High School coach may ruin DD's swing

[obbay]

A short while ago, I noticed DD's swing had gotten terrible! Very wristy with bat drag evident.
We worked on it to fix it and I was glad to see her doing much better. Today when I picked her up from practice, she told me she realized why her swing had changed. One of the hitting drills they do is rapid soft toss "to develop quick hands". the way she compensates for the rapidity of the balls is by using a shorter, choppier swing.

She can hit fastballs coming in over 60 mph on a machine, so I don't think she needs this.
I think this drill is lame AND I've always professed that it teaches the wrong swing.

1) am I wrong?
2) do you think DD or I can address it with the coach or is this something we should ignore?
3) any recommendations on how to fake her way through this?

She's 15 and this is the Freshman Team. New coach who I know from him coaching the Senior League and he thinks he pretty much knows all there is to know because he sent his DD to hitting instruction when she was young.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

DD knows that if her coach tells her something that she knows is wrong, she says "OK Coach" and continues to do it the correct way.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Don't feel bad. We went to a D1 batting camp about 4 years ago. They were teaching the old 'lock and load'. Ruined my DD's bat for 3 months.

I ASKED the HS coach not to mess with her hitting during tryouts. He was kind of funny about it at first, but I asked him to just watch her and trust me. The season has just started and she has already hit more HR's than the WHOLE team did last year. She is just a freshman and I don't see him messing with crap now.

Some people don't react in a good way to certain drills. Every drill is not FOR EVERYBODY. We don't do any drills, I will pitch all the softball breaking balls to her, my purpose is to teach her eyes and mind to 'read' the pitch. ( watching the spin and rotation ) That works best for her, but everyone is different.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I use the drill. I never have kids hit off of a machine. That really causes problems for my teams.

So, I think it is just a matter of preference.

I use the quick hands drill just to have something fun and different and to take the mind out of the hitting equation.

The success or failure of most drills, is the tosser - and not changing your swing.

 

[mudbug]

Well, not sure exactly what shes being taught, but the hands should take the shortest path. Fast quick hands to the ball kept close to the body and an explosive swing is the first thing a college coach will notice, this is accomplished with the correct swing path. I can see how that might seem "wristy" if not accustomed to it, but the whip of the bat generates fast bat speed.

Not saying thats what shes being taught, I have no idea, just saying. Doing any drill with the wrong form does no good at all.

I have watched a lot of girls side-by-side at college camp doing tee work. It is very easy to see the fast swings when they are all lined up in a row. Id go as far as to say 90+% of the girls hoping to play college have pretty slow swings, the fast ones stand out. I once watched a hitting coach for a college spend ~30 sec with other girls if any time at all, got to two of ours and stopped and talked to them, and worked with them for20 min. He didnt spend time with anyone else. I later asked them why he spent so much time with them, they told me "He said we had very fast swings"

Make sure you understand what shes being taught, and if it is right or wrong before you encourage her to blow it off because its different.

Fast swings are about pitch discrimination, and explosive power. A machine is EASY to hit.

My DD was solidly hitting about 75% of the pitches on an 85mph baseball machine in a ~40 ft cage at 11 yo. 75% (~14 pitches) was all she could hit before her hands stung so bad she had to quit.

 

[crankermo]

Are you saying that your DD is hitting 85 mph balls @ 40 ft @ 11yo? Cause no offense, either your speed gage is wrong or something else is.

 

[mudbug]

No, Im saying she did when she was 11. No mistake. It was very fast and the balls moved around erratically a lot. I did not put a gun on it or anything, thats just what the cage sign read. I hit in the same cage, and it seemed about right to me.

She was hitting 60 mph pitching without problem in a baseball cage at 8yo.

She played 12U boys baseball on a very good team at 10 yo, started at SS and batted 5th. The rest of the team was 12yo. Due to the way ages fell, she hit off of good 13yr old pitchers throwing 65mph at 10yo.

 

[Wellphyt]

I don't like any form of soft toss. How does a hitter with a negative move do Rapid Soft Toss?

I just came up from the basement working with my DD on her hitting. Tonight's lesson was about helping her feel what it's like to load slow, hold the load in the back leg during her stride, and explode at GO. I started pitching baseball size wiffle balls from 25 feet at a comfortable speed to let her get loose and get her eye on the ball. Once she was loose I started zinging them in very fast. She had very little time to read the pitch and make a decision. She hit almost everything I threw in the strike zone and didn't swing at anything out of the strike zone.

I think my DD had an AHA moment tonight. She made a comment that made me think she's finally understanding what it feels like to Wait and Be Quick. IMO, what we did tonight beats any form of soft toss. The swing is not a short choppy stroke. The swing is explosive. Load...Ride the load...Explode at GO. That's what we worked on tonight.

 

[crankermo]

Mudbug,

It's hard for me believe any 11yo hitting 85mph from 40ft. That reaction time would be otherworldy.

 

[ASAPAump]

I remember the "quick hands" drill. It was a good way to build strength and endurance... along with some nasty blisters from constant friction on my hands. It didn't harm my swing, but that was probably because I was not a power hitter. If someone is used to swinging for HR's, I can see how this drill would counter that swing.

Like Amy said, it's all a matter of preference.