Slump Busting?

[daave266]

So my 16 yo DD has always been a good hitter. Not a ton of power but very consistent. Her swing hasn’t changed but this fall she has just not been her normal self. Where she was once in top 3 or 4 of her team hitting in the .400’s she’s towards the bottom in the low .200’s.

She went to a new team with a few of last years team mates, and she is playing against some tougher competition so I can certainly attribute some to that. But I also think after the 1st couple of poor tournaments her confidence is taking a hit.

I know there’s not an easy button, but wanting to get some thoughts on maybe some of your DD’s struggles and how they were able to overcome them.

Thanks
Dave


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[steve1244]

So my 16 yo DD has always been a good hitter. Not a ton of power but very consistent. Her swing hasn’t changed but this fall she has just not been her normal self. Where she was once in top 3 or 4 of her team hitting in the .400’s she’s towards the bottom in the low .200’s.

She went to a new team with a few of last years team mates, and she is playing against some tougher competition so I can certainly attribute some to that. But I also think after the 1st couple of poor tournaments her confidence is taking a hit.

I know there’s not an easy button, but wanting to get some thoughts on maybe some of your DD’s struggles and how they were able to overcome them.

Thanks
Dave


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My 12U is going through the same thing. FWIW, I'm attributing it to the changes. New coaches with new input, new teammates, starting from scratch and really wanting to prove herself to her new coaches and teammates all equates to a lot of stuff in her head and a lot of mental noise that wasn't there before, which in turn contributes to more difficulty relaxing and being loose, which is, if not the key to hitting if your fundamentals are good, but a big key. She has good mechanics and puts in work outside of practice, and we're just continuing to do what we've always done. Her coaches see her hitting in practice and know her swing is solid, and they've seen this a bunch of times in the past, so everybody is riding it out, letting the reps happen and letting her settle in. Good luck!

 

[JayW]

My 12U is going through the same thing. FWIW, I'm attributing it to the changes. New coaches with new input, new teammates, starting from scratch and really wanting to prove herself to her new coaches and teammates all equates to a lot of stuff in her head and a lot of mental noise that wasn't there before, which in turn contributes to more difficulty relaxing and being loose, which is, if not the key to hitting if your fundamentals are good, but a big key. She has good mechanics and puts in work outside of practice, and we're just continuing to do what we've always done. Her coaches see her hitting in practice and know her swing is solid, and they've seen this a bunch of times in the past, so everybody is riding it out, letting the reps happen and letting her settle in. Good luck!

Sometimes batting average doesn’t tell the whole story. Sometimes you might be surprised to see that stats such as quality at bats and hard hit ball % might show a hitter is doing better than the average might indicate.

 

[Eric F]

So my 16 yo DD has always been a good hitter. Not a ton of power but very consistent. Her swing hasn’t changed but this fall she has just not been her normal self. Where she was once in top 3 or 4 of her team hitting in the .400’s she’s towards the bottom in the low .200’s.

She went to a new team with a few of last years team mates, and she is playing against some tougher competition so I can certainly attribute some to that. But I also think after the 1st couple of poor tournaments her confidence is taking a hit.

I know there’s not an easy button, but wanting to get some thoughts on maybe some of your DD’s struggles and how they were able to overcome them.

Is she getting beat by pitching (Ks, weak balls in play), or by the defense making plays on hard hit balls? If she's squaring up the ball well, but it seems to always go right to a fielder, don't panic. That's just the way the game works sometimes. If she's getting beat by better pitching, it's time to get working on making adjustments to stay competitive.

For my DD (17yo), it generally comes down to getting a good amount of reps during the week. If she's not getting her work in, we see it directly affect her weekend performance.

 

[Rolling Hard]

The better you breathe the more you relax. The more you relax the better you see. The better you see the better you hit.

If you have video of her hitting well have her watch it. Find a good college player with similar swing and built. Watch video.

