Swing plane different for fastpitch softball?

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Curious if you agree with the following statement taught by a local hitting coach:

"The reason you want a fastpitch batter to hit down on the ball is that the ball is released from the hip vs. above the shoulder from an elevated mound (baseball) so the swing needs to be descending to the ball at point of contact not ascending"

 

[starsnuffer]

The swing should be on the same plane of the pitch regardless of the game being played. This is the entire point of having a "long" hitting zone.

If the plane of the swing is not the same as the plane of the pitch, then the only way for the batter to hit the ball is to have the swing plane cross the pitch plane at a very short and exact moment in time. With the pitch going 60mph and the bat going 60mph, this is incredibly hard to do. If the swing plane and pitch plane are the same, then the batter can be a bit early or a bit late and still make contact with the ball. Howard has a lot of great drills to do this.

That said, with the exception of the 3 people in the world who still think a rise ball goes up, I can't think of any softball pitch that is on an elevated plane when it hits the batter. All of the pitches are descending from their peak arc at some point between the pitcher and home plate. Thus, I see no value in a batter swinging "down at the ball". Now, clearly the pitch plane is DIFFERENT in baseball and softball, and as such the swing plane should be DIFFERENT, but it is more a matter of subtle degrees, not a matter of reversing the swing.

-W

 

[ArmWhip]

What the coach said shows a poor understanding of swing plane. Correct swing plane is not really 'up' or 'down', it is tilted and inline with the path of the ball. A low pitch does not require a 'low' or 'downward' swing plane, with a low pitch the plane is tilted more. When someone says that you should swing down on the ball they are probably thinking that the bat should be parallel to the ground and moving down.

 

[softballphreak]

The swing should be on the same plane of the pitch regardless of the game being played. This is the entire point of having a "long" hitting zone.

If the plane of the swing is not the same as the plane of the pitch, then the only way for the batter to hit the ball is to have the swing plane cross the pitch plane at a very short and exact moment in time. With the pitch going 60mph and the bat going 60mph, this is incredibly hard to do. If the swing plane and pitch plane are the same, then the batter can be a bit early or a bit late and still make contact with the ball. Howard has a lot of great drills to do this.

That said, with the exception of the 3 people in the world who still think a rise ball goes up, I can't think of any softball pitch that is on an elevated plane when it hits the batter. All of the pitches are descending from their peak arc at some point between the pitcher and home plate. Thus, I see no value in a batter swinging "down at the ball". Now, clearly the pitch plane is DIFFERENT in baseball and softball, and as such the swing plane should be DIFFERENT, but it is more a matter of subtle degrees, not a matter of reversing the swing.

-W

Agree that the swing should be on plane with the ball.

If a rise ball is released from the hip of a 5'5" pitcher and passes a 6' batter at chest level did the ball go up?

 

[kls_hittingacademy]

Are you paying this guy money for lessons?????

 

[starsnuffer]

Agree that the swing should be on plane with the ball.

If a rise ball is released from the hip of a 5'5" pitcher and passes a 6' batter at chest level did the ball go up?

It probably went up, but no umpire is going to call it a strike, so the real question is, should the batter swing?

-W

 

[Jeff_H]

Curious if you agree with the following statement taught by a local hitting coach:

"The reason you want a fastpitch batter to hit down on the ball is that the ball is released from the hip vs. above the shoulder from an elevated mound (baseball) so the swing needs to be descending to the ball at point of contact not ascending"

You may ask him how many pitches he sees above the waist. I would bet that 90+ % of the pitches are around the knees, that means the ball is on a downward trajectory.


Back many years ago, when Eteamz was the site where everyone hung out, Scott Sargenson, SSarge, put up an example of a softball released at the hip thrown at the knees and a baseball thrown off of a mound and the difference was between 2-3 degrees of downward angle. The math is not my forte to repeat the example

 

[Wellphyt]

There are some very good technical reasons why you don't want to swing down at a ball going down, but I doubt this coach cares about the physics of hitting a ball. Maybe this video will help.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Are you paying this guy money for lessons?????

No I am not, my DD has a different hitting coach but this guy was giving some free hitting advice to some local coaches.

During his demonstration, he set up two tees at home plate one in front of the other. The back tee (one closest to the catcher) was about 6 inches higher than the front tee. He demonstrated that you need to hit the front tee without hitting the back tee, thereby promoting a downward swing? The irony was that when he demonstrated the swing without the tees, he looked to be swinging slighty up, not down.

Probably a classic example of not actually doing what you are teaching. Anyways, I like to think that I am open to different hitting techniques but agree with most of you that the swing path should be along the same plane as the pitched ball.

 

[SBFAMILY]

I ran into this at a college camp. I asked why wouldn't the front T( closest to the catcher ) be 2" lower than the other T and 18" apart?
Didn't get a good reason. What someone did was watch this drill and not understand it. I agree with the above posts, someone doing a drill and not understanding what they are teaching or the purpose of the drill. We have kids actually hit the front ball , then have them hit above and miss the front ball. The purpose is to teach them situational hitting