My DD's hitting slump began when she hit that home-run early in the HS season. Now she's way ahead of the pitch, fouling everything off to the left. She needs to WAIT. She also needs to keep her hands BACK by her back shoulders and let her lower half initiate.[/QUOTE]
Drills suggested by Mudvnine for another hitter on another site:
Going to have DD do self toss tonight.
Sorry for the hi-jack.
Batting slump - when did your DD's end?
- Thread starter learning
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
- Oct 10, 2011
- 3,113
- 0
My DD's hitting slump began when she hit that home-run early in the HS season. Now she's way ahead of the pitch, fouling everything off to the left. She needs to WAIT. She also needs to keep her hands BACK by her back shoulders and let her lower half initiate.[/QUOTE]
Drills suggested by Mudvnine for another hitter on another site:
Going to have DD do self toss tonight.
Sorry for the hi-jack.
This was the majority of our off season practice. What a difference!
DD started working out of the slump when she let go of the fixation on BA and focused instead on trusting her swing and hitting the ball.
A timely article by Bobby Tewksbary hit the nail on the head too:
8 Steps to Having Better At Bats Today
A timely article by Bobby Tewksbary hit the nail on the head too:
8 Steps to Having Better At Bats Today
DD hadn't been hitting that well for a few weeks. When pressed, she said her helmet's facemask blocked her vision. When I looked at it again, I could see her point. I bought her a new Rip-It helmet yesterday, and last night she went 3-4 with a walk.
Learning, are her mechanics good? As Rdbass mentioned, pitching improves over time and exposes mechanical shortcomings, so don't discount that, but...
Let's assume that her mechanics are pretty good. I would work on vision. <assume she doesn't need a check up/corrective measures here> Make sure her set-up allows for a good '2-eyed look' even through load/pre-launch. Go to the yard and make sure. Then do some front toss. Tell her to state which way the seams were spinning on every toss and mix it up. This immediately gathers some focus. Aftter some reps, start mixing in some baseballs to hit...smaller focus point. Do the seam bit if she isn't squaring up on baseballs.
Now, at my house, we have all manner of balls and bats, and we hit a LOT. Sometimes, if needed, I break out the juggs small balls (ping-pong size) and we occasionally scale it down to literally tossing pinto beans for the kids to hit. You want to talk about 'focus?' The eyes really begin to tune up. <Word of caution... wear eye protection and use a screen/net!>
Now, I rarely toss beans to DD anymore because we hit baseballs almost exclusively over softballs, and that size is good enough to sharpen the vision for now. When DD sees a softball, even if it is live pitching, she says it looks like a pumpkin and she squares up pretty darn good on pitching these days.
Anyway, since we don't have a library of video on your kid, it is sort of a crapshoot. I wouldn't sweat it and wouldn't tell her you are going to 'fix' anything...just add some new practice componants to freshen up the routine for her. "Baseballs...now that's different Dad!"
Good luck and send us an update when she's rippin' again.
Let's assume that her mechanics are pretty good. I would work on vision. <assume she doesn't need a check up/corrective measures here> Make sure her set-up allows for a good '2-eyed look' even through load/pre-launch. Go to the yard and make sure. Then do some front toss. Tell her to state which way the seams were spinning on every toss and mix it up. This immediately gathers some focus. Aftter some reps, start mixing in some baseballs to hit...smaller focus point. Do the seam bit if she isn't squaring up on baseballs.
Now, at my house, we have all manner of balls and bats, and we hit a LOT. Sometimes, if needed, I break out the juggs small balls (ping-pong size) and we occasionally scale it down to literally tossing pinto beans for the kids to hit. You want to talk about 'focus?' The eyes really begin to tune up. <Word of caution... wear eye protection and use a screen/net!>
Now, I rarely toss beans to DD anymore because we hit baseballs almost exclusively over softballs, and that size is good enough to sharpen the vision for now. When DD sees a softball, even if it is live pitching, she says it looks like a pumpkin and she squares up pretty darn good on pitching these days.
Anyway, since we don't have a library of video on your kid, it is sort of a crapshoot. I wouldn't sweat it and wouldn't tell her you are going to 'fix' anything...just add some new practice componants to freshen up the routine for her. "Baseballs...now that's different Dad!"
Good luck and send us an update when she's rippin' again.
- Oct 25, 2009
- 3,339
- 48
What have you done about the back trouble? And the shoulder? That could be more of a contributor than you think. Some kids will try to play through pain. My DD was one of those who would not let anyone know when she was in pain. Could tell a long, scary story about that but I'll spare you.
