The one girl I turned around has the ability to do more than just slap, and she's only just begun the transition to hitting lefty. I've actually considered just having both of them bat lefty straight away for a while, slowly incorporating slapping as they develop. Is this the way to go, or should I just have them do everything from the start?
How many types of slap hits are there?
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- Feb 3, 2016
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We're learning to bat left first then working on the footwork going forward out of the box.
We went the opposite way and started out bunting and soft-slapping. It probably depends on the level of play. If she is switching late and the level of play is high I would start her with the short game. If the level of play is such that she can have some success swinging away right away that is great. If they were at all decent hitters from the right side they will need to have some level of success from the left or it will quickly become discouraging. At lower levels a really fast girl bunting from the left is almost unfair.
When you timed them were they batting lefty - contact to 1B? or was it run from home to 1B starting the watch on first movement? This will make a huge difference. I like to do the latter so we can compare all of our girls like at a tryout because if you slap lefty you have a step and a running start advantage and you can't compare those numbers.
Here's the times for our speedster lefty;
20yd dash indoors 2.97 (start on first movement, stop when body crosses line)
H to 1B 2.90 (start on first movement behind home plate, stop when foot touches base)
Contact to 1B, dragbunt lefty 2.75 (start on contact, stop when foot touches base)
So H to 1B I would say 3.1 or less is above avg. at HS level, 3.0 or less is fast, 2.9 is fantastic and a coaches dream, anything less is icing on the cake.
Our 2ndSlapper was ~.2 slower in all of these. She slapped for 1 year finishing .291/.455 then went back to righty last year as she hated slapping and finished .240/.400. She has since decided to stop playing fastpitch and focus elsewhere. I thought she did pretty well but certainly I believe the difference in speed showed up as about .100 in avg. the first year.
In my experience it takes about a year to settle in on slapping for the right candidate, speed is an enormous boost to getting started. As I posted earlier Slapper#1 went from below average player to rockstar in a little over a year, having professional lessons really helped. Slapper#2 didn't see the same results and was probably a better bunter in the beginning but never really comprehended the strategy part and really didn't want to in the end, she also probably compared herself to Slapper#1 even though we encouraged her and reinforced that she was doing great. She got in her own head a lot.
We had a strong focus on speed this year and we made huge gain in the offseason. In 2015 we stole 126 bases in 37 games, this summer we stole 234 bases in 33 games, we doubled our output with a speed program and a strategy around stealing bases. The speed program helped the girls above 3.5 the most, we did a little static weight training, SPARQ training (explosives), & then sprinting/agility.
To answer your other question IMO I would keep them slapping, it freaks out the defense (especially if you can dragbunt and slap off the same footwork), it gives them a running start to 1B (faster), and has a better chance for success. Two years in, our lefty hits great in practice (as a pure lefty) but in games is a below team average hitter still. I still prefer to have her hard slap to the right side with bases loaded vs swinging away. First year I would stress and teach Dragbunt, Softslap & Hardslap, reserving Hardslap as a development activity and only when bases are loaded.
Here's the times for our speedster lefty;
20yd dash indoors 2.97 (start on first movement, stop when body crosses line)
H to 1B 2.90 (start on first movement behind home plate, stop when foot touches base)
Contact to 1B, dragbunt lefty 2.75 (start on contact, stop when foot touches base)
So H to 1B I would say 3.1 or less is above avg. at HS level, 3.0 or less is fast, 2.9 is fantastic and a coaches dream, anything less is icing on the cake.
Our 2ndSlapper was ~.2 slower in all of these. She slapped for 1 year finishing .291/.455 then went back to righty last year as she hated slapping and finished .240/.400. She has since decided to stop playing fastpitch and focus elsewhere. I thought she did pretty well but certainly I believe the difference in speed showed up as about .100 in avg. the first year.
In my experience it takes about a year to settle in on slapping for the right candidate, speed is an enormous boost to getting started. As I posted earlier Slapper#1 went from below average player to rockstar in a little over a year, having professional lessons really helped. Slapper#2 didn't see the same results and was probably a better bunter in the beginning but never really comprehended the strategy part and really didn't want to in the end, she also probably compared herself to Slapper#1 even though we encouraged her and reinforced that she was doing great. She got in her own head a lot.
We had a strong focus on speed this year and we made huge gain in the offseason. In 2015 we stole 126 bases in 37 games, this summer we stole 234 bases in 33 games, we doubled our output with a speed program and a strategy around stealing bases. The speed program helped the girls above 3.5 the most, we did a little static weight training, SPARQ training (explosives), & then sprinting/agility.
To answer your other question IMO I would keep them slapping, it freaks out the defense (especially if you can dragbunt and slap off the same footwork), it gives them a running start to 1B (faster), and has a better chance for success. Two years in, our lefty hits great in practice (as a pure lefty) but in games is a below team average hitter still. I still prefer to have her hard slap to the right side with bases loaded vs swinging away. First year I would stress and teach Dragbunt, Softslap & Hardslap, reserving Hardslap as a development activity and only when bases are loaded.
- Feb 3, 2016
- 502
- 43
Turning lefty and looking forward to slapping.
Awesome! How does she like that bat? I see they are on sale at several places and thinking about picking on up for when DD outgrows her LXT.
When DD had shown interest in switching sides and taking up slapping we moved her to the left side and had her just swinging for almost a full year. When she switched, she switched 100% and never took a right handed at bat. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a struggle for the first half of the season. Towards the end of that year she started to incorporate drag bunting and soft slapping, and again there was a bit of regression early, but well worth it in the end. It does take work to be good at it, but with her small size slapping and hitting gaps is her game. Generally she hits in the basement at least 3 or 4 days a week outside of her team practices. She has a progression of slapping drills that she does, and finishes with about 50-75 regular swings.
When DD had shown interest in switching sides and taking up slapping we moved her to the left side and had her just swinging for almost a full year. When she switched, she switched 100% and never took a right handed at bat. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a struggle for the first half of the season. Towards the end of that year she started to incorporate drag bunting and soft slapping, and again there was a bit of regression early, but well worth it in the end. It does take work to be good at it, but with her small size slapping and hitting gaps is her game. Generally she hits in the basement at least 3 or 4 days a week outside of her team practices. She has a progression of slapping drills that she does, and finishes with about 50-75 regular swings.
- Feb 3, 2016
- 502
- 43
"Awesome! How does she like that bat? I see they are on sale at several places and thinking about picking on up for when DD outgrows her LXT"
She is swinging the bat from the left and seems to have pretty good pop when on the sweet spot off the bat.
She seemed to like it. Got it under $105 delivered to the door. Of course this is the 2016 model.
Xeno from the right side always does well for her.
She is swinging the bat from the left and seems to have pretty good pop when on the sweet spot off the bat.
She seemed to like it. Got it under $105 delivered to the door. Of course this is the 2016 model.
Xeno from the right side always does well for her.
