16 yo struggling with SO and pop ups

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Aug 12, 2021
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That tee is forcing her downward barrel path. It doesn't allow her to turn the barrel down behind and up through the ball. The ball is coming to her on a downward plane from the pitcher. We want the barrel of the bat matching that plane by coming slightly upward towards to contact. Thing of the path of the barrel as a Nike swoosh. That path is impossible with that tee.


That's been a concern of mine ever since I was given that tee by a friend who's DD quit the game. 90% of the time I use it turned the opposite direction with the flat arm out front.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,624
113
SoCal
Ok the tee sucks (easy fix) and she is artificially not letting her rear shoulder work under her natural spine angle. (might be the tee causing this because she doesnt want to hit that goofy tee.)She looks very strong and has long levers(arms) so her hands are going to set up further away from her shoulder than the average batter. Thats OK. But she appears to try to pull them in closer to her body as she starts to swing. Kind of a collapsing in from here original and strong looking set up. She should be hitting bombs!
 

TDS

Mar 11, 2010
2,923
113
Many times changing the goal (inside seam) helps address the barrel path. although don't know if it will fix the rear leg action which reminds me of "squishing the bug" type action.



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Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Get rid of the tee. When she is hitting off the new tee setup marks on the net ( looks you might have some already ?) whereby the result is gap to gap top of an L-screen (if it is setup at about 15 to 20 ft) hits. When you go hit at a field (try and do so if you can) ask for the same results. She looks athletic enough where she should be able to self-organize for the task given to her.
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,624
113
SoCal
Instead of giving her instructions, give her a task. Go to the park and have her hit line drives to the grass in the air. RC and LC. Let her figure it out. When she figures that out, change the tees height and keep the task the same. After that put the tee at it lowest setting and inside. Tell her to launch a sac fly down the 3rd base line. Going to have to let the shoulder work under. You might be surprised what the mind and body can figure out when given a task.
 
May 24, 2013
12,458
113
So Cal
To touch back on the original issues (Ks and pop-ups), the simple answer is that it's her bat path. The downward path means her barrel is in the hitting zone for a short amount of time, which means there is minimal opportunity for the barrel and ball to run into each other. The downward path also means that contact is going to be a ground ball if she squares or contacts the top half, and back-spin pop-ups if she contacts low. Most hitters tend to be low.

If you haven't already, show her the video of herself, and slow it down so she can see her bat path. Do the same thing with video of an elite hitter, and have her recognize the differences. Especially for a player of her age, self-awareness and self-analysis are powerful. As others have suggested, giving her the goal of achieving a desired result, and figuring out how to achieve that, is very good work.
 
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Jan 6, 2009
6,631
113
Chehalis, Wa
Pushing and extending, lowerbody is behind. No pulling the barrel through with the back leg/lowerbody. She is just pushing the barrel through.

I like everything mentioned.
 
Oct 13, 2014
5,471
113
South Cali
@cufan99

Again, the sequence is wrong. Which causes all the issues that are being mentioned. It’s an upper body dominant swing which causes a launching of the bat before she gets to her front foot. That’s where the downward barrel path, poor leg action, postural issues and pushing the barrel are rooted at. I do a drill that promotes a sequential loading sequence to get things in order. The player starts w the hands at the midline and take them back against a solid back leg. This should get the middle/lower going before the upper is done loading. As of now the back leg is pushing to create a load. Notice the player below has the upper going against a stable lower which promotes torque of the middle. This should move you forward. The only cue I use w this drill is to keep the head centered. Meaning don’t let it get over the back knee. It can get back a little but we need some resistance assistance to torque the middle on time and in balance. After you master this, most things should clean up.

1657215590746.gif

What you would like to see is the hands and belly button connected during the negative move. Once launched the bb should lead slightly.
 
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