14yo struggling with SO

[Towny9]

others have given good advice, but I’ll add this. Have her stop putting her hand up and asking for time. Get in the box ready to hit. By the time she puts both hands on the bat she has given the pitcher time to prepare which is actually giving your DD less time. Find some pre-pitch rhythm. A bat waggle, a toe tap, etc.. body in motion tends to stay in motion.

 

[Work=wins]

The back leg isn’t used for striding. The front leg is.

Edit: it’s also a sign of correct weight transfer.

 

[Cannonball]

Wow, there is a lot to fix here and I can't believe a seasoned hitting coach or 3 seasoned hitting coaches have not addressed these problems.

In short, Scott Sarginson may he RIP, often discussed a "fix" for players such as yours. The goal was to take all of the "crap" out of the swing and get it down to basics. He called it a "Fall Back Swing." My DD used it all of the time. The basics of a Fall Back Swing:

• It starts with the bat on the shoulders and at 45 degrees. The hitter will lift the bat off of the shoulders as the load begins. The hitter "tips and rips" meaning the hitter has a very subtle tip of bat toward the pitcher. Again subtle.
• The player can stride or use a no stride. My DD used a no stride and did what is called a "knee chase." IOWs, she took her front knee and turned in inward toward the back knee and then slammed the front heel down.
• The hitter has to master the "go position" which is where the hitter commits totally to the swing. That means that the hitter has to be able to unload the hips, get good stretch between the upper and lower halves and then swing.

I apologize that I can not put a video of what I mean here. I have tried and for whatever reason, I am being prevented from it uploading here. I have posted the video several times here. Anyway, think the above through and see if it makes sense. If not, good luck. Again, if this were one of my hitting students, I'd go all the way back to basics, work on the hands and the relationship of upper and lower body.

 

[4Martini]

Do you ever have her bunt in the cages? For a while we would do rounds of bunt left, bunt right, hit. Repeat. It really helped my daughter with getting the bat on the ball more consistently. Now we do a lot of hit the left wall with the ball, hit the right wall with the ball, hit it straight. I am a totally uneducated parent- but letting her know she could actually learn to control at that level made a big difference. We put the machine at 60 and try to hit the left wall - then turn it down to 37 and try to hit the right wall. Just messing around about adjusting a lot timing wise. New challenges seem to take off some of the pressure.

 

[Pwrhitter]

others have given good advice, but I’ll add this. Have her stop putting her hand up and asking for time. Get in the box ready to hit. By the time she puts both hands on the bat she has given the pitcher time to prepare which is actually giving your DD less time. Find some pre-pitch rhythm. A bat waggle, a toe tap, etc.. body in motion tends to stay in motion.

Actually never thought about it like that but you are absolutely spot on with that observation. Every millisecond counts. This is an easy change, will share this with her right away. Thank you Towny!

 

[chappellestherobot?]

Throw out all this technical stuff. Hitting is all about how you feel and she feels terrible. Giving her more stuff to think about doesn't help. We all know this. Feeling good automatically fixes glitches and timing. How do you fix this? If I could give you an easy answer I would. Don't give up on the bulletproof hitter, because even if that isn't a magic pill, that's the area we are working on, not how early you get your foot down. Keep working on that. Feeling better. Saw a recent video where a guy got some advice from Tony Gwynn. Tony said take all that other stuff out. I just want you to get out. Hit a hard ground ball to short (assuming lefty). Do that. Next, try to hit a fly ball to left. If you can do that you have everything you need. Guy went up, got out twice, then went on a tear. Don't think when to swing but where to hit it. Don't worry about technical issues, try to let go and be loose. Wiggle, waggle, rhythm, swagger. Act like you feel good until it happens.

Hitting is hard until it's easy. And then it's easy until it's hard.

Less swing coach, more I can do this. Remember all those big hits. That was you. That's the real you. It's in there just waiting to happen again.

 

[PJR202]

My daughter improved drastically after several months of lessons, but being late is her big issue. For her, it's all indecision. She's still not confident enough to consistently commit early and swing.

This is true for a lot of girls who have a decent swing. The concept of "yes-yes-yes-yes" just seems to go in one ear and out the other.

