Power hitter now poppoing up

[fastpitchcoach]

How can I correct a power hitters swing that now has her popping up almost every at bat? She does not loop her swing, so that does not appear to be the cause. As a RH batter, she used to pull everything down the left field foul line, now she is just popping the ball up to the left side of the field.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Probably, someone tried to fix something in her swing, when they should have left her alone. Do you have any videos?

Is her bat dead? (worn out).

 

[fastpitchcoach]

Unfortunately no vids, and she is using a newer bat (maybe 20 games)

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Then, without knowing too much about her, I would getting her working on the tee and driving through the ball - avoiding the bottom half of it.

 

[kls_hittingacademy]

My guess with out seeing any video is her swing has flattened out and not getting on plain soon enough and she is cutting the bottom half of the ball instead of meeting the plain of the pitch.

 

[Mark H]

No video = wild guesses sometimes called the WAG technique. Some of the more experienced can employ the SWAG technique as an upgrade. Seriously, your question is the same as me calling the doctor and telling him I have chest pains doc, what should I take?

 

[SBFAMILY]

If hitting were life threatening you might have a point...why would you call a doctor anyway? Have you ever tried to talk to a doctor during visiting hours? You usually just get their nurse and you are wasting valuable time! You call 911! My doctor says take an aspirin if you do get chest pain however I have cardiac problems already. The 911 responder usually ask a series of questions after telling you help is on the way or in your case could you send me an EKG or video so I can see how much pain you are in or are you turning blue?

Mark some of these parents do not have video capability and are looking for suggestions. And it sounds like you know what you are doing however I do not have any video to confirm that. If I were one of your students or your daughter and called you from a game and said, "Coach/ Dad I seem to be popping the ball up a lot! Do you have any suggestions on what to do?" Would you tell me to send you a video? I know I am being sarcastic but would you tell her your swing is at 8 frames verses 5, work on getting it to 5 and take two aspirin and call me in the morning?

 

[SBFAMILY]

How can I correct a power hitters swing that now has her popping up almost every at bat? She does not loop her swing, so that does not appear to be the cause. As a RH batter, she used to pull everything down the left field foul line, now she is just popping the ball up to the left side of the field.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Video would be nice so lets supply some logic without it. If the back elbow is getting ahead of the hand as it lowers down into the slot you will have the appearance of what some term as dipping or dropping the back shoulder.
To get an idea of what it looks like get the back elbow into your hitting position and then take your lead hand and pull your elbow forward and your front shoulder will tilt upwards as the back shoulder goes down. We want the hand to stay on top of the elbow as we lower the elbow into the slot or what we say is stay strong on the back side.
A very important point is both elbows must work as a unit or work simultaneously and when the decision is made to swing the back elbow begins to lower and the lead elbow begins making a good first move of about 2 to 4 inches forward and up and we want the hitter to feel pulling the bat or whipping it from behind their head. We have our kids make rabbit ears with the top hand and place it palm down and place our lead elbow on top. The hitter loads and goes to touch toe and separates and then we say. "Where the elbow was the hand will be." As the lead elbow begins to move forward we stay in contact with the hand our elbow was resting on and continue to move forward and the lead elbow goes forward first and then gradually goes up slightly and where the elbow was resting the lead hand is now there. Of course the hitters will make adjustments however they get the idea the elbow does not go straight up nor does it stay level as the hands are always above the plane of the pitch.

To get the hitter to feel what it is like to be connected get a piece of rope or stretch cord and knot the end and stand behind them as to the back shoulder not their back. Have them load and go to toe touch and separate the hands rearward slightly and then take out the slack in the rope or cord. The knob of the bat in this case the rope is inside the path of the ball and the hands should be going forward towards the pitcher. This should feel very strong to the hitter and the lead elbow is slightly flexed and is not straightened out. Make sure the back elbow clears the body. Have the hitter get the elbow in closer to the body and they will no longer feel as strong and you will feel the difference in their ability to apply force to the rope or cord. This should give the hitter the feeling they have lost in my opinion and may be the reason they are under the ball is the lead elbow is not pulling forward or making that good first move. The opposite to this would be grounders and we would most likely see the top hand pushing verses staying strong on the back side.

Another drill for the lead hand we like is what we term the hand over drill. Take the top hand and turn it upside down and as you get to contact pull the bat with the lead arm elbow out of the top hand and finish over the shoulder. This helps with extension in our opinion and gets them to make that good first move of leading with the lead arm elbow. Then when they put both hands back on the bat and hit they get that little smile as if to say I got it now!

We have a mirror and glue a hook onto the mirror and it is angled upwards and we have a cord with two whiffle balls threaded through it. We applied red electrical tape to the bat in the sweet spot area and put a home plate directly underneath the cord and they line up off the plate and begin to swing very slowly and as the bat enters the big zone we slide a whiffle ball to that position and where it leaves the big zone we slide the other whiffle ball. The distance between the two ball is our big zone. Albert P has a 60 inch big zone and Bustos has a 72 inch big zone. most kids will be between 35 and 45 ices and the more they work on keep the red electric tape in the big zone while seeing themselves do it the bigger their big zone gets.

 

[Mark H]

If hitting were life threatening you might have a point...why would you call a doctor anyway? Have you ever tried to talk to a doctor during visiting hours? You usually just get their nurse and you are wasting valuable time! You call 911! My doctor says take an aspirin if you do get chest pain however I have cardiac problems already. The 911 responder usually ask a series of questions after telling you help is on the way or in your case could you send me an EKG or video so I can see how much pain you are in or are you turning blue?

Mark some of these parents do not have video capability and are looking for suggestions. And it sounds like you know what you are doing however I do not have any video to confirm that. If I were one of your students or your daughter and called you from a game and said, "Coach/ Dad I seem to be popping the ball up a lot! Do you have any suggestions on what to do?" Would you tell me to send you a video? I know I am being sarcastic but would you tell her your swing is at 8 frames verses 5, work on getting it to 5 and take two aspirin and call me in the morning?

If I worked with her I'd probably have a good idea and a good conversation about why she was popping up. If I had not worked with her, I'd tell her I'd need to see her in person or on video. If I start using the SWAG method based on her words then I picture something different than she is describing because we don't have a common language about hitting, not having worked together and she pictures something different than I mean and I'm more likely to do harm than help.

In the meantime, mom or dad needs to either find a competent instructor or begin their own course of study. Siggy's site and Englishbey's materials would be my suggestion. Handing them a series of drills without the understanding of the end goal is not a good idea ime as any drill can and likely will be perverted based on previously held ideas about what a swing should be. Again, like giving them the keys to the pharmacy along with some handwritten notes about what will cure which symptoms.

 

[fastpitchcoach]

Thanks all for for your great advice. The comedic response was worthwhile as well! I will take this info back to practice this week, and see if it can help her out.