How should a 15 year old learn how to hit?

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Aug 2, 2019
343
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This is great advice!! I spent many a summer day doing self toss when I couldn't find anybody to throw to me!! Personally as a right-handed hitter I toss with my left hand but I have seen others toss with the right hand.
I don't know that it matters what hand you throw it up with. I switch hit, (natural righty) and it doesn't matter which side I hit from, I toss with my left hand.
I too spend many summer days tossing my three baseballs up and hitting them from on end of our 6 acre lot to the other. Thinking back, the idea of hitting them into a back stop of some sort never crossed my mind. I must have chased those three baseballs for miles.
 
May 12, 2016
4,338
113
I don't know that it matters what hand you throw it up with. I switch hit, (natural righty) and it doesn't matter which side I hit from, I toss with my left hand.
I too spend many summer days tossing my three baseballs up and hitting them from on end of our 6 acre lot to the other. Thinking back, the idea of hitting them into a back stop of some sort never crossed my mind. I must have chased those three baseballs for miles.
Not only did you learn to hit, but you also stayed in shape as well. :)
 

rdbass

It wasn't me.
Jun 5, 2010
9,131
83
Not here.
TroutSoftTossZoom.gif

parents who think they know everything
That's funny......
 
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Aug 20, 2017
1,474
113
Hannah, think swing with your legs! Don’t try to muscle the ball with your arms/shoulders. When you stride, get athletic, like playing defense in basketball. Learn your preferred posture. Stride out and slowly lower down into your legs until you feel maximum tension. This is where you want to get to when you stride. Learn legs first! Good luck!!
 
Apr 17, 2019
331
63
Hey Hannah,
I'm impressed, lots of good things going on. Sequence looks good. In the spirit of improving, let's talk about couple of things.
1. This still, taken from 1:14 in your 4-10 vid, though the issue is consistent in all your swings.
This is what I'll call the slot position (where you've pivoted, and your rear knee, hip, elbow, and shoulder are all stacked in a line). The red is your forearm to bat angle. "dumping the barrel"). Green is roughly where it should be relative to your forearm position.
1586655502462.png

You want the bat to be an extension of your arm, that variance in angle is going to cause issues.
Fixes:
a: shaft to shoulder drill: This is a feel drill. Go through Load - Stride - Slot. Only, imagine the shaft of the bat is glued to your bicep. If you took a picture when you get to this slotted position, the bat should be exactly where the green line is above. Here's a vid explaining it:

b, top half statue drill: Try this slowly, get to your normal load -stride position, really emphasize pulling that back elbow back with your shoulder so you feel a 'scap load'. Here, freeze your upper body like it's a statue. Don't let your upper body move at all except that it's still attached to your lower half. Then let your hips rotate/back foot pivot (however you think of that move) while keeping your upper body frozen like a statue. You should once again find yourself slotted correctly with your bat on the green line if you've done it right.
Bonus round: Do these drills again thinking about a pitch at the knees vs a pitch at chest height. (Hint: the shoulder angle controls it, keep your core muscles engaged)


The other thing I'd mention at this time is once you fire the swing, you never get to a fully extended position. For this, I'd normally prescribe a double tee drill, where you put a 2nd ball at your extended position, but this is hard to set up on your own, so I'll just suggest you take a look at this image.
Ait_m45ywVjgSXPG4tlj1Rd5y2w1erC7MMDlCUSQbB44eBchuBVGL97cafSfFVfva6EP9SyQAK_DCrES2hNva7unvbIKhyFWM608CKQIph2AWA2DAyMFee8v5UutJ5CvTf3ZQDsc
 
Apr 3, 2020
57
18
Hey Hannah,
I'm impressed, lots of good things going on. Sequence looks good. In the spirit of improving, let's talk about couple of things.
1. This still, taken from 1:14 in your 4-10 vid, though the issue is consistent in all your swings.
This is what I'll call the slot position (where you've pivoted, and your rear knee, hip, elbow, and shoulder are all stacked in a line). The red is your forearm to bat angle. "dumping the barrel"). Green is roughly where it should be relative to your forearm position.
View attachment 17052

You want the bat to be an extension of your arm, that variance in angle is going to cause issues.
Fixes:
a: shaft to shoulder drill: This is a feel drill. Go through Load - Stride - Slot. Only, imagine the shaft of the bat is glued to your bicep. If you took a picture when you get to this slotted position, the bat should be exactly where the green line is above. Here's a vid explaining it:

b, top half statue drill: Try this slowly, get to your normal load -stride position, really emphasize pulling that back elbow back with your shoulder so you feel a 'scap load'. Here, freeze your upper body like it's a statue. Don't let your upper body move at all except that it's still attached to your lower half. Then let your hips rotate/back foot pivot (however you think of that move) while keeping your upper body frozen like a statue. You should once again find yourself slotted correctly with your bat on the green line if you've done it right.
Bonus round: Do these drills again thinking about a pitch at the knees vs a pitch at chest height. (Hint: the shoulder angle controls it, keep your core muscles engaged)


The other thing I'd mention at this time is once you fire the swing, you never get to a fully extended position. For this, I'd normally prescribe a double tee drill, where you put a 2nd ball at your extended position, but this is hard to set up on your own, so I'll just suggest you take a look at this image.
Ait_m45ywVjgSXPG4tlj1Rd5y2w1erC7MMDlCUSQbB44eBchuBVGL97cafSfFVfva6EP9SyQAK_DCrES2hNva7unvbIKhyFWM608CKQIph2AWA2DAyMFee8v5UutJ5CvTf3ZQDsc


I worked on myself today . Here is a link to a video . I used a drill called Bat on Hip.
 
Apr 17, 2019
331
63
I worked on myself today . Here is a link to a video . I used a drill called Bat on Hip.


Bat on hip - did you reference this video for that?
I'd credit that with your good hip pop, you're using your lower body very well, especially for a beginner. So A+ there.

You're still dumping the barrel quite a bit though. This is an upper-half issue, On YouTube, pause the video and use the period and comma keys to go frame by frame. You should see what I'm talking about.

Try the Shaft to Shoulder and top-half statue drills I prescribed too. I expect it to take more than one day and more than one drill to fix.

This vid, he explains something very similar to the top-half statue drill:


ETA: Since you're doing a lot of tee work, I'll drop this here:
 
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