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[mkral]

OK guru's and I mean that with complete respect!!
DD is having trouble getting out ahead of everything and letting her hands get out front. Going from TB to school ball has been a tough transition. Slower pitchers are really making the transition tough. Her coach just screams at her to hit to right field and hit the top of the ball. I now know what they mean by saying the right field stuff to her. They just want her to wait longer.
Anyone have some good drills to get a kid to stay back longer, let the ball get deeper? It is easy to tell her what she needs to do and she will tell me that she it trying. But the fact remains that once in the box she hits everything even to her front foot or in front of her front foot. She is still batting .469 but she is better than that and she is getting frustrated.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[mkral]

I was going to post a video but it says it is invalid.

 

[straightleg]

One thing you could do is hit off a deep tee. Gives less room for the body to work in.



SL

 

[SBFAMILY]

Here are a few.
One set up two pitching machines side by side. One fast one slow. She won't know which you feed the ball out of. Kind of like a change up drill.
Second one from a D1 coach, if you do not have two pitching machines. Soft toss to her, but have a ball on the outside corner about where a change up would be located . You can use a T, or I use a jug that I have 1/2 full of sand and it sets about at the lower edge of the strike zone. I then soft toss to her and when I say change up I do not toss the ball out of my hand, but she has to go down and hit the ball off the T. Just use duct tape on top of the jug to keep sand in. Ball set on top of duct tape, just like the top of a T.
One I learned from Bustos. Only works if you are on concrete, even though I built a portable concrete device. Hold ball out at top of strike zone and instead of hitting in on the way down, you have to hit it after it bounces once off the concrete.

 

[mkral]

Good stuff guys!! We will do some of these this afternoon and see where we end up tonight.

 

[mkral]

OK from time to time I must make things a lot more difficult then they need to be. After a terrible Friday and Saturday morning at the plate in HS play we had to go and play in the USSSA 13U Iowa State tournament. She struggled at first as she had so much information running through her head. As I watched her swing one thing screamed at me. She is way to wide in her stance. She is not a strider but she would start about 2 foot wider then her hips. It even looked awkward. I have no clue why this did not jump out to me sooner. I asked her to narrow her stance up and she started to hit the ball like she used to. Her last game was very nice with several hard hit shots. One was for a triple. I think we are starting to figure a few things out.
Her team the Eastern Iowa Barracuda's won state by the way going 4 - 0 on the weekend and outscoring the opponents 31 - 5. It was a great ending to what has been a very trying week.
Thanks for all the help!!

 

[pstein]

Coil "around" the back hip. Learn that the shift IS the swing.

Feel all the weight on the back leg when she starts the swing.

 

[mkral]

Thanks pstein. Do you have a good way to teach that? Every time I ask her if she feels something she says "No". It is very frustrating.

 

[straightleg]

When I work with girls the dad tells me, they say no to me



SL

 

[pstein]

Thanks pstein. Do you have a good way to teach that? Every time I ask her if she feels something she says "No". It is very frustrating.

Pull with your lower back/pelvic region until you reach a reasonably athletic position. Get to a vertical spine angle and a good balance of the weight on both feet. Have her pigeon toe the rear foot. For learning purposes, I'd recommend a Luis Gonzalez style of doing it (45 degrees). Then, turn the rear hip towards the catcher. Not the whole leg, just the hip. Since the leg is set in a stable position, it'll cause a coil.

Now, once she gets used to the feel, you can do it however you want. But the rear leg must always be stable, and a very slight internal rotation can help with stability. However, if you have a reasonably athletic stance through the pull towards the dugout of the lower back, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to coil without the pigeon toe.