Hitting Help

[cseiter]

DD is starting her first year at 12U. Working (all though not enough for me....with bball, dance & such) on hitting. DD seems to hit fairly well but we are working on getting rid of bat drag issues. Bottom half is working well...good hip rotation, up on the toes with back foot at contact, weight transfer looks good. Problem is the upper half. She wants to rotate the shoulders as much as the hips. If I understand things (which may not be the case), She needs to learn to keep an angle on her front arm(elbow) thru contact. Straightening the front arm only occurs after contact. The shoulders should seem to tilt more up (vertically than horisontally). I understand that there will be horizontal movement but not as much as the hips? When I don't say anything to her to remind her...at the end of the swing(finish) she has her hips and shoulders sqare to the pitcher. She is a right handed batter. How do I get this corrected? drills?
thanks
Carl

 

[Hitter]

DD is starting her first year at 12U. Working (all though not enough for me....with bball, dance & such) on hitting. DD seems to hit fairly well but we are working on getting rid of bat drag issues. Bottom half is working well...good hip rotation, up on the toes with back foot at contact, weight transfer looks good. Problem is the upper half. She wants to rotate the shoulders as much as the hips. If I understand things (which may not be the case), She needs to learn to keep an angle on her front arm(elbow) thru contact. Straightening the front arm only occurs after contact. The shoulders should seem to tilt more up (vertically than horisontally). I understand that there will be horizontal movement but not as much as the hips? When I don't say anything to her to remind her...at the end of the swing(finish) she has her hips and shoulders sqare to the pitcher. She is a right handed batter. How do I get this corrected? drills?
thanks
Carl

Carl try this....Howard, the rope drill is a front hand drill with the whip hit type device? Or what is it?

No it is not just the lead hand. Yes you could use the WhipHit however a large diameter rope will do that is knotted on one end.Set a tee up with a ball that should be hit up the middle first and have her measure off from home plate. Have her hold the rope and you stand where the catcher sets up. Have her load and stride and separate her hands rearward a little. Now put a little tension on the rope and observe what her elbows are doing in slow motion as she starts her swing. Did the lead elbow move forward about 2 to 4 inches? Did the rear elbow start to lower as the lead elbow went forward? Where are the hands going? Over home plate? Towards the second baseman's playing position? Hopefully they are going inside the path of the ball!

As this is happening did her chest/ shoulders begin to open or are they basically still closed? Too closed equals too linear! As her elbows begin to work as a unit staying connected we should start to see tilt and turn and this depends on the location of the ball so in this case we want the belly button to be opening towards the pitcher and the shoulders a little more turned . Now at this point we are going towards bat lag were the knob is leading the elbows and the rope is straight back towards you and she is pulling forward as this drill is some what static and no momentum or centripetal force is being generated. The concept is for you to be able to help direct the path of the hands and where the shoulders/ elbows should be so she can feel what it is you are saying. Doing this in front of a mirror really brings it home as to see it, feel it and fix it! Repeat a couple more times and let her move her elbow in close to her back hip and you and her will feel a loss of power. Move it away a little more and you will feel her get the power back again. So much for keep the elbow close to the hip as it bleeds off the power.

Now set the tee up for an outside pitch. Then the teaching point here is we are learning to rotate as needed and our belly button is the indicator of how far our hips will turn/ rotate and how our elbows work as a unit and the knob of the bat/ rope is leading the elbows so the path of the hands are going inside the ball and we release or unhinge the wrist early because the ball is an out side pitch.

Cut off an old bat handle and make it about 14 inches long and put a rubber cord or rope on it and then they can feel the wrist unhinge more so than just with the rope.

The hand over drill works better than anyone gives it credit for. Most male instructors take for granted the girls understand extension and they do not. A lot of people talk about it and yet still do not see how to teach it or get them to feel the difference. Straightleg found this drill and initially I did not like it until I kept trying it on kids that had just run into a brick wall about feeling it. I even had them throw the bat into the net!

