Swing hard vs making contact

[Sweet Lou]

I need to clarify. She makes contact all the time. She rarely strikes out. She is sacrificing her power during game swings to make contact during the game. I would rather see her K's swinging go up in order for her to hit ball hard. It's her mental approach at the plate.

In the cage, she hits hard. Games, she slows her bat speed down and hits weak grounders. Her current club has a bat speed measurement tool and she has the fasted bat speed. Unfortunately, she doesn't during games.

Monitize extra base hits.

 

[alexander58]

Some kids get in the habit of starting their swing early. Then they have to slow down to make contact. The result is a weak groundball. I tell them I want them to feel like "they have to catch up". I.e. They have to swing hard to catch up. Just my 2 cents.

 

[JAD]

DD does a great job of making contact. She has a great swing, however I'm not going to post it. During her hitting sessions she hits the ball hard and does very well.

There are a lot of "cage hitting phenoms" out there who knock the cover off the ball in the batting cages, during soft toss and lessons, but struggle against real pitchers. I would video her hitting in practice vs. hitting in a game, and see if you can find a software program that will let you analyze the videos side-by-side. Some batting instructors may be able to do this for you.

You mention that she slows her swing down to make contact, I would also watch for her stepping out with her front foot, which would cause her to lose a lot of her power.

 

[02Crush]

I have found that my DD used to hit wicked hard in BP because she was comfortable with me pitching. I was also not challenging her and subconsciously throwing it where she can jack it. I figured this out a year ago and now I challenge her. I start with easy pitches to get her warmed up and loose. I then let her know when I am going to increase the speed a little bit (really a lot but when I say a little she does not over think it). I then begin to SLING the ball in hard and it can sometimes be out of control. She has even been hit but this keeps her focused despite her HATING it. It always costs me some ice cream or something as penance. I even try to give a full arm rotation so she can get the timing. Merely throwing underhand quickly does not allow for real simulation of timing for her. I end up with jelly arm but I can get through about 5 buckets this way in one session. Side notes: I do not pitch until she resets and says, "GO". She does not see rapid fire pitching in a game so why do it in BP. And No matter what, If she abandons her swing mechanics we stop and address it right then and there. Allowing her to continue to swing out of panic to get a hit will only allow for her to get further in a hole and cause problems. I'd rather go through one bucket full tilt where she swings right and stop then do 5 buckets all wrong.
In the end do what she needs in that session. If that means stopping and breaking back to some soft toss and working on form....then do it. If she is on a roll and can nail down all front toss as I describe above with good timing then do it. Customize what she needs for the day based on what you see with her. Sometimes it is just to do Tee work so she can stay focused on form.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Monitize extra base hits.

There's a lot to be said for this IMO. From what the OP says, her main motivation right now is not to strike out. If the idea of making extra money for treats and iTunes can give her the motivation to push for big hits at the risk of more strike outs, she might end up with a permanent change in her mental approach.

--That's IF she has success. If not, then you're just the horrible parent who made her strike out, LOL.