Not swinging the bat, Watching strikes, looking for a walk

[softballdad#16]

How can you get 10U DD to swing the bat again, instead of watching strikes go by? I know she is only 10 and not major leaguer, but she should still be swinging the bat. When she played TB for the first time last fall in her first 2 tournaments she was swinging the bat with confidence and gettig hits. Ever since she has gotten worse. Any suggestions?

 

[darken]

What's worked for me in the past is to tell the player to assume every pitch is a strike - start your swing, then stop it if it's not hittable. If she's not starting her swing, she's probably thinking ball. She should always think strike. At this age the pitching can be less than ideal and if she's looking to get on base, she may be waiting for a walk.

Last summer I had one player at 10U who would not swing for anything. She actually has a nice swing, but would rather stand there and wait for a walk. It got to the point where I would tell her which pitch to swing at before she walked to the batter's box. "OK, on this at bat I want you to swing at the second pitch no matter where it is." Believe it or not it worked - she got a couple of hits that way and later tried out and made a travel team this year. However, I woudn't recommend that unless you're desperate. Hitters need to make the swing/take choice themselves.

 

[redhotcoach]

My DD went through it a year ago. This year I have a couple other girls doing the same. With DD I tried everything. I tried like Darken to tell her to swing a pitch number no matter where it is. She said "I am thinking swing, but my body doesnt do anything." She had terrible self talk....always thinking negetative about her at bats. I ended up bribing her with a gadget she wanted to buy...I said "you don't have to hit, but I wanted at least two swings every at bat." After one or two at bats, she was hitting and got over her slump.

Now the girls that aren't mine, I still am having some trouble with.

 

[chinamigarden]

Darken is right. You have to get her thinking strike on every pitch. She needs to load up and stride for every pitch. The internal mind thought should be yes yes yes on every pitch. Then either it stays a yes or it becomes a no, but that decision is made in conjunction with movement. Its hard to go from stock still to swinging at a pitch that is already on the way.

Just remember one thing. As you prod her to be more aggressive and swing at more pitches. You have to be prepared to let her swing at some bad ones too. If she comes back to the bench and you say, "that last one was too high you should have taken it" Then be prepared for her to go up and take the rest of them too.

 

[tmolina]

On our team we told the girls we want them to strike out swinging not looking, so for every backwards K our team gets during a tourney, the entire team has to do a set amount of sprints at next practice. We don't want them looking for a walk, but will tell the girls that if the pitcher has a history of being wild and/or has throw 3 balls for each strike to a couple girls prior in the same game that mabe they should take a pitch or two, make the pitcher throw strikes and go from there.

 

[rowdy]

Have a parent record your game to see how the coaches are responding to the girls swinging at bad pitches. What I have observed over the years is coaches are much more inclined to yell across the field for swinging at a bad pitch than they are if they take a good one.

Try to encourage the girls on each pitch. Maybe they swing at a pitch above their head but instead of bashing the pitch selection make a point to focus on the actual swing. Then end by saying something along the lines of finding a pitch that is a little easier to handle and put the same swing on it.

 

[TNTCoach]

I always encourage the girls to enter the box with an 0-2 mindset. I want them coming up to the plate with two strikes on them.

 

[Richards]

Just my two cents but typically what I see is that this is typically 1 of 2 things.

1. She is lacking any form of confidence in the batters box from past experiences.
2. She is afraid of the ball.

Keep it simple and don't try to over analyze the situation. Try and build up her confidence in the box and reiterate that YES, she might get hit by the ball but if she gets to it before it hits her she WINS!

 

[Jim]

I have an old saying...

"If you're looking for a walk, go find a park."