Hitting to many pop ups.

[SCDad]

Sometimes it is more mental than physical. One local college coach tells the players in camp to focus your eyes on the top half of the softball. Try to hit the top half of the softball.

Before going about changing the physical part of the swing, make sure it is not mental. Jumping immediately to changing the physical swing is a mistake. Especially if the pop ups are a new phenominan for an otherwise good hitter.

Another part of this is the speed of the pitching. As a player moves up in age, the pitchers are faster, and the ball does not drop as much. They will use a rise ball, if a batter keeps popping it up.

 

[straightleg]

SCdad
How do you determine if its mental?
Then if you determine so, what fix do you tell the player



SL

 

[rdbass]

SCdad
How do you determine if its mental?
Then if you determine so, what fix do you tell the player



SL

I agree with out video 'we' are all guessing.

 

[lhowser]

I bet I bet I bet that if you saw these game swings the players would be taking their hands towards the ball and swinging down and across. I bet the bat reaches its lowest point pointing between second base and short and then arcs up and around. Swing around and down and pop up.

The high deep tee drills described in an earlier post can be effective if the girls can begin to realize they hit the ball with the barrel, not their hands and they start to turn the barrel to the ball.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I bet I bet I bet that if you saw these game swings the players would be taking their hands towards the ball and swinging down and across. I bet the bat reaches its lowest point pointing between second base and short and then arcs up and around. Swing around and down and pop up.

The high deep tee drills described in an earlier post can be effective if the girls can begin to realize they hit the ball with the barrel, not their hands and they start to turn the barrel to the ball.

Performing high-tee drills isn't enough if you are dealing with a leveling issue that takes place during the "reading of the pitch" ... which is often the case with such complaints. That said ... the high-tee drill is a good drill.

 

[lhowser]

f you are dealing with a leveling issue that takes place during the "reading of the pitch"

Exactly, this is a key issue to be looking for

 

[Doug Romrell]

I bet I bet I bet that if you saw these game swings the players would be taking their hands towards the ball and swinging down and across. I bet the bat reaches its lowest point pointing between second base and short and then arcs up and around. Swing around and down and pop up.

Agree, agree, agree!!!

From what I've seen around here, it is a common and chronic problem to swing such that the barrel continues to go down some after the point of contact. It's hard to get most girls to understand getting the barrel to bottom out behind the ball then follow it up and out.

 

[vdubya]

Very good replies in this thread. I see a lot of pop-ups with the hands-drop/swing-up players, as well as the 'J' swings that lhowser describes.

FFS makes a good point, along with the good advice from the Ohioans et al. The shoulders need some tilt, even when the pitch is up in the zone...or even with the high tee drill. My wife got this shot of DD over the weekend, dealing with the outside pitch that is up. I'm not claiming this is a pic for any model swing thread, but the result was a LD gapper, trading places with the RISP

 

[lhowser]

My wife got this shot of DD over the weekend, dealing with the outside pitch that is up.

That looks awesome. If she can deal will outside low similarly you have something going.

 

[SCDad]

SCdad
How do you determine if its mental?
Then if you determine so, what fix do you tell the player



SL

I can only tell you about my DD who occasionally falls into this pattern. Who otherwise is a very good power hitter, and regularly hits home runs. She also is what is considered a short stride hitter.

First, I just tell her to focus on the top half of the ball, like coach so and so said. Nothing more, to see if that helps.

Second, she will occasionally fall into this pattern directly after hitting a home run. Now she is looking for home runs, is over swinging, and swings a fraction too low. If this is the symptom, I always remind her to swing for a base hit, and nothing more. See if that fixes it.

Lastly, because she is a short stride hitter, she also has a relatively wide stance. Occasionally she will stand up a little more, with a narrower stance. When she does this, her stride gets longer than normal (or what she is used to). With a narrower, and "taller" stance, and longer stride her hips actually dip more than she is used to, and swings a fraction to low.

These are only specific to my DD. Her fundamental swing is sound. Each adjustment recommended here is either mental, or address their approach or stance. None of them changes her swing one bit.

Just know your DD's swing. I have a tape of her 12U swing believe it or not. When she gets into a slump like this, I revisit this tape, and usually can see she has changed something. Point to remember, when your DD is swinging really well. No matter what the age, make a tape of it and review it when she is slumping.