I hate side toss, do you?

[FiveFrameSwing]

I really shouldn't weigh in on the TCB debate. I acknowledge that most of you have forgotten more about the swing than I will ever know. But what the heck, I haven't had anyone get mad at me for a while so I figure I'm overdue.

DD is on a very good team. First year 16U tied for 33rd at ASA/USA in VA after finishing T9 last year as a 14U team at ASA/USA in Normal. So.. not exactly PGF champs but very good. This year they implemented TCBs as part of their hitting routine. They used them extensively. Being conservative, i would estimate that each girl took about 125-150 cuts with TCBs prior to each tournament game. Well, not each game. i mean not if they were playing back to back, but you know what I mean. I believe they also took a TON of cuts with TCBs at practices too.

My observation? Something funny started happening with their swings. Can't quite put my finger on it, other than the swings universally became more "choppy," and several of the girls seemed to just quit after contact with hardly any follow through. That seemed counter intuitive to me. I mean TCBs would help you drive thru the ball even better, or so I would have thought. But that definitely did not match my observations. A lot of us were left wondering - what has happened to these girls' swings? And why were the swings so choppy?

I don't know. My anecdotal "evidence" proves absolutely nothing. Could have been a coincidence. But after reading this thread, which took me by surprise by the way because i thought TCBs were universally loved, I am starting to think that overuse of TCBs negatively impacted DD's team.

I don't see anything wrong with TCB balls but I believe the amount of cuts you should do should not exceed the manufacturer recommendation.
Anyone have that number? I think it is around 7

You can start at about that amount and work up to 18-24 for the baseball size.
DD does about 10-20 most practices mixed in with wiffles and normal balls.

Based on what I observed this part summer I'd go with the recommendation of limiting their usage. Rather than going up to 20, I'd consider going down to zero. In all sincerity ... limiting their usage is a good idea.

 

[iMlearning]

I really shouldn't weigh in on the TCB debate. I acknowledge that most of you have forgotten more about the swing than I will ever know. But what the heck, I haven't had anyone get mad at me for a while so I figure I'm overdue.

DD is on a very good team. First year 16U tied for 33rd at ASA/USA in VA after finishing T9 last year as a 14U team at ASA/USA in Normal. So.. not exactly PGF champs but very good. This year they implemented TCBs as part of their hitting routine. They used them extensively. Being conservative, i would estimate that each girl took about 125-150 cuts with TCBs prior to each tournament game. Well, not each game. i mean not if they were playing back to back, but you know what I mean. I believe they also took a TON of cuts with TCBs at practices too.

My observation? Something funny started happening with their swings. Can't quite put my finger on it, other than the swings universally became more "choppy," and several of the girls seemed to just quit after contact with hardly any follow through. That seemed counter intuitive to me. I mean TCBs would help you drive thru the ball even better, or so I would have thought. But that definitely did not match my observations. A lot of us were left wondering - what has happened to these girls' swings? And why were the swings so choppy?

I don't know. My anecdotal "evidence" proves absolutely nothing. Could have been a coincidence. But after reading this thread, which took me by surprise by the way because i thought TCBs were universally loved, I am starting to think that overuse of TCBs negatively impacted DD's team.

I don't see anything wrong with TCB balls but I believe the amount of cuts you should do should not exceed the manufacturer recommendation.
Anyone have that number? I think it is around 7

You can start at about that amount and work up to 18-24 for the baseball size.
DD does about 10-20 most practices mixed in with wiffles and normal balls.

Based on what I observed this part summer I'd go with the recommendation of limiting their usage. Rather than going up to 20, I'd consider going down to zero. In all sincerity ... limiting their usage is a good idea.

Funny how these were all the rage 15 minutes ago

 

[Rocketech1]

TCB balls allow you to work on full swings in a very confined area which is the norm at most tournaments and the key aspect to their functionality. They also really expose swing flaws because you need to have good mechanics to hit them solidly and far. With that said, we normally use them as one of several hitting stations and limit the amount of reps to about 15. I have used them with 100s of players and have never had a player complain of injuries to the wrists as some posters have stated.

Tee work, front toss, live pitching are all preferable to TCB ball use but have a place in hitting drills.

