What are you doing to fix DBSF

[chrispots]

Can you get video of tee and front toss swings?

CP

 

[Buttermaker]

By its very definition DBSF is a sequence issue.

A hitter is dropping the barrel and swinging flat. Instead of the actions of a correct sequence getting the barrel on plane - the hitter's hands/arms are flattening the barrel much too early. Its a hitter trying to power the swing with her arms/shoulders.

This does not mean you cannot help a hitter feel the barrel dropping by grabbing it so she can feel it and create some barrel awareness. But, this does not guarantee you get a hitter in sequence - it could just keep the barrel vertical while trying to swing out of sequence.

Not saying this is an easy thing to fix. I have hitters start to learn how to time the ball better with gather/coil but still fight it by trying to get the barrel flat too early. When they gather they have to allow the hands/barrel react by tipping out of plane even it's just a smidge.

Watch Mendoza on the left - watch her barrel

 

[rdbass]

 

[_MIA_]

I have never seen anybody do this (which probably answers my question..) but would there be any benefit in having someone simulate a pitching motion (behind a screen obviously) when having a hitter
work off a tee?

 

[CoogansBluff]

I have never seen anybody do this (which probably answers my question..) but would there be any benefit in having someone simulate a pitching motion (behind a screen obviously) when having a hitter
work off a tee?

I've done that w/ DD. Like everything else I try, she masters the drill, but not the live swing. But she does say that it really helps to make her aware of sequence and bat angle and better understand exactly what she's supposed to be doing, which is something I guess.

 

[pacman]

One of the issues with doing this is the fact that they know the height of the tee already.. high tee work is a good drill. But again they already know its up high so they dont dynamically change their angle mid swing

 

[_MIA_]

I've done that w/ DD. Like everything else I try, she masters the drill, but not the live swing. But she does say that it really helps to make her aware of sequence and bat angle and better understand exactly what she's supposed to be doing, which is something I guess.

Thanks. I know the feeling regarding differences between practice swings and game swings. My 7 year old seems to be improving off the tee and with me front tossing to her (at speeds which are greater than what she sees in the game) but in games she reverts back. One of her issues I think is her league is machine pitch and for whatever reason her sequence is all screwy with the machine. The machine feeder does simulate a pitching motion but I think that she is focusing on the dang machine and doesn't start her swing sequence until the ball leaves the machine. I would rather the league have coach pitch but I think there aren't enough coaches who could actually get it over the plate consistently...

 

[rdbass]

I posted this before. It has/had helped my DD. I has help take the tee swing into the game over time. It helps take the delay or the 'extra' move out before the actual swing.

The time between the decision to swing and the actual launch of the swing is a HUGE problem for amateur hitters and many pros. The need to reset or move to a different position, other than the one they were in when they made the go decision, before they can actually launch, is a career ender. Pitchers exploit that. Below are two clips of two different kids executing the Command Drill....

What do you see? Well you see JUST the launch of the swing. There is no reset necessary before launch. There is no movement to a different position after the decision to go and before launch. How do I know that?

I know that because there is another person involved. There is a coach that is giving them the Command to swing. Each of these kids get into their best loaded launch position....max.....they preset it.....and hold it....and then wait for a go Command from their coach. Upon hearing the Command, they launch. And if they have slop in their swing it will instantly show up. 100 out of 100 will fail in their first attempt. Slop has shown it's ugly head for every first timer I've worked with.

NOTE: I said they had to 'hold' their load. To execute a high level swing, you have to learn to continually pull back with your back, against your leg, creating a torsion spring-like load, and continue to wind it even though the range of motion has already been reached. You must have continual loading that includes no movement. And it is this continual loading without movement that leads to the seamless overlap. It leads to the ability to turn the load into the swing. This is the best stretch, the final stretch, which most never achieve. Most reach range of motion limit and stop stretching. There's much more available if you learn how to do it.

Most load back to push forward. You must learn to load AROUND so the swing just continues on around. There is no back that requires a forth. There is just AROUND. The load is 'around' and the unload is just continuing on around.

And then you graduate to the 3Tee Command Drill where the coach commands which ball. Oh My. Talk about a great exercise. This will identify the last micro seconds of prelaunch slop. The hitter should be able to launch to all 3 locations without prelaunch movement.

This drill defines, crystalizes, THE POSITION that hitters launch from. Most hitters really don't know what or where that loaded launch position is. So, in the box, as they use rhythm and flow for timing, they don't have the proper goal. And as a result, they do not get to their launch position consistently. When the goal is to get to your Command Drill position then you know what to do. You know where you're headed. And you then carve out the necessary time out of the pitchers delivery to ALWAYS get to your Command Drill position on time.

Since the loaded launch position is the twisted torsion spring, this creates a supernatural timing window. The torsion spring is a constant load. You keep pulling back even when range of motion limit is reached. No stop. No pause. No redirect. Just keep loading around and you create a window of time over which you release the barrel. Early in the window for the fast ball. A bit later for the off speed. No pause. No stop. And the launch is seamless because it is launched in the same direction as the load. Rearward. Just continue on around.

 

[FP26]

By its very definition DBSF is a sequence issue.

A hitter is dropping the barrel and swinging flat. Instead of the actions of a correct sequence getting the barrel on plane - the hitter's hands/arms are flattening the barrel much too early. Its a hitter trying to power the swing with her arms/shoulders.

This does not mean you cannot help a hitter feel the barrel dropping by grabbing it so she can feel it and create some barrel awareness. But, this does not guarantee you get a hitter in sequence - it could just keep the barrel vertical while trying to swing out of sequence.

Not saying this is an easy thing to fix. I have hitters start to learn how to time the ball better with gather/coil but still fight it by trying to get the barrel flat too early. When they gather they have to allow the hands/barrel react by tipping out of plane even it's just a smidge.

Watch Mendoza on the left - watch her barrel

buttermaker nailed it with the bold above, in my opinion. The hitter is trying to flatten the bat much too early. My DD also had this problem when she was 12 or 13. We tried numerous things, but in my opinion, it was a combination of educating her concerning the problem and then performing some fake pitches during front toss that finally solved it. Once she understood what the problem was (showed her video), she was able to feel when she was doing it. I would pitch front toss to her, but incorporate a fake pitch every 5th or 6th ball. I would alter this so that she could not find a pattern. If she was dropping, she would immediately notice/feel it on the fake pitch and would then adjust from there. I saw immediate improvement the very first night we tried this, and within two weeks the DBSF was completely gone. Now at 16 I will still fake a pitch once in a while. All she does now is give me dirty looks....

NOTE: DDs swing is far from perfect. There are still things to work on (always are). But this is one problem that is gone forever.

 

[_MIA_]

Now at 16 I will still fake a pitch once in a while. All she does now is give me dirty looks....

.

Nice to see that the dirty looks never go away...