How to help with timing the pitcher..

[JJsqueeze]

Ok..having trouble following that...I agree with the 'reaction' thing. That is exactly what is happening. You're saying I should just have her swing at everything? At least as a mindset. Then react to not swinging at balls?

If need be, then yes, have her take a few at bats and swing at everything in a friendly. But you should be able to do this in front toss, like RD said, just give her strike after strike and then mix in a bad ball, if she didn't get to a check swing position then remind her that she is swinging at everything until she isn't....beware the fake check swing, they will sometimes forget to check and then try to fake you out with a late check swing that clearly was not timed right to actually be a true "swinging till you are not" check swing. Also be patient, it is surprising difficult to follow this instruction at the beginning because kids are basically mush brains, but she'll get it.

 

[#7sDad]

i think it is telling that with all varying opinions on what isn't a high level swing, that the advice on timing is pretty much universal on this board. As others have said, YES YES YES NO...swinging on every pitch until they aren't. It is the single most effective thing you can teach a hitter to improve their performance.

yep. see this all the time with the younger ones. We had a similar saying. GO GO GO NO!

 

[cooprules15]

Totally right on with everything. From her having success up until the pitching got faster to her just reacting. I think the BP at club practice is almost hurting her because she gets reprimanded for swinging at balls and the coaches aren't always the most accurate. Not a gripe with the coaches. Just the way it is. I could post a video of her doing the exact thing you're all saying. There have been growing pains and I feel bad I haven't been able to help her. After her lesson at Elite Baseball her confidence (and my pride) were sky high. She understood it. She executed it. More importantly, she could FEEL it. It was like an epiphany. Her swing was smooth and she was crushing front toss. Fastballs and change ups. All in an hour! We only had room for tee work after that and it was good. As soon as she got in against pitching it changed. I could tell her 'start early and slow' a thousand times but it just wasn't helping. I'm just trying to keep her confidence up. She's a good player.

 

[grcsftbll]

What CJD said worked great for my 10U player. She was an awesome hitter in 8U then when we moved up she just stood there, or her timing was way, way off. Slightly different issues from yours but not too far off. We had her think SWING. Every pitch, think swing, then if it's a ball hold up. It worked great, on both the striking out looking & helping with fixing her timing. You can see her load up now and visibly hold up/check the swing on bad pitches.