 

[Doug Romrell]

I don't see the TCBs as being much of a concern if you are using them like to warm up the hitters in the pre-game warm-ups. I do think they create problems when you use them every time you have batting practice. That's just my take.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I really shouldn't weigh in on the TCB debate. I acknowledge that most of you have forgotten more about the swing than I will ever know. But what the heck, I haven't had anyone get mad at me for a while so I figure I'm overdue.

DD is on a very good team. First year 16U tied for 33rd at ASA/USA in VA after finishing T9 last year as a 14U team at ASA/USA in Normal. So.. not exactly PGF champs but very good. This year they implemented TCBs as part of their hitting routine. They used them extensively. Being conservative, i would estimate that each girl took about 125-150 cuts with TCBs prior to each tournament game. Well, not each game. i mean not if they were playing back to back, but you know what I mean. I believe they also took a TON of cuts with TCBs at practices too.

My observation? Something funny started happening with their swings. Can't quite put my finger on it, other than the swings universally became more "choppy," and several of the girls seemed to just quit after contact with hardly any follow through. That seemed counter intuitive to me. I mean TCBs would help you drive thru the ball even better, or so I would have thought. But that definitely did not match my observations. A lot of us were left wondering - what has happened to these girls' swings? And why were the swings so choppy?

I don't know. My anecdotal "evidence" proves absolutely nothing. Could have been a coincidence. But after reading this thread, which took me by surprise by the way because i thought TCBs were universally loved, I am starting to think that overuse of TCBs negatively impacted DD's team.

I don't see anything wrong with TCB balls but I believe the amount of cuts you should do should not exceed the manufacturer recommendation.
Anyone have that number? I think it is around 7

You can start at about that amount and work up to 18-24 for the baseball size.
DD does about 10-20 most practices mixed in with wiffles and normal balls.

Based on what I observed this part summer I'd go with the recommendation of limiting their usage. Rather than going up to 20, I'd consider going down to zero. In all sincerity ... limiting their usage is a good idea.

Funny how these were all the rage 15 minutes ago

I don't recall ever being excited about using TCB balls.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

TCB balls allow you to work on full swings in a very confined area which is the norm at most tournaments and the key aspect to their functionality. They also really expose swing flaws because you need to have good mechanics to hit them solidly and far. With that said, we normally use them as one of several hitting stations and limit the amount of reps to about 15. I have used them with 100s of players and have never had a player complain of injuries to the wrists as some posters have stated.

Tee work, front toss, live pitching are all preferable to TCB ball use but have a place in hitting drills.

Rather than say TCB balls "expose" swing flaws, I'd say they "encourage" swing flaws.

Rather than say that you need to have good mechanics to hit them far, I'd say that inferior mechanics can help drive them far.

I certainly do agree with limiting their usage.

I have seen them used with 100s of players as well .... and while I haven't heard a majority of them complaining of wrist pain (some definitely do complain of wrist pain when using TCB balls), I have seen a majority of swings look considerably less than ideal.

 

[Ken Krause]

I use them once in a while with hitters, and sometimes as a hitting station with a team. They're good for a change of pace. You still have to watch over the swing, though, to make sure it's what you want.

Anything that gets to be too routine encourages bad habits because the hitters' brains tend to disengage.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

It isn’t that I don’t use TCB balls …. I do. I work with organizations that use them, and have seen first-hand the results of using them. They make life easier …. But they are not swing development tools IMO.

In terms of swing ‘development’, I like to go in a different direction than low compression balls. I prefer hitting high compression softballs …. Which are both helpful, and a heck of a lot of fun to hit … and they encourage whip-like mechanics ... pretty much the opposite of TCB balls in terms of bat/ball contact time going through contact.

 

[pstein]

Maybe this is me being an idiot, but wouldn't high compression balls lead to more pushing? You can push and hit them even further.

Lower-compression balls seem as though they would demand more bat speed before contact, high compression balls compress more if you put more force into them.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Based on what I observed this part summer I'd go with the recommendation of limiting their usage. Rather than going up to 20, I'd consider going down to zero. In all sincerity ... limiting their usage is a good idea.

Can you name any drill that can't be performed incorrectly???