Over swinging...what is it?

[sluggers]

This is something I wanted to understand based on a different thread.

The poster said something like, "The batters are swinging for the fences and therefore making outs."

We always want batters to hit the ball hard. But, do some batters try to swing too hard?

Or is it simply an issue that the swing mechanics are poor?

 

[fuzzy2651]

I think he meant swinging too hard instead of swinging smart. As in the girls might be thinking they need to hit a double to the gap or crush one over the OF's head when really they just need a solid base hit. That's just my opinion on what I think that poster was talking about.

 

[softball dad 6]

What I envisioned with the original poster was batters with long looping swings that generate power if they connect right but are often over matched when facing the better pitchers at their level. DD went to a camp put on by Mickey Dean when he was still at JMU. Their philosophy was to swing hard and try and hit the ball hard all the time even with 2 strikes. DD's tb coach teaches the opposite philosophy and tells batters to shorten with 2 strikes or against really good pitchers to make contact more often.
DD asked me the other day what I thought about her bat speed. I told her I wasn't sure. She has a lot of power and is told she has quick hands. I look at her bat speed and think she is not as fast as some of her teammates but her results exceed theirs on average.
Sorry I know I didn't answer you initial question.

 

[efastball]

It usually means:
"The power hitter swung and missed once, and I want to change her swing so she hits weak grounders"

 

[julray]

Some hitters muscle their selves out of good mechanics. In those instances, bat speed actually becomes less, they make poor if any contact, the ball travels less. My DD does that quite often when hitting off the tee.

 

[Hawk_]

When they miss lol. No one says they overswung when they hit a ball.

 

[Tango]

Can be a lot of things like all the above post. When my DD tries to recruit power from her upper front arm she looks very stiff and most people would call that over swinging.

 

[cnardone]

To me it is the same thing as that pitcher trying to squeeze that extra couple of MPH out of a pitch. Mechanics get a little (or a lot) sloppy.

 

[StormChase]

Few years back I hopped on board coaching a U16 travel team. They were a great team but they were at a stalemate when it came to hits.

I told then they need to slow their swings down...as you can imagine I got quite a few confused looks. Even by the other coaches. Told the girls that they need to focus on proper mechanics at 80% power TOPS...even while in game. Only one thing changes when facing a fast pitcher vs a slower pitcher and it has nothing to do with power of the swing. Most girls spend their whole youth softball years hearing the phrase "time the pitch" but are rarely explained what that means. They seem to think that with a faster pitcher it means you have swing the bat faster which is where the stalemate happens. When they do make contact they end up being little dinkers to the infield and get out at first. Tell them to slow their swing down to focus on the mechanics. The o my thing that changes is how soon or how late you start your swing. Every homerun I hit felt like the smoothest, softest swing with little effort because the mechanics were sound.

Slow your swing down, start it sooner. Their bats came back and were crushing it the rest of the year.