Swing plane different for fastpitch softball?

[Ken Krause]

The two tee drill is an old one. It goes back to the way hitting was taught very commonly 10 or more years ago, and fairly commonly even as much as five years ago. One of the "reasons" you'll hear for swinging down is to put more backspin on the ball so it carries farthers. It doesn't really make sense, but that advice was commonly accepted until recently.

Sounds like the coach offering this advice needs to update his video library -- to videos produced on DVD to start!

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

The two tee drill is an old one. It goes back to the way hitting was taught very commonly 10 or more years ago, and fairly commonly even as much as five years ago. One of the "reasons" you'll hear for swinging down is to put more backspin on the ball so it carries farthers. It doesn't really make sense, but that advice was commonly accepted until recently.

Sounds like the coach offering this advice needs to update his video library -- to videos produced on DVD to start!

Ken - I think you are absolutely right. A lot of good intentioned former high school baseball guys and college softball players that now have kids in softball take what they learned 10 - 20 years ago and try to apply it to the modern game. That is why whenever someone gives me advice on how to coach softball, I try to do my own investigation to determine whether or not it is logical and makes sense (this site has been great for that!).

 

[Amy in AZ.]

When I first started softball in 1964 (yikes), we were taught a baseball swing. Then, that changed to everyone hitting down on the ball. (I don't know the year, but about 1980) Even my boys that were in HS baseball, were taught that way. My DD who is 22 was taught that, also. She hit a number of home runs in HS, inside the park and running all the way.

I had changed my method of teaching, while she was in HS - but the coach wanted nothing to do with it.

Donnie S. and I used to talk about writing a book calling Linear, the New Way to Hit! Just in case we could catch on to a wave, the next time things change.

In slowpitch, the men all want to change their baseball swing to a softball swing. They won't listen, either.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Ken - I think you are absolutely right. A lot of good intentioned former high school baseball guys and college softball players that now have kids in softball take what they learned 10 - 20 years ago and try to apply it to the modern game. That is why whenever someone gives me advice on how to coach softball, I try to do my own investigation to determine whether or not it is logical and makes sense (this site has been great for that!).

The Hanson Principle (… the one to use)
“Always compare what anybody tells you about the swing to slow motion clips of the best hitters in the world”.
-- Mark Hanson

 

[ArmWhip]

The subject of backspin is also controversial. I have seen BBall hitting sites where it is recommended that you hit down a little on the ball to create backspin so the ball will carry further. Today I saw an article on Ryan Howard where he said that he hit a lot of balls that knuckled instead of having backspin so they did not travel out of the park. In order to have backspin the ball must be contacted slightly below it's 'equator'. Swinging down and hitting a ball 'square' means that you will drive the ball into the ground.

 

[FPMark]

I thought backspin was added by a slight twist of the bat on contact into followthru. Would that not work better than swinging down? In any case, hitting slightly under center would be nesessary to give more lift, but swinging down doesn't help unless you are completely off plane (above the plane) with the swing from the start. Starting above the ball,swinging down, and trying to hit below the 'equator' just sounds a little too difficult.

 

[Justanotherdad]

Its not the swing plane that causes front spin or back spin. Its where on the ball that the barrel makes contact.

You can hit the bottom of the ball under the equator of the ball on slightly upward swing plane and still get backspin.

You can also hit the top of the ball on a downward swing plane and get front spin.

We don't try to intentionally hit the ball anyway but square by getting on the plane of the pitch as quickly and efficiently as possible and staying there as long as possible.

 

[softballphreak]

Self-tossing I hit sharply down on the ball to create hot line drives and rise ball line drives with backspin occasionally during practice.

I do the same thing to create hot grounders that skim the ground with no bounce to surprise fielders who aren't getting their gloves all the way down.

Doing that with a pitched ball would require a bit of accuracy I imagine but certainly possible. I don't recommend a downward swing but I'm pretty sure someone could find a clip of someone successfully doing it.

 

[Ken Krause]

Softballphreak you're right. You can probably find a video clip of someone doing just about any crazy old thing and being successful, but that doesn't mean that's the way to go. It's where the "Hanson principle" falls down. You need a lot of data points, not just one or two.