I am considering having my daughter 14U learn to slap. I am looking for some input on the Advantages and Disadvantages and also on who are good candidates to slap. Is this something that you do 100% of the time? If you do slap do you also have to hit left handed? Any information on the subject and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Slapping! Advantages vs Disadvantages
- Thread starter cthur
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This should give you some insight. My dd's favorite player is Natasha Whatley, not only can she slap, but she can put it over the fence. She takes what the defense gives her. Slapping is just another weapon and if you have spend and it puts a bunch of stress on a defense. It really kills a defense when you slap the first time up and then the defense changes and you hit one off the RF fence with the outfield playing in. You can just look at the coaches faces and see they have no idea what to do.
- Jul 28, 2008
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Absolutely!
I give this mixed reviews. The second best slapper on my HS team was a straight up RH hitter. She learned everything easy. If your daughter is young enough and you have the time to invest, you can teach her to hit left handed. The skills are separate! The skills are separate!
Foot work is fundamentally different, and emphasis is fundamentally different from hitting away.
I never coached players as young as 14U, so perhaps some others might chime in and help. If you daughter is small and fast, or will be, then it is a good option. It is a premium skill. Not at the level of pitching, or even catching, but still valuable. Another issue is fear. Does she have a fear of the ball? The last issue would be coordination. Is she fairly coordinated?
I teach the footwork and "contact" techniques separate. Here is a video that shows a really good diagram of the footwork for both drag bunting and slap-hitting. The footwork is the same. Teach this separately, and I think first. Hopefully at her age it will peak her interest.
Softball Fastpitch Slap Hitting & Bunting - Coaching training - YouTube
After she learns the footwork, then you can go to drills. I will give you a few here. There might be some on youtube, but I had not interest until I read your post and found the above video immediately.
DRAG BUNT -
Drill 1: Place a bucket out in front of home plate just behind the imaginary line across the front of the front of the batters box. Have your daughter place her left foot at the front corner (closest to home plate) of the batters box. Then either toss or use a pitching machine to toss balls to her glove held over the bucket (DON'T REACH). Not too fast at first. She drops the balls in the bucket, and receives another pitch. Tell her not to stab at the ball or reach for it. Regardless of whether she catches RH or LH, the glove is ON the LH!
Drill 2: Now place a bat in her hands. Emphasize - 1) elbows down 2) bat at the top of the strike zone (at arm pits or a little higher) 3) use the knees to go down after the ball 4) catch the ball, don't push!
Place the bucket 1 foot further out in front of the plate. At this point, toss or use the pitching machine to throw balls. She tries to bunt the balls softly, catching the ball with the bat and letting it drop in the bucket.
Drill 3: Next, do the footwork in the video and have her catch the balls, keeping them in the glove, breaking toward first after the catch, and then returning them to you.
Drill 4: Put a bat in her hands. Dad, have your DD or student assume the proper position in the front of the box, bat out in front and just above the strike-zone. Walk up to her bat, facing it at the proper angle (toward the SS), and take the bat out of her hands. Hand it back and have her go to her batting position in the box. Have her do the footwork and HAND the bat to you. Don't change your hand position. You are trying to develop muscle memory and have her hand it to you in the proper position at the top of the strike zone. Then after a coupe of reps, have her hand off the bat while breaking toward 1st base. She should hand the bat softly, just as she should bunt the ball. If she pushes it, it will hurt your hands. Do a little screaming for effect
top of the zone, soft hands, the hand off simulating dropping the bat.Drill 5: Keep the bat in the hands. Do the foot-work, then stop on the second step. Pitch the ball and do the same as in drill number 2 above. Bunt, then drop the bat and run.
Drill 6: Full motion footwork and bunts (the bucket is removed) and she runs a few steps toward first base. A cone can be place down the line, to force her outside the cone toward foul territory and in the batter's lane which starts at 30 feet.