 

[Pwrhitter]

How many big Power hits are you expecting out of say six at bats?
( just wondering what your thoughts are about people you consider power hitters being able to hit)
What is this power hit you're looking for? Are you talking about to the fence or are you just talking about solid contact?

Has the instructor compared in game swing with what you're seeing at lessons? Are those swings the same? Is the instructor in agreement with the swings seeing in those videos?



Do you have video of their swings and your daughters swings to compare?




?

Consistency produces consistency. If the above comments are accurate she has inconsistencies. That makes for harder timing moments.



When did she?

I'm not expecting power hits at all, I'd just like her to hit well enough to get on base at least 3 times out of 6 at bats (excluding walks which she does pull frequently also). I would say this is totally doable given the current level of pitching in 14U A in our area. Avg 55mph with most pitchers throwing maybe 3 pitches well. A few of the girls she's come up with through the years are averaging as high as .800 (which I dont expect from her but concretes in my mind anyways that a .500 is not shooting for the moon at this level.) Currently I'd feel like progress is being made at a .300. I do understand that as the pitching gets better and better she will hit less and less, especially since shes not fast enough to be a contact hitter and needs to make good SOLID contact. Getting on base does require at minimum a grounder in the gap with some extra pepper on it for her. Shes not super speedy. That being said, when she does connect, of those, we frequently get a ball to the fence or a bullet of a line drive to the OF which is great and we will take those any day we can get them, but it's not the current goal. Currently I'd like to see consistency more than anything.

Instructor has seen many game swings and feels she is late and rushing her swing and makes last minute modifications to try and meet the ball in time. Prime example, dropping her hands. We haven't done a side by side of lesson swing vs game swing, that is a great idea. Batting coach never agrees with everything about her in game swing. Tells her to keep working her reps and be earlier to the ball.

Have thought about comparing his great hitters with her swing, which he has done side by sides with her in lessons on his phone quite a few times (those are usually his older college age girls). He has a few great hitters in her age bracket, but none of those are on her current team and GC is usually on lockdown. Could probably ask parent friends from former teams.

She is definitely 100% inconsistent. She fixes one thing and a new issue or an old issue crops up it seems like right away. We try to focus on one thing at a time which leaves the other swing gremlins opportunity to wreak their havoc. When did she hit consistently? Probably coach pitch? Haha. Joking, not joking....

I dont want to come accross like Im bashing her... she has so many strong points. She's big, tall, solid, she's strong, she's hella determined, she works her rear off, she's highly intelligent, sharp softball IQ, exceptional first baseman, promising at pitcher, on and on. But these SOs gotta go!

 

[chappellestherobot?]

Wait I thought she was having a terrible time ...

It's that you want her to hit at least .500? That's a lot to ask. Two hits every time out?

I am obv some rando on the internet who doesn't know her or anyone else but I'd say less with the hitting coach and see what happens. All this overemphasis on every tiny aspect of the swing is causing us to look for every tiny imperfections in the swing which causes another round of analysis and practice and thinking and worrying.

Just go hit. Be athletic. Don't worry about being perfect. You dont have to be perfect. Again, the better you feel, that swing fixes itself.

And don't look at the stats for at least a month. (I wish I could do this myself)

 

[Rolling Hard]

Hit from the go position. Start with tee, then front toss, then machine. The go position is basically a stationary position you should be in when done loading/coiling, just before heel strike. So rear elbow is still up, shoulders tilted slightly downhill, bat around 45 degrees, hands attached to rear shoulder. Hips have started to open slightly, pitcher can still at least partially see batters numbers. From this stationary position,(no hand pumping) slam heal down, front knee straightens, turn the torso around spine (back hip for some) throw,whip the barrel around the hands pivot point. Crush the ball. You want her to feel as if the hand do very little besides provide a pivot point for the barrel to turns around. This will be a big change for your DD. She has over active hands. She should feel as if she is loading her glute and hitting with her torso(obliques should be sore tomorrow)
I have been tempted to have my DD hit from this position with two strikes. Batter will only lose 3 or 4 mph of bat speed from their full swing.