How to fix dropping hands

[canyonjoe]

We have a player who is just lost hitting. I tried to film her swing but you tube flagged it for being too scary.

She is is dropping her hand so badly that that as she comes forward her bat is actually tilted at least 30 degrees down. On low pitches
she will actually have the ground stop her bat. She hits under 500 in soft toss. She is actually a good bunter so I just have her bunt all
3 strikes when she plays. She came from Rec so her dad things that because she could hit in rec, it's just mental and she is just in a slump.
I don't think he sees that the pitchers are throwing much harder in travel. I only bring that up as he doesn't really seem like he will help her except
buying her a bownet and a tee to hit in the backyard.

I had a coach teach DD to swing like an axe to get hands through and I've shown her the technique but she of course doesn't practice it.

I am looking for a drill that I can show her at practice to at least get her to hit some balls. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[SlapHitter]

Hi, i had the same problem with my DD. First thing is get her to a hitting coach if possible. What really worked for us was to film her swinging in slow motion off a T. My DD was able to clearly see her hands drop, then she worked on fixing it. She hit tons of balls off the T and was excited to see quick improvement. We used the app Ubersense, it is free and you can even compare her swing to others, side by side or even layered one on top of the other and play them in super slow motion. My DD really saw what she was doing wrong, and it finally clicked for her. Best of luck.

 

[quincy]

Setup 2 Tees, the one in front has a ball on it that she hits.

Play with the height of the back tee without the ball, start low and slowly move it higher or go big bang.

 

[rdbass]

Try to hit this ball if a hitter drops their hands.

 

[mann]

I agree with rdbass. High tee, and hands above the ball.

 

[redhotcoach]

Has she seen on video her swing compared to good swings? Give her a college girl video as a goal to work for. Have her mom or dad video everyone of her at bats for her to see how she is progressing. Rvp app on their phone would be an easy way for them to do it.

 

[knightsb]

Try to hit this ball if a hitter drops their hands.

Got several holes in my garage drywall with the high tee. I now use foam balls with this drill

 

[CoogansBluff]

High tee is great for getting kids to experience doing it the right way. But another challenge is then getting them to actually do it that way in games, especially on lower pitches.

What makes many hitters drop their hands is the common-sense belief that the hands need to be down there where the ball is coming. So they drop hands and then drag the bat along the plane of the pitch. The better tactic - although less natural to many - is to turn the barrel to the ball with hands above the ball.

Does she know how to do that? If she doesn't, then she might keep her hands high on orders from the coach, but then still drag the bat down toward the ball, which is no better. So I would just keep that in mind. There is a reason for having the hands high and barrel vertical at swing launch. Batter needs to know what the hands need to do from there, IMO.

 

[rdbass]

High tee is great for getting kids to experience doing it the right way. But another challenge is then getting them to actually do it that way in games, especially on lower pitches.

What makes many hitters drop their hands is the common-sense belief that the hands need to be down there where the ball is coming. So they drop hands and then drag the bat along the plane of the pitch. The better tactic - although less natural to many - is to turn the barrel to the ball with hands above the ball.

Does she know how to do that? If she doesn't, then she might keep her hands high on orders from the coach, but then still drag the bat down toward the ball, which is no better. So I would just keep that in mind. There is a reason for having the hands high and barrel vertical at swing launch. Batter needs to know what the hands need to do from there, IMO.

is to turn the barrel to the ball with hands above the ball.

Some poster suggested this to my 'think headedness'.

Pay attention to the 2 gifs on the left side.

ask your daughter to beat balls straight into the ground ~ 4' in front of the tee. Than increase it to 10'. Than 20, etc. Get her to have a more direct hand path. Don't worry about sending the barrel rearward. Get the loop out.

A hitter that 'drops the hands' will have problems doing this off a tee.

 

[canyonjoe]

Thanks for all the comments. She missed practice last night so didn't get a chance to try, but will try all out next time she arrives.

We had 2 hitters out early for hitting practice (DD and 5th place hitter) who both hit over 650 last tourney and the 3 below 100 missed practice. I'm starting
to think the ones who practice more tend to do better