Need some guidance on helping her to keep front shoulder from turning too soon- as well as any other thoughts to improve- thanks
EEC 2 19 - YouTube
EEC 2 19 - YouTube
Help with swing, 15YO
- Thread starter MandM
- Start date
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That's a powerful swing, MandM! She's got some pop, and that's more than half the battle. Here's my .02:
1. Tee position and height - That tee is really far away from her, and I would set it closer to her. I know this is only two swings off a tee, so it could be that this is just where it was when she was taking those two swings (I get it if that's all it was). When you're always attacking a pitch that far out in front, I think it makes you more susceptible to off-speed and outside pitches. Also, my personal pet peeve is having a tee set that high - no pitcher is going to groove a pitch at that height, especially to a kid who swings like your DD!
2. Hand position - her hands are set a little low. As a preference, I like my hitters to start with their hands higher (shoulder height). I think this makes you a better hitter for pitches up in the zone. When I see a hitter with hands that high, I will try to have our pitcher see if we can take advantage of it by testing them high (and INSIDE - long foul balls are far better than long FAIR balls). Again, I don't know if I'd try that against the kind of power in your DD.
With my hitters, I try to keep things as neutral as possible, because I don't want to give the pitcher anything to exploit. Again, all of this is just my thoughts off of seeing a pretty powerful kid take two swings. I'd be thrilled to have all that power in my hitters!
1. Tee position and height - That tee is really far away from her, and I would set it closer to her. I know this is only two swings off a tee, so it could be that this is just where it was when she was taking those two swings (I get it if that's all it was). When you're always attacking a pitch that far out in front, I think it makes you more susceptible to off-speed and outside pitches. Also, my personal pet peeve is having a tee set that high - no pitcher is going to groove a pitch at that height, especially to a kid who swings like your DD!
2. Hand position - her hands are set a little low. As a preference, I like my hitters to start with their hands higher (shoulder height). I think this makes you a better hitter for pitches up in the zone. When I see a hitter with hands that high, I will try to have our pitcher see if we can take advantage of it by testing them high (and INSIDE - long foul balls are far better than long FAIR balls). Again, I don't know if I'd try that against the kind of power in your DD.
With my hitters, I try to keep things as neutral as possible, because I don't want to give the pitcher anything to exploit. Again, all of this is just my thoughts off of seeing a pretty powerful kid take two swings. I'd be thrilled to have all that power in my hitters!
thanks so much for the compliment! Is there a cue you give to help your batters have awareness of where their hands are? I think that she thinks that her hands are higher than they are. (strange- but true)
- Jun 18, 2010
- 2,615
- 38
[video=youtube_share;DXIIrNE9Y6g]http://youtu.be/DXIIrNE9Y6g[/video]
I just tell hitters to put the bat on their shoulder and then just lift it off the shoulder. I would definitely show her the video so she can see where her hands start. We used to tell hitters that the thumb of their top hand should line up with their nose. In other words, if you turn your head, your nose will run into the thumb of your top hand. That's a little close to the head, but the cue for the hand height is about right. Good luck!
I was working with a girl last night who had the same issue. We did a couple of things to try to give her the feel of keeping the front side in.
One was to have her father push on her front shoulder to hold it in while I carried a ball toward her. I told her to "hit" the ball with her back shoulder. She's pretty strong, so the first time we tried it she actually moved him out of the way. He laughed and braced himself better.
The other thing I did with her is have her set her bat down, put her hands up by her back shoulder, and work on taking her back shoulder in toward the tee rather than pulling the front shoulder away. I also told her to lean in rather than stand up as she went through the motion.
The two drills seemed to help her get the feel of it, because when we went to front toss she was driving into the ball rather than pulling off.
One was to have her father push on her front shoulder to hold it in while I carried a ball toward her. I told her to "hit" the ball with her back shoulder. She's pretty strong, so the first time we tried it she actually moved him out of the way. He laughed and braced himself better.
The other thing I did with her is have her set her bat down, put her hands up by her back shoulder, and work on taking her back shoulder in toward the tee rather than pulling the front shoulder away. I also told her to lean in rather than stand up as she went through the motion.
The two drills seemed to help her get the feel of it, because when we went to front toss she was driving into the ball rather than pulling off.
JMHO but I would shorten her stance up quite a bit. I think she's so spread out that she can't get any flow so she's using her shoulders to power the swing a little. Have her narrow up a little and see if that helps relax the shoulder involvement. She's got plenty of bat speed doesn't need to muscle up.
Another drill that will help her get the feel of keeping her front shoulder in is something similar to what Ken K. posted. Without a bat, have her extend her front hand away from her body, across the plate toward the opposite batter's box where a coach is standing doing the same thing (front hands touching). Have her put her back hand at her shoulder, simulating where her back hand would be in her stance and simulate the swing path with just her back hand, keeping the front side in by staying in contact with the coach's hand in the opposite batter's box. I think Straightleg threw this drill out a few years ago, but with the hitter actually swinging a short piece of PVC pipe with the back hand and hitting a tennis ball off a tee. Without a bat is safer, but it could be done with a short bat and a coach/dad with nerves of steel and a protective cup.
I would agree with hand position, while I would like a narrower stance I am not too worried because her stride is short, but starting saying with front foot three inches shorter but adding those inches to stride would be best.
Now for the biggest area of improvement in my opinion she is substituting shoulder turn for a proper load, she should only turn her shoulder about half that much the rest of the loading needs to be done with her lower half right now it looks like she is swaying back and swaying forward (I would say something about too much upward tilt but for now I'll just guess it's because the ball was so high on the tee she feels she needs to swing up on it, again hands being higher would help this too). The big give away is as soon as her front leg starts going forward everything is moving forward including her hands which should actually be reaching back at that point.
my two cents
Now for the biggest area of improvement in my opinion she is substituting shoulder turn for a proper load, she should only turn her shoulder about half that much the rest of the loading needs to be done with her lower half right now it looks like she is swaying back and swaying forward (I would say something about too much upward tilt but for now I'll just guess it's because the ball was so high on the tee she feels she needs to swing up on it, again hands being higher would help this too). The big give away is as soon as her front leg starts going forward everything is moving forward including her hands which should actually be reaching back at that point.
my two cents
- Oct 25, 2009
- 3,335
- 48
The wide stance is not good; even with the short stride, which opens as she strides. The tee is much too far out towards the pitcher.
I suggest the Babe Ruth drill, where she would start with her feet at shoulder width or less, then stride. With her stance as wide as it currently is she wouldn't be at all uncomfortable with a wide stride.
Bring the tee in to the middle of the body. In the beginning I doubt she will be able to hit from that position. But don't compensate by moving the tee. Have her adjust her mechanics, instead.
I'm currently hung up on my 18" bat, but I think it would help for her to swing a short bat with her top hand, with the tee as deep as possible.
She also needs many, many repetitions of outside front toss, driving the ball to right field.
I suggest the Babe Ruth drill, where she would start with her feet at shoulder width or less, then stride. With her stance as wide as it currently is she wouldn't be at all uncomfortable with a wide stride.
Bring the tee in to the middle of the body. In the beginning I doubt she will be able to hit from that position. But don't compensate by moving the tee. Have her adjust her mechanics, instead.
I'm currently hung up on my 18" bat, but I think it would help for her to swing a short bat with her top hand, with the tee as deep as possible.
She also needs many, many repetitions of outside front toss, driving the ball to right field.
