Hitting advice from a college camp

[djcarter1966]

Whenever I helped girls with their swing I always kept a couple things in mind:

1. Exactly what am I hoping to accomplish by changing the swings of my 3,4,5 hitters who are all batting over .500...if it is not broke don't fix it
2. Unless the swing is absolutely and completely broken it is usually not helpful to focus on more than one thing at a time

 

[riseball]

I agree with this, but I think it is useful to know and understand the details. I have told this story before, but I will skim it again. DD's first pitching coach was HE style. I didn't know any better at the time, so I took for granted that DD was getting quality instruction. The pitching coach moved out of the area and I was tasked with finding a new one. The research began and that is what initially brought me to DFP. Needless to say, BMs threads were eye opening to me. I visited several other pitching coaches in the area but did not start up with any of them because each was teaching HE mechanics. Then when I found one teaching I/R (not by name), DD returned to taking lessons. I continue to review the pitching threads here (specifically Java's stuff) to ensure DD is still travelling what I believe to be the correct path.

Hitting is no different. I study the minutia, but rarely if ever, utilize many of those terms with DD. Although we did have an interesting conversation the other day about centripetal and centrifugal and I asked her to grab her bat so I could explain the difference to her...

My point is, if I didn't spend so much time reading the minutia, DD would probably still be going to an HE instructor and would still be squishing the bug with a leveled swing approach.

Sounds like you have a sound approach. Last year I met a young lady who plays in the SEC. As a Junior she raised her BAVG from around .200 to over .400 and it had very little if anything to do with hitting mechanics. So mechanics aside, what else are you and your DD working on?

 

[Eric F]

Whenever I helped girls with their swing I always kept a couple things in mind:

1. Exactly what am I hoping to accomplish by changing the swings of my 3,4,5 hitters who are all batting over .500...if it is not broke don't fix it
2. Unless the swing is absolutely and completely broken it is usually not helpful to focus on more than one thing at a time

From what I can tell, the common approach is "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is".

 

[FP26]

Sounds like you have a sound approach. Last year I met a young lady who plays in the SEC. As a Junior she raised her BAVG from around .200 to over .400 and it had very little if anything to do with hitting mechanics. So mechanics aside, what else are you and your DD working on?

We do work on mechanics, I just try not to drown her with the minutia mentioned before. She is 15 and is very good at tuning dear old dad out if I get too in depth with things. I try to simplify things for her. It is then up to me to understand where she is at and what she needs to work on. But mechanics are only part of the equation. We spend a great deal of time focusing on her mental approach. Watching the pitcher from the dugout to understand how the battery is trying to set up the hitters... What pitches are thrown in what counts... Knowing the situation; count, runners on base, score, inning, etc. Going with the pitch... Etc. She is also a pitcher, so we do the same in reverse as well. Recognize when a hitter consistently takes the first pitch. Try not to develop patterns in the pitch calling. Etc... In my humble opinion, softball IQ is generally low in my area. Many players seem more interested in trying to hit home runs and don't do enough to learn about the game itself.

 

[FP26]

From what I can tell, the common approach is "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is".

Ding! Ding! Ding! I think it is an ego thing. Some hitting coaches (and pitching coaches) feel that no matter how good someone is, they can make them better. Sometimes ego gets in the way of success.

 

[Work=wins]

One of my students went back east 7-8 weeks ago to a camp where they taught her hands to the ball and and being on the ball of your front foot and take dry swings with your weight more on your front side . ??!?! I thought swinging a bat was always done from a balanced position regardless if it was a drill or not. Correct me if I'm wrong please. That was in a group setting . Then she had some 1 on 1 instruction where the coach was giving her better instruction ( more of what I teach her ) LOL. Can someone explain that to me? Regardless the day she came back she wanted a hitting lesson ASAP because she said her swing was messed up. This also was a top 20 D1 school. Why 2 different hitting systems? Or is that some magical drill? Like always I'm confused! Hahaha

 

[riseball]

We do work on mechanics, I just try not to drown her with the minutia mentioned before. She is 15 and is very good at tuning dear old dad out if I get too in depth with things. I try to simplify things for her. It is then up to me to understand where she is at and what she needs to work on. But mechanics are only part of the equation. We spend a great deal of time focusing on her mental approach. Watching the pitcher from the dugout to understand how the battery is trying to set up the hitters... What pitches are thrown in what counts... Knowing the situation; count, runners on base, score, inning, etc. Going with the pitch... Etc. She is also a pitcher, so we do the same in reverse as well. Recognize when a hitter consistently takes the first pitch. Try not to develop patterns in the pitch calling. Etc... In my humble opinion, softball IQ is generally low in my area. Many players seem more interested in trying to hit home runs and don't do enough to learn about the game itself.

Keep up the great work, softball IQ is very important at the next level. My DD is a decent pitcher, but it was the conversations she had with the coaches that really set her apart from the crowd.

 

[riseball]

Ding! Ding! Ding! I think it is an ego thing. Some hitting coaches (and pitching coaches) feel that no matter how good someone is, they can make them better. Sometimes ego gets in the way of success.

I recently had a pitcher come through our program with several "mechanical flaws" that I would have loved to fix so to bring her speed up. By doing so I have no doubt I would have coached her wiffle-ball like movement right out of her. Instead we focused on the mental game to best learn how to use her natural assets which included the ability to spin the ball in the high 20's to low 30's. .

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

We do work on mechanics, I just try not to drown her with the minutia mentioned before. She is 15 and is very good at tuning dear old dad out if I get too in depth with things. I try to simplify things for her. It is then up to me to understand where she is at and what she needs to work on. But mechanics are only part of the equation. We spend a great deal of time focusing on her mental approach. Watching the pitcher from the dugout to understand how the battery is trying to set up the hitters... What pitches are thrown in what counts... Knowing the situation; count, runners on base, score, inning, etc. Going with the pitch... Etc. She is also a pitcher, so we do the same in reverse as well. Recognize when a hitter consistently takes the first pitch. Try not to develop patterns in the pitch calling. Etc... In my humble opinion, softball IQ is generally low in my area. Many players seem more interested in trying to hit home runs and don't do enough to learn about the game itself.

Sounds like you consider quite a few details. Perhaps you don't fully agree that "there is a fine line between effectively focusing on the details and full out mental masturbation."

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Keep up the great work, softball IQ is very important at the next level. My DD is a decent pitcher, but it was the conversations she had with the coaches that really set her apart from the crowd.

One way to improve softball IQ is to have a good understanding of the details.