SLAPPING -
The footwork is very important here. The left foot steps at the front of the box supinated (turned out) toward the shortstop. In other words on the second stop with the left foot, the toe or foot is pointed at the SS. This keeps the shoulder open, away from the pitcher and allows contact on outside pitches, as well as emphasizes placing the ball in play on the left side of the infield. She can still turn on inside pitches. (I might point out a slapper's vulnerability will be the change-up, but also inside pitches at the knees. A "closed" shoulder position would be facing square to the pitcher)
Drill 7: Use a batting-T. I place the batting-T along a chain-link fence line, about 3 feet past the end of the fence. You can paint an imaginary batters box with a can of spray paint if you want. Your DD faces the fence, then does the proper footwork to strike whiffle balls or real a real ball off the T. The fence forces her to keep her bat and shoulder back, open to the pitcher! This is going to take a lot of repetitions. At this point she should be trying to hit the ball "on-top" driving it into the dirt or grass, and toward the SS.
Drill 8: Go to the machine. Go as slow as needed, and hit live balls. Emphasize the left toe placement, hitting the top-half of the ball, and lastly getting out of the box as the least of the issues to learn.
* The bunting will come within 2 days pretty quickly if you follow this plan. She can be efficient in a week. Please, please, if anything doesn't develop with proper skill, slow down or go back. Coach from where she IS AT, not where you want her to be.
* There are a lot of over-throws on slap bunts and hits. I don't teach any girl to do the "peel-off" of first base technique (where they turn toward the foul fence). I teach them to run through first base and stop on the foul line. I think the reason is obvious.
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Who is a candidate? For moving from the right side to the left, the best candidates have speed -- 3.0 seconds to first or less. Usually they're not particularly prolific or powerful hitters from the right side, because if they were you'd probably let them keep hitting from the right. I think all natural lefties should learn to slap too because it gives them more dimensions but it's not necessarily what you'd focus on.
Should they go to the left 100% of the time? In my opinion, yes. In fact, when someone brings their daughter to me to learn slapping I always tell them there will be none of this two strikes then back to the right side. You're either in or you're out. I will also quote the story (which is more legend than truth) about Cortez burning his ships when he arrived in the New World to demonstrate the commitment to what he was doing. I tell the girls if they want to slap to burn the ships.
Yes, they also need to learn to swing away from the left. Slappers are far easier to defend if they can only hit short. But if they can do more they can take advantage of what the defense gives them as was said above. Even if they're not Natasha Watley.
I converted a 14U righty to a slapper in the last offseason. She played on the team I coached both years of 14U, and started as my student this year. Her first year of 14U as a righty she had the fewest at bats on our team and hit sub-.200. As a lefty this past year she hit around .325, had an OBP of more than .400, and reached on error a few times. By the end of the season she even had a couple of swing away hits, which got her pretty pumped. She now has a skill pretty much every coach wants. Because as they say, speed never has a slump. I expect she'll really turn some heads next HS and summer season.
It was a lot of work for her, but it paid off. If your daughter has the speed, and the desire, I'd say go for it.
Should they go to the left 100% of the time? In my opinion, yes. In fact, when someone brings their daughter to me to learn slapping I always tell them there will be none of this two strikes then back to the right side. You're either in or you're out. I will also quote the story (which is more legend than truth) about Cortez burning his ships when he arrived in the New World to demonstrate the commitment to what he was doing. I tell the girls if they want to slap to burn the ships.
Yes, they also need to learn to swing away from the left. Slappers are far easier to defend if they can only hit short. But if they can do more they can take advantage of what the defense gives them as was said above. Even if they're not Natasha Watley.
I converted a 14U righty to a slapper in the last offseason. She played on the team I coached both years of 14U, and started as my student this year. Her first year of 14U as a righty she had the fewest at bats on our team and hit sub-.200. As a lefty this past year she hit around .325, had an OBP of more than .400, and reached on error a few times. By the end of the season she even had a couple of swing away hits, which got her pretty pumped. She now has a skill pretty much every coach wants. Because as they say, speed never has a slump. I expect she'll really turn some heads next HS and summer season.
It was a lot of work for her, but it paid off. If your daughter has the speed, and the desire, I'd say go for it.
