Megan 1-Tee

[Immortal1]

Did not have a chance to work on "T" swings today but Megan did twist my arm enough to take her out to Micheal's Fun World where they have several different batting cages (all mechanically timed, no human intervention). I caved in but asked that she work on several of the above comments in the 35MPH baseball cage. Figured it would be closer to a fast soft toss than actual game speed pitches (50 MPH). The second video I did just to see / show that the bug squishing days may finally be over

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Have to thank my older daughter for showing me how to take out a section of a longer video so i don't have such a long load time.

Anyway, have to again thank everybody for their inputs on helping her to be a better batter. Will probably spend the rest of the week working on getting the extension part working better. Got a much better idea how to help her with the overhand drill and probably will invest in a full length mirror soon (ya, it's really for softball, right, LOL).

Just me guessing as best I can but in the two videos of her batting above, it looks like how she finishes after contact is better. Not sure if I like the top hand release in the first video or how things look in the last video. Will have to wait to hear your comments

 

[straightleg]

Megan

Watch what the knob of the bat does. From the start of the swing. It goes from the start and ends up facing the pitcher.

Try to do this with the knob of the bat. Look at your swing and see where the knob of the bat goes from when you start your swing.

Doing this better will give you a better hand path, and better bat leg.
You will hear the difference when you hit a ball.



Straightleg

 

[straightleg]

When you are hitting off of a tee or batting cage draw a straightline on the ground with chaulk. She can stand even or alittle bit open at set up.

The chaulk line is for when she steps out. Step out straight or alittle inside the chaulk line. Howard calls this the line of force.

Step open hips open early - loose power.
Have open stance at set up and then step more open - loose that much more power and likley to kill the third base coach.



Straightleg

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

IM1 ... nice improvement with the hands going into 'contact'. Well done.

One more thing ... and we may have ourselves a hitter on our hands.

When removing the 'bug squish' it's common for a hitter to do as your daughter did in the "behind view" ... that is shut down the energy production somewhat. Not what we want. We still want a forceful main engine ... just without the bug squish.

Your daughter has come a long way ... and she did it in a short amount of time. A tribute to you being very selective on what to work on, and a tribute to Megan. It's about the combination of "hard work" performed "smartly". In life, that combination, ... "hard work" + "smart work" is often a winner.

Last thing I'd recommend is work on developing a 'thrust'. That is, you "coil" and "uncoil" ... but on top of the "uncoil" comes a "thrust" ... and if that was in Meg's swing, then we'd see the rear heel in the "behind view" behaving much differently. The way I approach this is by having hitters perform the "stretch and fire" drill to capture the 'feel' of the action between the rear hip & rear femur. You then attempt to add this 'action' in the swing just after the 'uncoil' begins ... "coil", "uncoil", "thrust".

Overall ... very well done. The two of you came far in a short amount of time. No way are you as "green" as you let on to be. You waded through a mind-field of information, and yet you somehow avoided the wrong information and made several steps in a positive direction.

p.s.
Tell me about all the trophies in your basement. Are those softball trophies?

 

[Immortal1]

Thankyou both for your great comments on Megan. I honestly thought we would be struggling thru the lower half mechanics until May or June. But, it seems that part is progressing nicely and now we are working on the details of the top half of the swing and I guess details in general (which is nice). Looking at Straightleg's daughter in some of the various YouTube vids I can only hope Megan will be able to generate that much bat speed and power by the time she makes it to her junior year of H.S. As always we will continue to work on things. Really looking forward to getting outside and doing some hitting but will have to wait for the temps to improve (-4 right now) and for the snow to go away (14-16" still on the ground).

FiveFrameSwing - It would be nice to say those are softball trophys but I can't. Those are some of the trophy's I have for my lowrider show truck. Spent about 8 years on the lowrider show circuit and an abundance of hardware to show for it. But, times have changed and now softball takes up most of my spare time. Oh well, would rather spend it with the kids than the truck anyway. Below is a link to it if you want to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4iQxH0SOI0&feature=BF&playnext=1&list=QL&index=1

 

[ArmWhip]

The acid test for me is how a hitter handles the low pitches, will her mechanics remain pure when she has to change her swing plane? Working down in the zone often exposes 'holes' in the swing. Tilting and changing planes can be a difficult thing to learn. Set the ball on a tee for a pitch low and down the middle, see if she can change planes. If she doesn't tilt she will chop down across the path of the ball or drop and drag to get the bat down there.

 

[Immortal1]

Finally got back to doing some work on the T. Still not sure which of the 2 videos I like better. The first one she lets go with the top hand well after contact and seems to have a better follow thru. I mentioned something to her about keeping both hands on the bat and later on I shot the second video. Again, not sure which is better / preferred. Any thoughts / input would be great!

The last video is another one of the girls on the team. LOL, must have been taught in little league by the same teacher that taught Megan as she has many of the same issues. Squish the bug and wrist roll after contact along with a flat swing. One thing at a time though - figured I would try and stop scaring the roaches first

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[#14's_Dad]

Nice truck Immortal, I was a big lowrider fan growing up in SoCal but now I'm like you, fastpitch softball with my DD takes up all my time, godd luck this season.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

In terms of the release of the top hand, I'm fine either way as long as the hitter hits "behind the ball". Consider going with what feels best from Meg's viewpoint here.

 

[Immortal1]

Nice truck Immortal, I was a big lowrider fan growing up in SoCal but now I'm like you, fastpitch softball with my DD takes up all my time, godd luck this season.

Thank-you! It was a lot of fun (the truck). With everyones help on here this season should be a lot of fun!