Hitting to many pop ups.

[martianr]

I have been working with players along time of loading up before swinging. In the past they just swung with their arms and maybe the hips came through. Now most are trying to rotate the hips prior to swinging. But the problem I have is we are hitting to many pop ups. I think the problem is the 1) dropping their shoulder or 2) Going linear then rotating.

I was wondering if anybody else had this issue and if so what was your conclusion and more importantly what was your fix or solution.

 

[straightleg]

It usually is related to the back arm slotting underneath to far. Try hitting balls high in the zone, very top of the strike zone or even alittle higher.
This will help them feel how to adjust the back arm for ball flight.





SL

 

[Doug Romrell]

I would switch the attention to the front elbow. In batting practice when I pitch up close from the front, I am able to see a lot of things in terms of bat path. I want to see the sweet spot disappear behind the ball and travel on the bath of the pitch/ball and follow the ball out. In other words, I don't want to be able to see the sweet spot except for when they go from their ready position to turning the barrel.

One thing I think really helps with popups it getting them to loosely take their front elbow toward my face as they swing. I think it helps keep the hands higher, thus the sweet spot higher. It's been my experience that far more girls miss-hit under the ball than over the ball, yet I'd much rather see a ball topped than popped up. I think a main reason girls miss under the ball (popping up) is that the front elbow goes down and stays too tight at their side. When they take/point the front elbow toward the pitcher, the hands don't go down as far. I firmly believe it's something to do to help prevent pop-ups.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Have her swing in slow motion or film it and you will see what straightleg posted. You can use one arm drill top hand off the T as one correction type training device. Just don't use regular softballs . We use tennis balls, if the kid is young. .

 

[redhotcoach]

I agree with what SL said. I see it happen with many girls that push their hands back from their body when they load. Their hands get back too far, hips/body starts rotating, get some front arm bar, bat flattens, arm slot down and barrel path is under the ball. Not saying that is definate, but I would bet 1 out of 6 or so girls do it.
Load yes, but don't load the arms back. Space between the back arm and torso is good. Space between the hands and torso (back) can create issues.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I have been working with players along time of loading up before swinging. In the past they just swung with their arms and maybe the hips came through. Now most are trying to rotate the hips prior to swinging. But the problem I have is we are hitting to many pop ups. I think the problem is the 1) dropping their shoulder or 2) Going linear then rotating.

I was wondering if anybody else had this issue and if so what was your conclusion and more importantly what was your fix or solution.

Bold above ..... a good way to ruin a hitter is to encourage 'level shoulders' ... perhaps one of the fastest ways to destroy a hitter. In a swing initiated correctly, the rear shoulder will lower relative to the front shoulder.

The answer to your issue here is as simple as "more top hand".

 

[redhotcoach]

Bold above ..... a good way to ruin a hitter is to encourage 'level shoulders' ... perhaps one of the fastest ways to destroy a hitter. In a swing initiated correctly, the rear shoulder will lower relative to the front shoulder.

The answer to your issue here is as simple as "more top hand".

Ha. Just this second, out of rainy day boredom, I was looking at old you tube videos.
Yeager's top hand thoughts:

 

[redhotcoach]

Mankin. "Top hand torque":

 

[redhotcoach]

A good one for girls to understand….also, I say a lot to girls "keep the barrel up!"

 

[Bouldersdad]

Do a lot of high tee work, forcing rear elbow to lag behind hand hitting middle ball. Looking for line drive off the high tee, not under the ball