low bat speed and swing during games,please help!!

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Oct 22, 2010
5
0
my daughter is in a funk! she has alot of power yet during games she simply swings with about 50-60% of her power just to connect with the ball and not strike out.I have discussed this with her and fell the problem is more mental than physical.she just wants to make sure she will hit the ball and not swing 100% with full out speed.I have told her I'd rather have her strike out using good mechanics and bat speed of 100%.Has anyone out there been through this and are there any drills,etc. that would be beneficial to us to get out of this? any and all help would be greatly appreciated.she does go to a hitting teacher once a week. thanx!!
 
Jun 22, 2010
16
0
SE. Georgia
I have, my 13 yo.. she struck out once and hated it and tried to start aiming her bat at the ball 50% swings, and only in games, as far as a fix ... i am still looking too.
 
R

RayR

Guest
How about you compromise with your 10YO - Ask her to swing with intent until there are 2 strikes. Then she can focus on putting the ball in play. As she gets older and hopefully has success hitting the ball with intent she may ditch the 2 strike approach.
 
Last edited:
Sep 29, 2008
1,401
63
Northeast Ohio
Realize it will not be a simple fix. In other words All of the sudden she will start to swing hard because of one drill. So many factors...confidence, competative nature, fear of failure, ability to time the move into the pitch will go into it. Not just pure swing mechanics.

If the power you are talking about is off of a tee, then it is very possible her mechanics do not translate to swings when a ball is moving towards her. She will need to take tons of swings over time. I think you best drill is front toss repeatedly until she is hitting that hard. Then front toss from further back and make sure she is hitting hard. If she hits hard in all of these cases in practice and not in games then move into game situations at practice with counts and situations like "runner on second...need to drive her in to win!" etc.
 
Apr 1, 2010
1,675
0
I recently got some TCB balls for my 10 y.o. that I front toss to her. They force her to swing hard and make strong contact. If she were to try swinging with only 50-60% power, the ball would probably just flop off the bat and die embarrassingly at her feet. I really like the way the balls give her immediate feedback; she's seeing and feeling for herself what it takes to drive the ball successfully.

As an added bonus, they are much less scary coming back at me than the wiffle balls I usually use for front toss. Yes, I am a wuss. ;-)
 
Jan 12, 2009
23
0
thanks for the suggestions guys .I will try them and see if it works.

Along with what Ihowser said....have her adjust her toe touch and heal drop to the pitchers motion. Most athletes when in a funk are just thinking too much. Then they step early and slow down to hit the ball/lunge and get over the front foot. If you just have her thinking about adjusting when her toe touches and heal drop is, the body will naturally take over. It's amazing the amount of bat speed that is produced when the ball travels deep and the body’s core takes over. So have her thinking only about when she is starting her swing. If she steps when the pitchers arm is overhead and is early, during the next few pitches have her step when the pitchers hand is behind her body and if that is early, step just at the pitchers release and so on. Hitting is adjusting if you can get her mind thinking about one thing (timing) and adjusting things just happen assuming she has no other swing flaws. Now this is in practice only and more practice than game time is needed for this. Come game time it is all about the job at hand when they step in.

It's about doing the little things right.
 
Nov 1, 2009
405
0
Red, one of the points we stress with our team is that you have two different swings. One with less than two strikes and one that is putting the ball in play. It is never better to strike out than to put the ball in play but many batters get in the box and don't even start batting until they have a strike. We do advanced scouting of the teams we play and we note if a player is a taker on the first pitch and will throw a strike to them every time. Once you get behind you are at the mercy of the pitcher. Take notice of your daughters approach to hitting and focus more on her ability to engage from pitch one through the end of the at bat. Working on mechanics will not necessarily improve confidence.
 

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