Hitting to far out front

[T Red]

Anyone have a good drill to encourage letting the ball get deeper in the zone?

DD hits the ball out front too often. Hits great against faster than average pitchers. But not mid to slow range pitchers. If she could just adjust her timing a little.

 

[WinThemAll]

You could try standing parallel to the hitter on a bucket and dropping the ball in to the zone that you want to hit from.

 

[MsDinosaur]

A lot of tee work with the tee set up deep for outside pitches to let her get really comfortable with that contact point? When she's doing bp, have her set a goal with herself to do something like...hit x many balls to right or hit every pitch on the outside half of the plate to right, etc, that should force her to wait, wait, wait. :-D

 

[Ken Krause]

Not so much a drill as a way of thinking. I'd bet dollars to donuts your daughter starts into motion at the same point in the pitcher's motion regardless of pitch speed. In other words, if she starts her negative move (assuming she has one) when the ball is over the pitcher's head on the fast pitches she hits well, she also starts her negative move at that point on a slower pitcher. And then she's ahead, or has to slow her swing down.

Explain that the key to adjusting to pitch speed is when you get started. You always want to have the same basic, powerful swing. So for slower pitchers, you need to start later. How much later? Depends on the pitch speed. The idea is to have the front foot come down on time so you can trigger that fast, powerful swing at the right time. It might be your starting point is when the pitcher releases the ball. If it's really slow, it might be when the ball is on its way.

One quick fix to help enable that is to tell her not to even drop into her batting stance until the pitcher has released the ball. Then she goes into her stance, from which she starts the entire swing. She will feel like she is behind at first, but it shouldn't take long before she realizes she's actually closer to being on time. Then adjust from there.

 

[pstein]

The issue is mechanical; her speed is out front, rather than deep. She needs to have her lower body driving rather than providing momentum.

 

[softballphreak]

One major contributor to not being able to stay back is working off of a tee that is placed too far out toward the pitcher. Set the tee close to centered between the feet to practice middle pitches. Deeper to work outside pitches.

One of the best drills for learning to stay back is to throw front toss (not side toss) from behind a screen and throw them way outside. Anything middle to outside must be hit to the right side gap. Every pitch that is hit to the left of second base earns a burpee. The burpee is a very effective motivator. More so than a lap for some reason. There will be much moaning until they start driving the ball to the gap, and then they and you will feel much better. Takes a few buckets.

As Ken posted above, the lead foot is the timing foot. Don't let them put that foot down until an instant before the ball arrives. They can be a little early occasionally. But they can never be a little late. In order to put the foot down on time (toe touch) they may have to hover the foot. IOW, the back leg will be controlling the front leg, keeping it off the ground until just the right time.

 

[T.J.]

Try having her put her front foot on a bucket or some sort of box....Take some swings that way. You could also tie a string between her ankles to prevent over striding and lunging.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Anyone have a good drill to encourage letting the ball get deeper in the zone?

DD hits the ball out front too often. Hits great against faster than average pitchers. But not mid to slow range pitchers. If she could just adjust her timing a little.

Very likely a sequence issue.

It will help a great deal if you learn to use a sequence that has the hands/barrel loading in the unload of the lower body. Tackle the sequence issues and you're likely to have the issue solved.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

One major contributor to not being able to stay back is working off of a tee that is placed too far out toward the pitcher. Set the tee close to centered between the feet to practice middle pitches. Deeper to work outside pitches.

One of the best drills for learning to stay back is to throw front toss (not side toss) from behind a screen and throw them way outside. Anything middle to outside must be hit to the right side gap. Every pitch that is hit to the left of second base earns a burpee. The burpee is a very effective motivator. More so than a lap for some reason. There will be much moaning until they start driving the ball to the gap, and then they and you will feel much better. Takes a few buckets.

As Ken posted above, the lead foot is the timing foot. Don't let them put that foot down until an instant before the ball arrives. They can be a little early occasionally. But they can never be a little late. In order to put the foot down on time (toe touch) they may have to hover the foot. IOW, the back leg will be controlling the front leg, keeping it off the ground until just the right time.

The lead foot merely catches the shift/swing ... whether it is down early or not.

 

[softballphreak]

The lead foot merely catches the shift/swing ... whether it is down early or not.

It can be early but it can't be late.