Hitting the high pitch - Suggestions?

[rdbass]

Looking at the swing on the right. Why does a live pitch ball cause a hitter to swing like this? When the hitter has a swing like the one in the "walk up drill"
I ask because my DD kills off of the tee but sometimes off of live pitching we get the "lunge & push type swing.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Because hitting off a tee is like teaching a daughter to drive in an empty parking lot, and then expect her to do fine in rush hour traffic on an interstate.

I'm not a big fan of the tee but if you do use it for training or to fix a mechanic, you need to immediately go to live pitching. ( apply the lesson practicle ) Hitting off a stationary ball sitting on a plastic stationary pipe doesn't work much against a 5'_ throwing __ mph moving the ball __ inches with less than a second to react to it.

You want to simulate every aspect of the game as often as you can.

 

[Goobie]

Looking at the swing on the right. Why does a live pitch ball cause a hitter to swing like this? When the hitter has a swing like the one in the "walk up drill"
I ask because my DD kills off of the tee but sometimes off of live pitching we get the "lunge & push type swing.

I agree it can be frustrating when you see such a difference in the game versus practice. I have to remind her to use the $10,000 swing not the $2 swing.

This wasn't her best day of hitting (the videos from outside). It was very cold (below 40) and very windy. Also it was VERY slow soft toss and they were purposely putting the ball in different spots (high inside, low inside, high outside, low outside). Her timing was off all day... but as I said the "high" swing pretty much mirrors what I see in games on a high pitch. A late decision.. hands drop... then reaching out and up to try and catch the ball. The belt high pitch was pretty far inside and she had to muscle it through. She is a pretty strong kid. Not sure if this was one of the swings, but during this soft toss session she put one over the 210-220' fence just right of center and clanged a few others off of it. But make her hit a high one out of the zone and it is pop up time.

Looks like we will be working on a high "T" and then setting up the machine for some high ones.

Thanks everyone.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Read the book "The talent Code" That may explain what practice is suppose to be and why many use a T . Bustos used a T more than an hour a day.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I remember Mark McGwire doing an interview at a high school age BB tournament, he said "working off a tee is the next best thing to live pitching".

 

[RayR]

Big difference in tee and live because you are introducing fear of getting hit, hands stinging from mishit ball, swinging and missing, not getting a hit, etc....mentally the approach changes for a lot of younger hitters and it comes down to trust....

 

[JAD]

Batters who drop their hands during their swing have a very difficult time hitting high pitches. Teach your daughter to keep her hands up and go straight to the ball. Tee work off an elevated tee or soft toss at a higher level should help. In my experience, most umpires strike zones are from the belly button to the knees. If the strike zone is to armpits and the pitcher has a good rise ball, your DD is going to struggle, just like every batter would! LOL

 

[SBFAMILY]

MTS good point, we practice off a T our swing . We work on timing with live pitching/pitching machine. Two different things!

 

[Greenmonsters]

Anybody see a lack of separation issue in these videos???

 

[RichK]

More advanced hitters should be using the tee to tackle more advanced challenges...like learning how to hit high pitch. Too many use it simply as hitting 'warmuo'...that's a missed opportunity. Set up a challenging new situation on a tee and an otherwise good hitter will look silly. No one likes to look silly but it's crucial to advance and learn new things.