I need tips for INSIDE/OUTSIDE pitches..
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- Oct 12, 2009
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Make sure she's trying to pull inside pitches and go the other way with outside pitches.
Tee work and front toss can help with this.
Chris, the problem is that she swings at the outside pitches, thinking they are over the plate, and watches the good ones, thinking they were inside...Girl struck out a kazillion times this weekend, and she is VERY frustrated...Don't ask me how many times I had to remind her that there was no crying in softball....
- Oct 12, 2009
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Have her sit at the plate in her stance but without a bat and call balls and strikes. Maybe do this while your pitchers are throwing bullpens. That will let her work on her pitch recognition (and give your pitchers good practice).
If she can't do this right, then she should get her eyes checked. This could be a depth perception problem.
Does she understand the strike zone?
- Oct 19, 2009
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A few suggestions along with the other great suggestions, make sure she has a proper bat coverage of the plate not too close or too far. While in her stance look to see her front foot is not too closed obstruction her view of the pitcher or incoming pitch 2 eyed look at the pitcher.
I pace 3 balls on the ground one inside in front of front foot for and inside pitch, one at the middle of the plate where the front foot lands and one between the legs for the out side pitch and we do dry swings stop at contact check for proper bat angel and then finish the swing. We do this for bottom of strike zone, middle of the strike zone and top of the strike zone. The balls on the ground give the kids a reference point for the contact point.
Then we move up to tee work placing the ball at each location and have the kids hit 8 to 10 balls at each location. Then move to front toss pitching balls at each location, be sure and be behind a net when doing front toss. May be this will help get her confidence on swinging at good pitches.
I pace 3 balls on the ground one inside in front of front foot for and inside pitch, one at the middle of the plate where the front foot lands and one between the legs for the out side pitch and we do dry swings stop at contact check for proper bat angel and then finish the swing. We do this for bottom of strike zone, middle of the strike zone and top of the strike zone. The balls on the ground give the kids a reference point for the contact point.
Then we move up to tee work placing the ball at each location and have the kids hit 8 to 10 balls at each location. Then move to front toss pitching balls at each location, be sure and be behind a net when doing front toss. May be this will help get her confidence on swinging at good pitches.
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Stephanie
I have found over the years especially with the little ones, most all of them can pull the ball however can they control the bat?
Measure off two lines at 51 and 39 inches horizontally from the ground up and then a vertical line exactly in the center of your net.
Place the tee at 4.5 feet and set it at 29 inches high. Use a separate throw down plate and arrange the tee to be 2 to 3 inches forward of the home plate and centered to the target area.
Measure off from home plate off the back corner and use the bat to measure off. Lay the bat head on the outside corner of home plate and have her place her lead foot at the knob of the bat and spread her legs a part about 1.5 the width of her shoulder is where I start.
Now can she hit a ball exactly up the middle in the target area?
For example if the ball goes left of center she could be hitting around the ball by casting her hands over the plate, the knob of the bat not traveling far enough forward releasing the barrel to soon just as an example.
If she can hit the ball up the middle then we progress to hitting the outside pitch.
Set the tee up about two inches forward of the outside back corner of home plate and have her hit a few balls.
Look to see where the balls are going. My net are marked to we measure off from the angle of home plate and tie a rag to represent the foul lines and have a reference point to work from.
About half way in my opinion is where the second baseman would be playing, so hitting there to the rag would be acceptable.
We put a piece of tape in the area of the belly button and explain to rotate as needed and stay inside the lane of the ball and direct the knob of the bat inside the path of the ball and release the barrel early to the ball.
Try it and if it works we will TRY and help you with some other suggestions.
Some where there is a picture of a modified Schutt Tee and a bath mat we drew on so the kids would understand where we are trying to get them to hit the ball so they can begin to relate to what we term the balls depth in box as to inside, middle and outside or a window to hit in so to speak.
Thanks Howard
Check to be sure that her stance allows her to see the ball with both eyes. If it does, check to see that both eyes are moving together. You can do that by having her focus on a pencil or your finger and move it fairly rapidly towards her nose. Make sure both pupils move symmetrically towards her nose. If one moves more quickly than the other, she may have trouble with depth perception. Inside and outside pitches use depth perception differently than high/low pitches.
- Oct 12, 2009
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Lazy eye can also cause depth perception problems due to monovision.
To point out to my students if they are turning their heads far enough to the left as a right handed hitter I have them stand in front of a mirror and tell them the pitcher is in the mirror. They look directly at themselves in the mirror while I am standing behind them. I ask them if they can see the whites on both sides of their eyes. Is their head/neck in comfortable position? Next I have them load up and see if the head rolls away from the pitcher’s window of release or are they rolling the shoulder in so far that it pulls the head off from the pitcher. What I usually see is they are looking about where the second baseman is playing their position! In my opinion unless you can see the white on both sides of the eyes your head is not turned far enough to the left.
So the hitter has a better understanding of what I see their head doing, I’ve taken a helmet liner out of a construction helmet. We attached a pointer (used when giving presentations) that extends out about 3’ from the center of the forehead above the eyebrows and has a 1” diameter foam rubber ball attached to it. They are surprised to see how far their head is positioned to their right and the strain that it puts on their eyes to look back towards the pitcher. Both eyes are not equally seeing the ball. The left eye is basically being used and not that well in my opinion.
HAP page 496; “A set of six muscles moves the eyeball in its socket. The muscles are the four-rectus muscles and the superior and inferior oblique muscles. They are called extrinsic or extra ocular muscles because they are outside the eyeball. One end of each muscle is attached to a skull bone, and the other end is attached to the sclera of the eyeball. The extra ocular muscles are coordinated and synchronized so that both eyes move together in order to center on a single image. These movements are called the conjugate movements of the eye.” The pencil drills helps this also.
Simply hold a pencil/ pen with small writing on it at arms length and slowly move it towards your eyes and focus on a letter in small print until you can no longer see it and pause for a few seconds, then look up using only your eyes and you will feel your eyes release. Your eyes turn inward to track the ball and this is termed accommodation or convergence and in my opinion it is like weight lifting for your eyes.
HAP page 464; “Proprioceptors respond to stimuli in such deep body structures as joints, tendons, muscles, and the vestibular apparatus of the ear. They are involved with sensing where parts of the body are in relation to each other and the position of the body in space.”
When you turn your head quickly you see a blur and then the image catches up and you refocus again. In my opinion this is where we start having trouble tracking the ball and then everyone has an opinion on how to do it. Is the hitter using just their eyes, just their head or are they using both? I am not a doctor or an engineer but after trying to teach 3,000 plus kids to hit, I know what works well and what doesn’t as supported by their stats. In my opinion that is data.
When it comes to measuring off from the plate and is the head turned far enough to see a curve ball from a right-handed pitcher as a right-handed batter or a lefty that is the issue. Specifically, can you see the ball well enough to hit it with how you measure off from the plate? For fast-pitch the head does not need to be turned as far because her arm is at her side. However, the head and eyes must be turned far enough towards the pitcher to see the ball equally with both eyes. This is sometimes termed getting a good two-eyed look.
Thanks Howard
