Team Hitting Practice ????

[justwannaplay]

Hi all:

I am curious about team hitting practice before games at tournaments and regular practice sessions.
Myself and a few other parents are puzzled by the fact that the coaches on our 16/18U team don't hit alot.
We barely hit once a week. Each girl gets a few at bats from live pitching and front toss.If a girl gets to see 20-30 pitches in on practice its alot...

In between games they hit a few soft toss into the net and a few wiffles....
Also they never hit of off pitching machines ever !!!

I understand most girls have there own private hitting coaches but don't you think we just don't hit enough as a team?

Can anyone share a plan that I can show them what others do...

Oh and the coaches wonder why our team average is only .280

Thanks
JWP

 

[Daddylawman]

FWIW - I don't let my team hit off pitching machines - ever. Soft -toss, a ton of tee work, heavy balls, and front toss in practice. IMHO pitching machines do more to reinforce bad habits than any other method.

 

[softballphreak]

They need to see LOTS of pitches. Real pitchers, real pitches are best. At the very least LOTS of front toss from behind a net. Machine pitch as a last resort (except bunting; then machines are ok.)

Side toss into a net and wiffle balls are for warming up mostly.

TCB balls are great for front toss. Expensive balls but worth the cost I guess.

 

[sluggers]

I have to agree with your coaches. I see little point in hitting at a practice if the kids have hitting coaches already.

I understand most girls have there own private hitting coaches but don't you think we just don't hit enough as a team?

Why? If the girls have their own hitting coach, I'm sure what you expect to accomplish with team hitting. Assuming you can get the girls together for a practice (which is a big assumption for 16U and 18U girls), they are only going to get 20 to 30 swings each anyway--that is hardly enough to make a difference.

Also, if you as a parent are unhappy with your DD's performance, shouldn't you be hauling her to the batting cages everyday?

 

[softballphreak]

I don't think they would see enough pitches from their hitting instructors.

You don't have to have a full team when doing batting practice. I've worked many times with just one player. But the more you have the quicker you get the balls back in.

Repetition is very important. LOTS of live pitches. You can't get too much! You'll run out of time long before you've had enough.

 

[JAD]

Most high level TB teams I know require their players to take hitting lessons. If you have 12 players on your team, and each one takes a 30 minute batting lesson, that is 6 hours worth or practice time each week. Most TB coaches I know are NOT hitting instructors. There is more than one approach to hitting, and if you are expecting your DD's head coach to teach your DD to hit you are wasting your time. Tee work is also easy to do at home!!!!

 

[softballphreak]

Hitting instructors teach hitting. They are too expensive to use for batting practice. There is a big difference between instruction and practice.

 

[starsnuffer]

If the kid is serious about playing softball they'll practice on their own.

Machines do not make good hitting aids.

Most teams do hitting practice though. Typically it's 1 night a week or half of a practice. What I generally see (and use myself) are stations so 2-3 kids in a group get a great deal of reps. Generally the stations are as follows:

1- Bunting: Coach front toss, rotating through various bunts
2- soft toss: either side toss or top-drop to a batter into a net
3- front toss in the cage: coach pitching from behind a screen in the batting cage (most HS fields here have them)
4- front toss on the diamond: coach pitching from behind a screen on the field, kids love hitting balls over the fences
5- live pitching on the diamond: Team pitchers rotating to pitch to players on the field, not BP, pitchers are trying for K's

TCB balls are great as well and can either be an additional station or substituted for any of the stations above.

Remember, the goal of team hitting/batting practice is not to correct or instruct the swing, but simply to PRACTICE batting and hitting as taught to the players either by their hitting instructor or by their coach in 1v1 sessions.

Most good players have hitting coaches, but I know fair number of teams that have coaches that go out of their way to teach their "project" players one on one outside of normal practice.

-W

 

[Momo'sDad]

I'm not a proponent of machines, but they can serve a purpose. We've used it once this year as a training aid for helping the girls with timing and it worked wonderfully based on the game results against this 1, hard-throwing pitcher. The machine was the best way for us to simulate that speed.

We run multiple hitting stations each practice and we vary them from day to day. Our team hits pretty well and I think the number of reps has something to do with that.

 

[justwannaplay]

Thanks all I appreciate the responses..I as many of the other parents on the team feel our weak spot now is hitting and our don't really put enough time into it. All they mainly focus on is defense. Now yes our defense is fabulous giving up on avg 2 runs a game but if you don't practice 65 mph speed you will never be ready.....

My thoughts on hitting is you need to learn how to hit non strikes also like a drop, outsidepitch just off plate or a rise etc..anyone can hit a ball down the middle. I have seen a team in my area practice fouling off outside pitches for an hour !!! When those kids get deep in a count they have been taught how to hang in there until she makes a mistake !!!

That's what I would use pitching machines for to see the speed and see what junk pitches look like ....

JWP