TCB Balls just arrived :)

[redhotcoach]

I did hit one of there larger balls once. I would not recommend anyone using them. It was the same feeling as the deflated basketball or soccer ball off a tee that people used to recommend.

 

[tomzpc]

Have my first order on the way. Looking forward to not having to chase plastic wiffle balls into the woods (have a small yard and lots and lots of woods on our property). Have a feeling that I'm going to have a hard time getting DD to understand that we have to limit the swings on these and that she can't keep hitting until nightfall.

 

[softballphreak]

I did hit one of there larger balls once. I would not recommend anyone using them. It was the same feeling as the deflated basketball or soccer ball off a tee that people used to recommend.

I didn't feel the shock with the 2-lb Walmart balls. And the feedback from the players was no shock also. I was even front tossing them some. The only time there was some shock was if it was inside or on the very end of the bat. We were not hitting it to drive though; we were hitting for high speed impact.

 

[lhowser]

I am not a fan of these balls. They do allow for swings in tight area. From front toss I much prefer wiffles if you have the space. The weight makes pitching tcb's awkward and slow thus that balls fall much more quickly than a regular softball or wiffles. The instant feedback has modest benefit in my opinion and they really are heavy to hit. TCB balls...just OK but not up to all the WOW hype IMO.

 

[joemcq51]

Pretty excited after a couple practices with them. DD took about 25 swings in each practice. Really forced her to swing through the ball. Hopefully she will add some power to her hits. I will update her progress.

 

[CycloneSoftball22]

I have been using these for a couple of months now. I really like them. Probably going to order a dozen more

 

[marriard]

Mine arrive tomorrow... can't wait to see how the team likes them on Friday evening

 

[SBFAMILY]

One of the benefits , they force you to finish you swing. So the balls stays on the bat longer. This is big issue with most kids, they do not finish the swing. The reason we soft toss the weighed balls is what lhowser posted. We front toss the TCB whiffles. If you have a slapper, the weighted TCB ball drill forces them to stay engaged longer and you will find that they hit the ball harder into the ground. After working with TCB balls, my dd can hit a ball into the ground while in a cage and the ball will bounce to the top of the cage. It is a good warm up drill before games with your slappers. Again I want to stress when hitting or throwing anything weighted , it isn't the short term effects you have to worry about it is the long term .. So don't over do it, with some young kid.

 

[RichK]

I thought that in hitting a real ball it stays on the bat only 1-1000th of a second, right? So it seems to me that a swing that keeps the TCB ball "on the bat longer" won't by definition be a good one. It could be, it might not be. I don't believe a particular ball can "make" a swing or improve swing mechanics, per se. My two cents :>

But as I said before, we use the TCBs for small, controlled hitting warmups and drills, which is very useful.

 

[PEPPERS]

I tell the kids to think about hitting through three balls, and work for a 5 foot extension. I see so many kids in our area that have poor extension; it may be good in a couple of the kitting zones and poor in most of the others.

Although we have never used the TCB balls, I have seen them in use. IMO the feed back to the hitters should let them know good contact and proper extension. We hit into the field and watch for balls tailing off which is a sign of poor extension. The TCB balls I believe will give the hitter a sensation of good contact and follow through, from what I observed.
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I’m going to order some of the TCB balls probably tomorrow, after using then I hope to have a better understanding from the feed back of the kids.