Ken, I agree with everything you are saying, but, I taught some of my quicker girls to slap from the left who were pretty good hitters. Are they easier to defend? Yes, as you said, but I think it takes a little time to decide if a girl can be successful HITTING AWAY from the left, or if they will stick with it of their own accord. I fear scaring off parents and kids. As for a natural lefty, the last girl I got a scholarship was a natural lefty. I taught her the slapping game. 2.5 seconds to first. That was .2 seconds faster than any girl I had timed at 18U Nationals that year. However, she was short, about 5'3" and athletic. She began lifting weights after she got the scholarship and bulked up. After gaining about 12-15 lbs of weight room mass, she got down to first in 3.2 seconds. I told her and her mom not to do it. AND, she never hit a home-run. Unfortunately I had just been hired to coach at the University where she went, and I looked a little like a fool.
I always considered a flexible time of one ball season to decide both on their part and mine. If you see progress, then I kept them on the left side. If they didn't, then I told them to give it up as a general option. You may teach younger girls than I did. I never coached any group less than HS, 18U, or University. I think younger girls might be easier to mold. What is your opinion?
Thanks for all of valuable input. My Daughter is about 5'2" and is a Freshman this year and will be playing her 2nd year of 14U this year as well. She is not fast but not slow and will have to get her time to first base. She is doing some speed drills in the offseason to try and get down to that 3.0 sec magic number. I think I am going to work with her and her hitting coach over the next month and see if there is potential for both batting Leftie and Slapping. If it come along well, we will pursue it further and if not we will go back to focusing on making her the best right handed batter she can be and maybe try again next fall.
My DD is also a freshman, about your daughter's size - 5'2.5", 113 lbs. 2.9 to first. Her goal is 2.7 by Jr Year. We switched her to leftie 1st year 12U. She just finished 2nd year 14U. She swings away and slaps. She batted .386 last year, .453 OBP. 3 HR, 6 3B and 14 2B. Whatever power she had as a rightie, she now has as a leftie, it just takes time to develop, so you have to be patient. Her 1st year as a leftie, she only batted about .200, but made contact well enough to move runners. She usually bats 1 or 2 on her summer team. She's batting 3rd on the HS Varsity.
My favoritie of all her hits last year was in a game in which her first 2 AB the coach had his fielders all come in a couple of steps. She hit doubles over the CF head both AB. Her 3rd AB, the coach played her neutral IF and moved OF back. She drag bunted down the 3rd base line for a hit.
Given time, it can be a powerful tool. I agree with Steve, if she doesn't get the footwork fairly quickly, or never buys in, then stay rightie.
My favoritie of all her hits last year was in a game in which her first 2 AB the coach had his fielders all come in a couple of steps. She hit doubles over the CF head both AB. Her 3rd AB, the coach played her neutral IF and moved OF back. She drag bunted down the 3rd base line for a hit.
Given time, it can be a powerful tool. I agree with Steve, if she doesn't get the footwork fairly quickly, or never buys in, then stay rightie.
I have never coached 14U. I have trained 13 and 14 year olds in slapping. I think that generally this age group increases running speed with physical development. If she can run 3.0 I think that would be fine. She is never going to be a home-run hitter. I am guessing and welcome opinion, but if she is 13 or 14 now, and can run 3.0, I think she can get it down to 2.8 or so with development. These are just guesses on my part, though I have seen it happen. As age groups go up, generally less athletic girls drop out, increasing averages. Specific positions vary in this regard.
I mentioned somewhere that in 1992 the fastest girl I timed at 18U Nationals that year was 2.7. I admit it really was a slow group that year. I watched all of the top 10 or 12 teams play, but I was scouting players for the Univ. of Virgina. Virgina is a tough SAT school, I think it was about 1250+, so this led me to seek out some teams that would be outliers for talent. I found a girl from New Hampshire that was 2.7 consistently. She was left handed, but not a slapper, and the best athlete there of the 82 teams. She played an outstanding SS, hit with power, was fast, and not one other D1 coach saw her play. They were all following the top 6 teams around, with 90% of the coaches chasing 10% of the players.