Have her examined by a doctor, whether she wants to or not. Take a break. Not necessarily from competition but maybe less physical stress in practice. Groove swinging instead of power swinging, for example.
Don't discount the affect injuries, like a back, has on a players confidence and swing.
Too many times parents and coaches insist on playing through injuries. Then wonder why there is a slump.
Sometimes taking two, or even three, weeks off is the best for a player. Once back to full strength and confidence level, it is amazing how fast people forget about an injury, when a DD is smacking the ball.
These players are young. Have plenty, I mean plenty of high level softball ahead of them. Make sure the injuries are taken care of, especially if time off is required. They are not robots.
Too many times parents and coaches insist on playing through injuries. Then wonder why there is a slump.
Sometimes taking two, or even three, weeks off is the best for a player. Once back to full strength and confidence level, it is amazing how fast people forget about an injury, when a DD is smacking the ball.
These players are young. Have plenty, I mean plenty of high level softball ahead of them. Make sure the injuries are taken care of, especially if time off is required. They are not robots.
- Dec 3, 2008
- 161
- 0
Reasons why people go into a hitting slump (from The Mental Game of Baseball)
1. Seeing the ball is taken for granted. They concentrate more on stats, mechanics, etc.
2. Hitters begin to chase pitches they ordinarily take. In the midst of a good streak, they think, "These pitches look fat, I can hit anything." As a result, they lose their mental discipline and bad pitches lead to bad swings.
3. Overswinging.
4. Thinking more.
5. Over analyzes why they are doing too poorly OR really well.
6. Begin to wonder, "How long can I keep this good streak going?"
1. Seeing the ball is taken for granted. They concentrate more on stats, mechanics, etc.
2. Hitters begin to chase pitches they ordinarily take. In the midst of a good streak, they think, "These pitches look fat, I can hit anything." As a result, they lose their mental discipline and bad pitches lead to bad swings.
3. Overswinging.
4. Thinking more.
5. Over analyzes why they are doing too poorly OR really well.
6. Begin to wonder, "How long can I keep this good streak going?"
FiveFrameSwing
Banned
I like it when one of my hitters feels they are in a slump. Suddenly they are more eager to capture a point-of-emphasis (POE) that has eluded them prior. It presents an opportunity to enhance their swing and move them to a higher level.
I hit with a kid last night that felt she was in a slump. They batted 0.429 last weekend. She had been batting around 0.750, so she truly believed she was in a slump and wanted an improvement. The kid had video of her swings and we reviewed them. The needed point-of-emphasis to focus on was relatively easy to identify. Her hitting lesson went well and the kid attacked the POE and mastered it. By the end of the hitting session the kid had bought into the POE and learned how it improved her swing.
Bottom-line … take advantage of the opportunity. Slumps … real or perceived … present a golden opportunity for a kid to dig deeper and grasp points-of-emphasis that have eluded them in the past.
I hit with a kid last night that felt she was in a slump. They batted 0.429 last weekend. She had been batting around 0.750, so she truly believed she was in a slump and wanted an improvement. The kid had video of her swings and we reviewed them. The needed point-of-emphasis to focus on was relatively easy to identify. Her hitting lesson went well and the kid attacked the POE and mastered it. By the end of the hitting session the kid had bought into the POE and learned how it improved her swing.
Bottom-line … take advantage of the opportunity. Slumps … real or perceived … present a golden opportunity for a kid to dig deeper and grasp points-of-emphasis that have eluded them in the past.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. She sees a hitting coach who seems to be convinced that the problem is she's seeing pitching she is not used to. He has been telling her since she bats third she will get tougher and tougher pitches. He is working with her and thinks she has work to do but she'll be fine. Now that I think about it is probably true that earlier in the season the pitching wasn't as hard - at that time, the high school age teams in her 14U division were not playing yet as they were still finishing up high school season. Now we are facing all of those older 14U teams and the pitching is better. About her back - she has a knot in her lower back that bothers her - we have seen a chiropracter and are also taking her for an x ray just to see what's going on there. It does not seem too serious but I guess you never know. So we are following up on that too.
FiveFrameSwing I think you are right - if this is because of difficulty hitting better pitches and she gets out of this then this was definitely a 'phase' well worth going through!
FiveFrameSwing I think you are right - if this is because of difficulty hitting better pitches and she gets out of this then this was definitely a 'phase' well worth going through!
