Power hitter Becomes Blooper Hitter

[julray]

Wish I had some recent video, but I don't. She had an indoor tournament this weekend, it was impossible to get a good angle of her batting. Here's are some pros and cons of her current batting performance compared to a couple of years ago

Pros
* Much harder to strike out at plate
*Ability to hit the change up
* Works pitchers late in the count, see's tons of pitches
*Higher batting average
*Better eye and patience (believe this has more to do with experience than technique)

Cons
* squared up hits aren't travelling like they use to.. line drives seems to have so much back spin and they die when they hit the ground
* Not many extra base hits
*at age 11 could hit ball 200ft, age 14 not coming close even when squaring ball... not just game, front toss as well

Guys what can cause this kind of drastic change, please don't say better pitching because I am seeing same results with me front tossing. She's obviously stronger and I believe bat speed is much better. I'm lost at this point. There are obviously some advantages in her hitting right now, and I believe this is a result in better sequence. I see girls using her bat with much less bat speed hitting the ball further than her. Coaches continually tell me she has so much bat speed, and her at bats prove that.. she never gets beaten with a good fastball, if anything she hits faster pitchers better. IDK anymore, I'm lost with this.

Will post a video as soon as I am able to. Only thing I can think of right now is she's not staying behind and through the ball, more slicing across it

BTW, in a batting cage when doing front toss I need to stand behind a screen or she will kill me, not time to react at all. She hits the ball very hard, people watching comment on it. A lot of people stop and watch her hit with younger DD's and tell them they should hit like that. How can this not translate to distance on the playing field??

 

[Pigskinguru34]

Well hard to say then without seeing the video because the obvious is pitching as daughter killed the ball 10,11,12 with doubles and triples in the gaps now leads in batting average and hits but mainly singles and some doubles. pitching gets so much better as typically at those early years it is fastballs and changeups and by 14 then you go screwball, rise, drop, curve, and now even getting a drop curve, scrise and just more spin and movement on the ball so those balls over the middle of the plate are just not there like they used to be

 

[softball dad 6]

DD went through something similar. She was continually being pitched outside since she was a left handed power hitter who crowded the plate. Everyone had preached letting the ball travel, let it get deep etc so much that she was late on everything. This also led to her jamming herself on inside pitches because she was really late on them. She video taped herself during front toss and I showed her some videos from this website of where batters with high level swings were making contact. She saw the difference and self corrected.
The results have been night and day difference. She has all her power back.

 

[julray]

Well hard to say then without seeing the video because the obvious is pitching as daughter killed the ball 10,11,12 with doubles and triples in the gaps now leads in batting average and hits but mainly singles and some doubles. pitching gets so much better as typically at those early years it is fastballs and changeups and by 14 then you go screwball, rise, drop, curve, and now even getting a drop curve, scrise and just more spin and movement on the ball so those balls over the middle of the plate are just not there like they used to be

Thanks for your response, but you missed the part where I said "Guys what can cause this kind of drastic change, please don't say better pitching because I am seeing same results with me front tossing "

 

[_MIA_]

I see girls using her bat with much less bat speed hitting the ball further than her.

I won't get into the other stuff without video but with regards to this one..the exit velocity of a softball (and hence,combined with the angle it comes off, distance traveled) is a function of only 3 things. Where you hit it on the bat, how fast the bat is moving and how fast the ball is moving. So either she isn't squaring balls up as well as these other girls or her bat speed isn't as good...it isn't any more complicated than that. Why that is will have to be left till after video is shown.

 

[julray]

DD went through something similar. She was continually being pitched outside since she was a left handed power hitter who crowded the plate. Everyone had preached letting the ball travel, let it get deep etc so much that she was late on everything. This also led to her jamming herself on inside pitches because she was really late on them. She video taped herself during front toss and I showed her some videos from this website of where batters with high level swings were making contact. She saw the difference and self corrected.
The results have been night and day difference. She has all her power back.

Hmmm.. I was actually considering the same thing. She always pulled the ball hard, struggled on the outside pitch, has been told for the last 2 years, let it get deep by me and coach. she could be getting jammed which would explain why I am not seeing the same thing off the tee.

 

[_MIA_]

Hmmm.. I was actually considering the same thing. She always pulled the ball hard, struggled on the outside pitch, has been told for the last 2 years, let it get deep by me and coach. she could be getting jammed which would explain why I am not seeing the same thing off the tee.

Have you asked if she is getting jammed? Hitters typically know when they are squaring up balls.That said, I think my kid lies when I ask her that so your mileage may vary.. 

 

[julray]

Have you asked if she is getting jammed? Hitters typically know when they are squaring up balls.That said, I think my kid lies when I ask her that so your mileage may vary.. 

PC review , Stinging hands, vibrations etc.... ring a bell, . Honestly it may not be this.. but it's a very good place to start.

I agree with your original response but it doesn't add up.. at 11 with slower pitching, she had good enough bat speed to hit the ball 200ft. At 14 her bat speed is better and pitching is faster as well, she's not hitting it as far. Take pitching out of the picture and get back to front toss and after being preached to letting the ball get deep, I can see how she's getting jammed. With today's technology and lack of feedback how's a girl supposed to know if she's jammed. Maybe the feeling of getting jammed is what she perceives as normal because she's never got jammed before... And with her recent experience of using the PC and others talking about hands stinging as well, makes me think she was getting jammed all along but didn't really know it.

She's small, but strong enough to muscle a ball out of the infield in front of the outfield, hence why BA has climbed but extra base hits have plummeted. She has been hitting balls hard to Oppo.. this makes sense as well

 

[_MIA_]

Stinging hands, vibrations etc.... ring a bell,

Well there is your answer..now the question is why is she getting jammed all the time? Video will likely show the reason..probably too much hands to the ball... ..I kid

 

[softball dad 6]

I probably used a bad term when I said she was getting jammed. She was keeping her back arm and therefore hands too close to her body. This was the only way to make contact on the inside pitch when she was late. Not sure what the correct terminology is for that but it did not allow her to square the ball up.
We fixed the problem by doing tee work and making sure we placed the tee in the proper spot for contact based on pitch location. I think it is important to have a plate for the visual cue of where to place the tee and therefore where to make contact. Once she saw the difference in where the ball was going she made the necessary adjustments herself when we moved to front toss.