How far off of the plate to set up

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Aug 20, 2018
107
28
This has always been . feel thing for me, I was never taught how far to set up off the plate. Just looking for opinions, or good ways for the girls to measure how far off the plate they should stand so they're not reaching for pitches.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
Toes on the line unless she has very long arms. I see good teams have success when batters set up with their elbow in the strike zone. Takes away the outside corner. Pitchers at the 12u level have a hard time throwing inside. If the pitcher comes inside they just turn on it. I believe the closer to the plate the better.
 
Apr 2, 2015
1,198
113
Woodstock, man
Agree with toes on the line. Take a hitting stick and move to different positions in/out and up/back in the strike zone and you will see that you can reach anything without changing your basic swing. If you are dropping your back knee on pitches at the bottom of the zone, you need to stop doing that, you can reach those as normal.
 
Aug 20, 2017
1,474
113
If you maintain posture (tilt, head down) you should be able to reach aways pitches with ease standing a few inches off the plate. As others have said 12U toe the line. I call pitch location based on where the batter is in the box. If they toe the line im coming in all day. You want to able to get the barrel on inside and outside stikes
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
113
The lines aren't always in the same place. especially in cages, practice fields, etc. Heck, we play on fields (mostly in practice) that have no lines. And the fields where there are lines are sometimes laid down by the park staff who drew the short straw and had to lay the lines at 6am Saturday morning.

I ask the girls to get in their stance, then hold the bat in their bottom hand and reach the bat to the front, outside corner of the plate. They should be able to tap/rest the bat on that corner comfortably (without stretching or bending), thus getting them the proper distance from the plate.
 
Mar 22, 2016
505
63
Southern California
The lines aren't always in the same place. especially in cages, practice fields, etc. Heck, we play on fields (mostly in practice) that have no lines. And the fields where there are lines are sometimes laid down by the park staff who drew the short straw and had to lay the lines at 6am Saturday morning.

I ask the girls to get in their stance, then hold the bat in their bottom hand and reach the bat to the front, outside corner of the plate. They should be able to tap/rest the bat on that corner comfortably (without stretching or bending), thus getting them the proper distance from the plate.

Good point, uncdrew.
 

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