Hitting slump

[Jennifer Ritter Pribble]

I have a 17 year old daughter who is a Junior. She had been CRUSHING the ball. She has always been an opposite field hitter. This year she finally learned to drive an inside pitch. Suddenly she can't hit anything. Almost every hit is a week ground ball to either the second baseman or the short stop. I am frustrated, she is frustrated. I realize that slumps happen, but I don't know what the problem could be. Any suggestions?

 

[jinjet95]

Now that she's learned to drive the inside pitch, is she swinging early on everything? If she doesn't let the outside pitches get deep enough, that could result in weak hits.

 

[Ken Krause]

That's what I was thinking too, Jinjet. It sounds like she's trying to pull outside pitches. That's usually the symptom -- weak ground ball that pads a middle infielder's stats.

Try having her pay attention to pitch location and making adjustments depending on whether they're inside or outside. She can also try crowding the plate, which essentially removes the outside pitch. Outside pitches (according to the plate) become middle pitches, and everything else is inside. You really need to get around quick on the true inside pitches, though.

A more advanced strategy is to bait the inside pitch. First, you crowd the plate to see if the pitcher will come inside. If she does, then you crowd it again. When you make your negative move, you move your back foot away from the plate to where a normal stance would be, then stride right into it. Not easy to pull off, but effective if you can.