My DD swing...

[RookKev]

At this level, the cheapy bat although doesn't help her 'stats' reveals every poorly hit ball. If it ain't on the 'button' it's a floatin in the air. When I see those balls jumping off the sweet spot, that's when she can get a bat that will assist her swing. Right now, she is far too inconsistent with her point of contact.

SO>>>>>
For DD, what should we be focusing on during her practices? FFS? Wellphyt? You've given me alot for my son, but my daughters thread is strangely quiet! I really do appreciate your guidance.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

RookKev, your daughter is doing a lot right ... but there are some areas that could be enhanced. It is your son that is needs a good dose of basic fundamentals at this point. I'll write later with an area that could be addressed in your daughter's swing.

 

[Wellphyt]

At this level, the cheapy bat although doesn't help her 'stats' reveals every poorly hit ball. If it ain't on the 'button' it's a floatin in the air. When I see those balls jumping off the sweet spot, that's when she can get a bat that will assist her swing. Right now, she is far too inconsistent with her point of contact.

SO>>>>>
For DD, what should we be focusing on during her practices? FFS? Wellphyt? You've given me alot for my son, but my daughters thread is strangely quiet! I really do appreciate your guidance.

Make sure she is using a proper grip. Let her grow for a year and see how her swing develops. If you feel a need to work on her hitting, you may want to use an approach where you make her aware of some of the good natural movements she is doing, so she can enhance them or in some cases tighten them up a little. Without more clips, I can't say that I would be changing anything at this point given her age.

I might point out to her how she cocks her hips and show her clips of college players doing the same thing. Then I would explain to her how the hip cock is how good hitters shift their weight back and to not let anyone coach that movement out of her. Once she is aware of the hip cock and understands why it's important, she can enhance it as she matures.

She also does a decent job of establishing connection and getting the bat started correctly. Can she tighten up her connection movements a little? Sure. But she's only 11. She might tighten things up on her own as she ages.

I would just be careful what you work on.

IMO she is doing the three movements that I consider important. She's not doing them as good as a D1 college player, but I wouldn't expect her to because of her age.

Hip cock - Stretch Seguence - Get the bat started correctly.

Given where her swing is at already, I'm not sure you are going to improve each of these areas until she matures some.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

RookKev ... still haven't had a chance to sit down and write you a detailed answer. Basically I'd recommend first starting on addressing your daughter's lack of, or limited, 'stretch'. Take note that during her forward-by-coiling that her rear elbow comes closer to her rear hip, rather than becoming more distant. I'll try to follow up on this later.

Also ... get rid of any objective to flick the wrists, or apply extra force, going into contact. That may improve simply by added an adequate 'stretch' to your daughter's swing.

 

[RookKev]

dd had a tryout last weekend. (her first one, boy was she nervous). She went 5 for 5 on bunting down the 3rd base line and hit 14 of 15 pitches. Not all square, but all in play. Was very pleased with where she went with her swing during the session. I pretty much told her, don't think about this stuff, you are doing great, just step up there and hit the ball, you are already doing the hard part well. That seemed to really help her inbetween the ears.

Now, we are done with her season, and I'm guessing she will get to work on the tee and the next phase of her swing mechanics. Establishing a slightly larger coil and adding the separation of the hands from her shoulder... moving them backwards as her stride is going forwards.

 

[undergroundga]

[/QUOTE]She is a pretty good worker, but prefers to spend more time pitching than hitting. I'm hoping this will help spark her to want to spend more time on the hitting as well.[/QUOTE]
My dd is 8 and is just learning to pitch. She prefers fielding practice.
Also, we got our hands on an Easton Synge ($200 bat) at Hibbets for $100. Added about 20ft to her hits, but she has always hit good for contact. She liked the bat so much I went back and bought another one since her all-star team liked using it so much.

 

[undergroundga]

Sorr, that didn"t look like I was hopeing. Still trying to figure out this forum thing. Please no lynching.

 

[RookKev]

Talking with a coach after tryouts and trying to get a feel for what they teach for hitters. What I ran into today was a strange comment about rotational mechanics committing too much to a fastball sequence of pitching and no ability to adjust to adjust to a change up because of the load and stride. My argument to that was, usually a change up is not thrown for a strike, it is supposed to drop down out of the strike zone, and a girl striding properly and beginning the swing with her lower body will hopefully recognize the off speed pitch in time to lay off of it with her hands, whereas a more linear approach will typically get those hands in the swing too early to stop them. This coach went on to talk about the stride being done before the pitch is in the air, to help stop the girls from stepping out of the box. I understand that conceptually, but, it feels like you would be creating a broken swing....or very stuttered.

We had a good conversation, and ultimately, he did say if the girls have their own hitting coach, he doesn't get in the way or try to overrule them. I'm curious though, about a coach that says something like that, because, if she does struggle, what does he do? Just work between the ears, and stay away from the mechanics? Seems like a slippery slope. Oh, and the other thing, pulling the front shoulder out of the swing, and dropping the back shoulder. Both are things we have 'always' been taught not to do, but with the rotational swing, both seem to be components that have to occur to create the proper swing (from my very limited exposure).... do these both have to happen? IF so, what is the proper 'argument'/discussion manner for walking a coach through it who maybe hasn't seen that yet. How do you hit an outside pitch when pulling the front shoulder? The standard argument was you pull the bat out of the strike zone, very much like stepping out on the stride....

 

[softballphreak]

‪John Mallee's 6 Absolutes of a Professional Hitter‬‏ - YouTube

‪John Mallee 6 Steps of a Major League Swing Hitting Tips‬‏ - YouTube

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

RookKev, It isn't uncommon for a change-up to be thrown for a strike.

I'd rather not re-discuss the mechanics of dealing with a CU again ... if you search my posts you'll see a description. Suffice it to say that on many occasions the batter must abandon the core orbit and make adjustments to breaking balls and off speed.

You asked about the front shoulder being pulled out. That's what your son was doing. The step of the lead foot out of the box is basically an effort to pull with the lead shoulder and head to generate power. Failure to coil the hips and load in the correct pattern is generally the “upstream “cause of stepping in the bucket.

You asked about lowering the rear shoulder ... actually, we refer to the front shoulder rising and rear shoulder lowering as lateral tilt. Some consider that shoulder tilt to be the "GO!" for the 'upper body' ... some don't. Basically I consider lateral tilt to not be a forced top-down action, but a bottom-up action ... that is, as the hips first turn forward, the rear hip can be thought to grab the rear shoulder and pull it down ... basically the lower torso is twisting ahead of the upper torso, and the process of the shoulders laterally tilting is like a braking system to the upper torso rotating in the direction of the lower torso ... this lower torso twisting forward ahead of the upper torso is sometimes referred to as dynamic X-stretch or simply separation. That dynamic X-stretch is very important ... both in terms of timing/sequence and in terms of powering the swing.