Hitting to opposite

[rdbass]

Thanks for talking me off the ledge guys. I was having a hard time picturing a coach telling her "nice home run but next time hit it over the RF wall". I have expanded my thinking to include the tools she might need beyond 12u.

When I front toss to my DD. I will at times say, on an outside pitch, that ball should have went to right field(DD RH) and not to left. Your hitting coach may be trying to 'help' your DD realize that you don't want to try and pull every ball. Also helps a hitter learn to swing 'out from' their bodies and not 'around' their bodies. JMHO.

 

[FP26]

you have to be able to do something with an outside strike but I think the whole focus on hitting oppo is a little overblown. You will hit oppo often enough when your timing is off a little...hit where your power is-don't try to force a hitter to go oppo. If you have a little Suzie Carew or an Atoinette Gwynn then roll with it and let them spray it all over...but if you have a little Theodora Williams....let her pull em over the fence.

The more I see what Tewks has to say the more I agree with his approach.

https://tewkshitting.com/dont-spend-your-career-trying-to-hit-grounders-to-second-base/

At the beginning of every hitting session, we use "hitting oppo" off a tee as part of our warm up. But it is not ALL about hitting the ball to the opposite field. Obviously that is part of it. But I am also trying to teach the hitters how to use their hands and swing "out from" their bodies as rdbass has mentioned. In addition, I am trying to teach them about "barrel awareness".

Hitting oppo is extremely important in this area, as most high school pitchers locally try to live on the outside corner. I can't say I blame them as few hitters locally can do much with that pitch. But if a hitter is able to hit that pitch with authority, it opens up the entire game. And in my experience, learning to use the hands and learning that barrel awareness also tends to help with pitches in other zones.

 

[rdbass]

My DD likes the inside pitch and hits it well. So, she stands close to the plate. She will see alot of outside pitches because of her being close to the plate. So, like I said hit the ball where it's pitched.

 

[riseball]

My DD likes the inside pitch and hits it well. So, she stands close to the plate. She will see alot of outside pitches because of her being close to the plate. So, like I said hit the ball where it's pitched.

So if you had runners on base why would you stay close to the plate? Why not back off and try to get something outside you take to right field? As a PC if there is a force situation I want the batter on the plate as it only makes the inside pitch harder to hit and I would love nothing more than a weak ground ball to the left side for a 6-4-3 or 5-4-3. Conversely if they are off the plate I am much more reluctant to throw inside as they are set up to hammer it and have it stay fair and I have to wonder if I am getting suckered into giving them something low and away.

 

[wave_twister]

Can anyone recommend good drills to search by name or even a hitting dvd to buy that focuses on hitting opposite field? I saw some mention a few weeks ago on here about Bustos and a vid referred to as "attacking opp" or something but find it very difficult to uncover more about it. Like almost as if it doesn't exist and Bustos site is terribly programmed. Hell, any resource on directional hitting would help me.

If it makes any difference my DD is 10u right now, slapper. Hitting towards 5/6 comes natural at this point for her, even hitting away everything is LF because of training everything slap she has challenges driving C and RF so we're working on those directions lightly. I know she's still young and her mind and body control is still coming along so I don't have a lot of expectations for her beyond just trying her best. Right now we're off season so we work slap and hit away 50/50 but when in season rolls around it's usually slap 80/ hit away 20. Got a few more weeks to "mess around" with different stuff before we start up again and get back to the rigid schedule.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

So if you had runners on base why would you stay close to the plate? Why not back off and try to get something outside you take to right field? As a PC if there is a force situation I want the batter on the plate as it only makes the inside pitch harder to hit and I would love nothing more than a weak ground ball to the left side for a 6-4-3 or 5-4-3. Conversely if they are off the plate I am much more reluctant to throw inside as they are set up to hammer it and have it stay fair and I have to wonder if I am getting suckered into giving them something low and away.