Makaila 14

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Oct 3, 2019
364
43
She has that standup relaxed and fall into her posture look. It works for Mike Trout but she does looked a little rushed in that technique. Have her try to slow her stride/glide/ float down as slow as possible. Exaggerate. When throwing front toss to her have the que, "when I move ,you move." So she has to start her stride/coil when you swing the ball away. The drill below may help also. She probably is never going to be a smooth swinger (she is quick twitch and that is a gift) but maybe she can smooth out a little by exaggerating at practice. A game time que can be to start stride/coil when pitcher reaches 12:00 with her pitching arm. And remember the number one rule in hitting instruction. Never turn a .400 hitter into a .200 hitter.

Thank you for this. It's funny, up to this year, she was consistently late on most everything. It was hard to verbalize the proper timing to her, at what point to begin coil, foot down, etc. This year, the team started facing faster pitching, sometimes playing 18u teams and she started hitting and pulling the ball. It appeared that perhaps, she's better when she simply sees the ball and reacts to it. When pitching was slower, she was constantly unsure about when to swing, waited too long and then missed it or hit it weakly. I'm afraid to mess with what she's doing now, but I know it's probably short lived if she wants to continue to improve and move up. I appreciate your insights. It absolutely makes sense and I'm no hitting coach.
 
Oct 3, 2019
364
43
View attachment 22860

The good news is.. the stance is great. NEVER widen your stance, unless you want a mediocre swing.

The bad news is, with this stride, her swing is dead at toe touch.

Notice:
1) Her hips open as she goes forward. You must close as you go forward
2) Her rear forearm is more vertical (vs flat) at toe touch. I like where the hands are (near the armpit).

She has lost almost all the leverage that her body could provide. At this point she must use her arms to power the swing.

Do dry strides (no ball/tee), and coil hips AND shoulders inward 45 degrees until toe touch. Pull the back elbow back hard, like pulling a bow. Land softly on a very bent front knee. A mirror helps. (The tape/ball tricks for the front foot don't work)

The coaches want you to widen the stance because she opens her hips ('steps in the bucket'), and they want more contact to win this week, but this is destructive for her personal hitting development over the medium/long term.
Thank you. I know she's losing power with this yet have had difficulty sorting it all out. She was a very late starter, started at second year of 12u so, years of not swinging a bat caught up to her immediately. A month ago, she started with a private coach finally and then the coach moved to another state. At least she was able to instill confidence that was lacking before.
She never had naturally good timing and it showed. When she thinks about it too much, she's late. She's finally became a more aggressive swinger, strikes out less but clearly, needs work. Thank you for your time.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Lots of good advice in this thread already. The very first thing that jumps out at me is what Shawn said in his first comment - timing. The pre-launch part of the swing needs to be happening sooner and slower. The general guideline I use is "ball in the air, foot in the air". In other words, the stride forward should be starting right about the same time the pitcher is releasing the ball. The goal is not to get the foot down as quickly as possible, but to get it down at the right time to be able to execute a good swing. A good swing is quick and explosive, but not rushed.

This might be a useful video as an example of synchronizing with the movements of the pitcher. At 0:10 is the side view of the same swing.


Her hands are starting to pull back, and she starting to coil into her rear hip while the pitcher is starting her windup. She likes to do a tap back with her front foot as she loads (this is a style and timing thing for her - her "dance with the pitcher"), and starts her stride forward at about pitch release. Her front foot is down at the right time to make an explosive swing movement. Zero rush in preparation to launch.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Thank you for this. It's funny, up to this year, she was consistently late on most everything. It was hard to verbalize the proper timing to her, at what point to begin coil, foot down, etc. This year, the team started facing faster pitching, sometimes playing 18u teams and she started hitting and pulling the ball. It appeared that perhaps, she's better when she simply sees the ball and reacts to it. When pitching was slower, she was constantly unsure about when to swing, waited too long and then missed it or hit it weakly. I'm afraid to mess with what she's doing now, but I know it's probably short lived if she wants to continue to improve and move up. I appreciate your insights. It absolutely makes sense and I'm no hitting coach.

This is fairly common. Learning how to wait, and not give up the load/coil can be challenging for a lot of hitters.
 
Oct 3, 2019
364
43
Lots of good advice in this thread already. The very first thing that jumps out at me is what Shawn said in his first comment - timing. The pre-launch part of the swing needs to be happening sooner and slower. The general guideline I use is "ball in the air, foot in the air". In other words, the stride forward should be starting right about the same time the pitcher is releasing the ball. The goal is not to get the foot down as quickly as possible, but to get it down at the right time to be able to execute a good swing. A good swing is quick and explosive, but not rushed.

This might be a useful video as an example of synchronizing with the movements of the pitcher. At 0:10 is the side view of the same swing.


Her hands are starting to pull back, and she starting to coil into her rear hip while the pitcher is starting her windup. She likes to do a tap back with her front foot as she loads (this is a style and timing thing for her - her "dance with the pitcher"), and starts her stride forward at about pitch release. Her front foot is down at the right time to make an explosive swing movement. Zero rush in preparation to launch.

Wow! That's nice. This will provide a great demonstration for her. Thanks.
 
May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
Wow! That's nice. This will provide a great demonstration for her. Thanks.

Here's another on that might be helpful where you can see the pitcher and hitter's full movements in the same shot...


If you watch the video on YouTube, you can use the "," and "." keys to go frame-by-frame. My DD was 14yo in this video, which might be more relatable for your DD. At the time, she was using a high-knee in her pullback instead of the tap-back. This has varied over the years and is just a matter of whatever is working for her at the time with what feels right in her body. Again, it's a style thing.
 
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
She's finally getting her timing and getting the front foot down in time. Gone from weak grounders in the infield, pops to right to more consistently hitting to OF gaps and pulling. She gets triples out of hits to LF and getting closer to getting over the fence. I am proud of her because she has made huge strides this year although, we know her swing still needs work. Coaches have been trying to get her to widen her stance. Others have said to narrow it. She's confused, but whatever she's been doing, has been working. Any input on this swing?



her stance is fine. get her to line up w the pitchers release arm a bit better. Shoulders and feet. Right now she’s uses her quads as opposed to her glutes. fixing her set up should help.

I like her sequence of load. She uses her middle. But I agree w Efastball, she opens up early, which causes her hands to drop.

like Rollinghard said, I would try to incorporate some rhythm. But if her timing is good I wouldn’t worry too much.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,831
Messages
679,489
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top