Poor balance? Swing issue?

[CoogansBluff]

I guess I just don't get the turning the barrel thing. I thought she was moving in the right direction on the last swing I posted. Guess we will take break until we figure this out so I don't make it worse.

Turning the barrel has been a very difficult thing for my daughter, 14, to grasp and put into action. And that's despite that fact that I believe I understand the concept pretty well (finally). But getting her to execute it drove me to a professional hitting coach because I was getting nowhere trying to teach it. Perhaps it was too much muscle memory to erase in her case. Now, she understands it very well and can diagnose when someone does and doesn't do it. But still not an expert on actually doing it in a game. She's kinda in between turning and pulling, but getting better.

Point being, hang in there. It's not a simple change for most, imo.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

My DD really struggled with "big squish" and feeling the sequence when we started making swing changes at age 9. This drill was the best one we did that helped her get the feel of not squishing the bug. Tell her to actually throw the bat down right baseline.

[video=youtube_share;VsI7jYpHqsY]http://youtu.be/VsI7jYpHqsY[/video]

Good points.

Just make sure you are turning the barrel and not simply flinging the barrel.

 

[gophert]

I like the idea of throwing the bat and used to have players do that when I was coaching 10U and 12U. However, I will caution that when younger kids throw stuff (bats, can lids, frisbees), they tend to let the back elbow get ahead of their hands, which might encourage bat drag. Gotta be careful w/ that, IMO.

I totally agree with this. My DD had "everything" wrong so we basically started from scratch. We started with feet and worked up. Once she had a basic idea of what her legs were supposed to do, we then worked on on the upper.

 

[bullethead]

Few thoughts. For me, it was very difficult (as in I didn't get it at all) to understand what the pros were doing while I was trying things out with my daughters -10 drop bat. Until I quit swinging my daughters pixie stick and bought a wood bat - all kinds of crazy things proposed on these boards oftentimes made sense. Go get you one and get her one. Then you need to figure things out before even bringing them up to her That way you can keep explaining the concept in a myriad of ways (based on your feel) until you hit on a description that resonates with her.

For this whipping the bat (turning the barrel) concept - I would spend some time thinking about how heavy that big end of the bat is and how can you get it up to speed as efficiently as possible by the time it gets around to your front foot (roughly contact point). You can muscle a 10 drop, but have to get a little more creative with an extra 10 oz's - at least I did

If you hold the wood bat with your lead hand thumb and forefinger in a vertical position and then let it fall rearward. It accelerates ok by the time it has gone 180 degrees (rotated from up to down). If you take your top hand, while doing what I just described and give it a slight nudge at the optimal point (a la slamming a car door) - you can see the barrel is really sailing by the time it has rotated down 180 degrees. Further, you haven't really had to exert a whole heck of a lot of effort to get it cruising - you have just taken advantage of the weight of the barrel and nature's gravitational force and provided a little additional force.

Now get a little orange safety cone (goal is to hit a low ball so that you mimic what I described as closely as possible with a normal grip). As you learn to apply this concept on a low ball, you will find you can eventually move it up all the way the strike zone.

She has to learn to feel the head of the barrel in order to learn how to whip it or flip it (or turn it). The closer you can get to "from vertical to down" - the easier it is grasp. At least it was for me and my two kids get it.

This clip (and one I don't have of Pujols standing in on deck circle violently flipping his barrel practically straight down) are what flipped the light bulb on for me. 2012-11-02_1340 - bullethead's library

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Few thoughts. For me, it was very difficult (as in I didn't get it at all) to understand what the pros were doing while I was trying things out with my daughters -10 drop bat. Until I quit swinging my daughters pixie stick and bought a wood bat - all kinds of crazy things proposed on these boards oftentimes made sense. Go get you one and get her one. Then you need to figure things out before even bringing them up to her That way you can keep explaining the concept in a myriad of ways (based on your feel) until you hit on a description that resonates with her.

Nice!

She has to learn to feel the head of the barrel in order to learn how to whip it or flip it (or turn it).

That mentality works for many.

Bustos swung a 30-oz bat for years in games ..... and that certainly helps build the mentality you speak of.

 

[jpga13]

Are we making any progress or still clueless?

 

[jpga13]

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Are we making any progress or still clueless?

No, I don't see progress in terms of proper hand usage.

What exactly are you instructing be done different?

 

[jpga13]

No, I don't see progress in terms of proper hand usage.

What exactly are you instructing be done different?

I read lots of posts and we watched lots of videos trying to figure it out but to no avail. We did do a bat weighted heavily on the end and did some super low tee stuff to help her feel the barrel and to throw it out to the ball. I just am not seeing or comprehending what I am looking for so I have laid off the instruction so as not to create more problems. I guess we can work on her footwork until we understand. Thanks again for your assistance!

 

[BadMonkeys]

How about some Happy Gilmore and Rocking the U? A better upward tic on the coil/ stretch? Is that back foot wanting to point towards the catcher? You can ask these guys but I would think that makes it harder to build coil/stretch. And I would mix the height and positions of that tee.