When practicing front toss have her go thru her whole routine starting with getting sign from the coach. Make sure her routine includes a deep (diaphragm) breath and a visualization of a line drive. After every swing ask her to grade her hit. (A, B+, C-) Ask her, how well did she see the ball? When see grades herself a A or A-. Talk about it. What made it an A. Tell her OK, lets make more As.

If "she has always been a good hitter", then the problem is most likely between the ears. Confidence, believing, breathing and visualizing.

 

[Eric F]

The better you breathe the more you relax. The more you relax the better you see. The better you see the better you hit.

If you have video of her hitting well have her watch it. Find a good college player with similar swing and built. Watch video.

When practicing front toss have her go thru her whole routine starting with getting sign from the coach. Make sure her routine includes a deep (diaphragm) breath and a visualization of a line drive. After every swing ask her to grade her hit. (A, B+, C-) Ask her, how well did she see the ball? When see grades herself a A or A-. Talk about it. What made it an A. Tell her OK, lets make more As.

If "she has always been a good hitter", then the problem is most likely between the ears. Confidence, believing, breathing and visualizing.

Very good points!

My DD recently had an unusually poor weekend at the plate. She was coming off a wrist injury, a week of being sick, and hadn't touched a bat in 2 weeks. One of the first things she said in her self-review was "I'm not seeing the ball well, and don't feel comfortable". Thankfully, she got some good work in the following week and got things back on track.

 

[Lance Steckler]

i teach my teams to all develop pre-swing routines to help keep everything as easy as possible. Relaxed players = hit better.

Sometimes they are seeing the ball floating up there like a beach ball and others it looks like a BB at Mach 4. When they press and try to do too much, that's when it gets worse. The squeezing the bat too tight, the swinging for fences and the magic "7 run homer", or trying to carry team themselves..... all lead to bad things at the plate.

Bottom line - I want them hitting the ball hard and getting on base. and yes sometimes hitting the ball hard is still an out.

 

[tim_s]

DD1 went through similar last season - several factors, not the least of which was a car accident in mid february, played into it


it took a lot of work, but we found it had to be the right work, too

eventually we went back to basics.......we started working 8 of the core, swing build type tee drills i taught way back in 12u......we worked on pre bat routine, and tried to make that part of as many swings in practice as we could.......tried to build some confidence in the swing, but also tried to get her to think about the routine so she would stop thinking about the results

it was a long road, and we really had to focus on little victories along the way......it's hard when you're playing good comp at 18u, because sometimes the pitcher is just better that at bat, or you smoke a ball and defense makes the play, so you've got to find the good in what does happen......

for her we had to put the work in and focus on getting better but at the same time we had to try and remove some of the focus on results and some of the worry about having good at bats......it's a real catch 22

 

[Mike-Coach Q]

When a hitter is doing well they usually point out 3 main things.
1. I’m seeing the ball really well
2. My swing feels great and I’m connected to it
3. My mind is clear, I know what to do in the moment.

Rushing , confusion, and too much self talk or negative focus. Get back to basics . When Maddie has those moments we usually do stop at contact drills. She views them as warm up but I see them as a reset to the 3 things listed above. She starts seeing the ball to the point of contact. Something about stop at contact drills gets you to feel connected better to the bat and swing. It clears you mind because the feeling of 10 stop at contact swings feels like a huge accomplishment. Now, Maddie will sometimes on her own do the stop at contact drill between swings. That huge because when we first started them she hated doing them and thought it was a waste of her time…..

 

[AComet09]

We went through this at the end of October into the first two weeks of November. For my DD, she simply lost her confidence. She went from putting the ball in play pretty much every at bat to watching strike 3 go by multiple times. Even hitting a game winner in the Championship game couldn't get her back on track. I would like to tell you that there is an easy fix, but there isn't. For my DD, I just had to find the right way to talk with her. She had lost her aggressiveness at the plate and once I found the magic words to make things click for her, she was able to get back on track.