Thanks Howard

 

[cseiter]

Thank you Howard. I am a little new to the phrases that are used on this site. Great site by the way. "Separate the hands rearward" can you help me understand that one? From your post...I will make up a bat handle 14" long, attach a rope with a knot on one end. Stand in the catchers position and basically hold onto the rope while she swings in slow motion all the while trying to help direct the hand/elbow path with my tension? Am I way off?

From your first paragraph of the reply...the positioning you talked of...are these things what should be happening? I understand the hand path must be inside the ball, but the hand path sounds like it could go either place as long as they are inside the path of the ball. Am I understanding this?

Carl

 

[softballphreak]

Be careful when evaluating your DD. Your initial description of her sounds really good.

Hitter is good with his directions of how to do it but your DD may already be doing what he is directing.

A video clip of her is the surest way to see what your DD does.

In addition to trying what Hitter describes, see some of the clips on this site of other batters and compare them with your DD.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Separate the hands rearward ?. When we go to toe touch the hands separate and go rearward much like sliding or moving your elbows while they are resting on top of a table. 3 inches back, think sticking bat in catcher mask. . Don’t rotate shoulder more than 3 1/inches. Many kids over rotate, so Howard uses a swimming pool noodle to give them feedback. He can explain. He has it posted under hitting tools. Just make sure it is long enough that you are not hit with the bat.

 

[Mark H]

DD is starting her first year at 12U. Working (all though not enough for me....with bball, dance & such) on hitting. DD seems to hit fairly well but we are working on getting rid of bat drag issues. Bottom half is working well...good hip rotation, up on the toes with back foot at contact, weight transfer looks good. Problem is the upper half. She wants to rotate the shoulders as much as the hips. If I understand things (which may not be the case), She needs to learn to keep an angle on her front arm(elbow) thru contact. Straightening the front arm only occurs after contact. The shoulders should seem to tilt more up (vertically than horisontally). I understand that there will be horizontal movement but not as much as the hips? When I don't say anything to her to remind her...at the end of the swing(finish) she has her hips and shoulders sqare to the pitcher. She is a right handed batter. How do I get this corrected? drills?
thanks
Carl

Need a video. Otherwise we are just guessing.

 

[Hitter]

Thank you Howard. I am a little new to the phrases that are used on this site. Great site by the way. "Separate the hands rearward" can you help me understand that one? From your post...I will make up a bat handle 14" long, attach a rope with a knot on one end. Stand in the catchers position and basically hold onto the rope while she swings in slow motion all the while trying to help direct the hand/elbow path with my tension? Am I way off?

From your first paragraph of the reply...the positioning you talked of...are these things what should be happening? I understand the hand path must be inside the ball, but the hand path sounds like it could go either place as long as they are inside the path of the ball. Am I understanding this?

Carl

Carl when you throw does your ball hand go rearward? Yes! Now when we hit as we go to stride our hands go in the opposite direction of our stride foot. Some like to think in terms of walking away from the hands etc whatever floats your boat! In my world hips first hands last. Because both hands are on the bat the bat does not move much farther than the edge of the back shoulder otherwise you may be extending/ separating the hands too far rearward and the front shoulder may be rolling in away from the pitcher.

As was pointed out see what she is doing verses changing anything until you see what is happening. Once you understand if she is casting or opening the front shoulder etc this usually helps in them getting the feeling of what you see someone else doing in a clip verses doing it or teaching it yourself. Our grandson is 1 year old and if I thought him watching a video clip would have helped him walk faster I would have done that. How difficult can it be, see the ball hit the ball and watch videos of some one else doing it and your son or daughter can hit like whoever is on the video. I am being funny because some people actually believe that and do not take into consideration the students ability to break down in their mind what is actually happening that they just saw without feeling it. It is funny at times to observe others teach and how kids learn in their own way, at their own pace after the same message was delivered by someone else. Then you use a mirror or a rope or throw a ball and they get it or feel it and then they get it!

Thanks Howard

 

[cseiter]

Thanks for the clarification. Your just talking about the loading. I just was not sure of the terms/description used by separate the hands. I am not a tech person but I will do some experimenting with our video camera and see what I can do. I talk to her about loading and I don't want her to go too far as it takes her eyes off the ball if she over rotates on the load.
thanks for the help.
Carl