a machine, but live pitching is another story. Most times they don't even realize they are doing it because their eyes wander very easily. I have seen this problem alot and usually the girls will say they ARE focusing at release point, but then they start hitting better because they make a consious effort to focus on it.

This is why live pitching is far superior to any other type of hitting practice. You have to train your eyes to be able to focus consistantly.