Mom_Coach_Fan - Ever think of having her try this?
BRUH.. If it ain't Broke then Don't Fix it
- Thread starter WARRIORMIKE
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Ba ha ha - nearly spit my wine on the screen! 
Send the TB coach an email with the contact info of your catching instructor and ask him/her to contact them directly to get everyone on the same page because it is confusing your DD to receive conflicting instruction. You can also invited the TB coach to attend your catching lessons!
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
What's being overlooked here is the role of the parent, who must know enough to know: a) whose teaching is "correct" and b) understand the difference between style and mechanical absolutes. With respect to "a)" above, sometimes it is the coach, sometimes it is the paid instructor, and sometimes it is neither!
- Sep 27, 2015
- 106
- 18
I've never been one to keep my mouth shut, gets me in trouble more often than not. BUT my 10 year old is a hot commodity as a catcher. I get numerous phone calls before each season asking who she will be playing for. Sounds a bit stuck up but eh.
That being said, my daughter is in weekly catching lessons that run close to two hours. I pay very good money for those lessons and I'm not about to let someone ruin her. Her last coach wanted her up, bum in the air a good two feet, feet about two feet apart for all pitches. Remember, she is 10. Dropping down to block from that height is not good for her knees, neither is staying in that position. So I asked her catching instructor the best way to approach her coaches. Straight forward was the answer. So next practice, they told her to do it, she looked at me, and I polietly explained that it was against everything she had been taught and she was not going to continue playing like that as we wanted her to stay healthy. They questioned it, said being down low and not being up was being lazy, that she wouldn't be able to get passed balls or wild pitches fast enough.
I pulled out her pop up times, her time from the plate to the backstop, and her gear getting on time and told them they didn't need to worry about it, she was routinely timed and was as quick as what a 16 year old should be.
They had two choices at that point. Keep her and let her catch how she was taught or let her join another team and play against her. She finished her Fallball season with them, then tried out for a different team.
That being said, my daughter is in weekly catching lessons that run close to two hours. I pay very good money for those lessons and I'm not about to let someone ruin her. Her last coach wanted her up, bum in the air a good two feet, feet about two feet apart for all pitches. Remember, she is 10. Dropping down to block from that height is not good for her knees, neither is staying in that position. So I asked her catching instructor the best way to approach her coaches. Straight forward was the answer. So next practice, they told her to do it, she looked at me, and I polietly explained that it was against everything she had been taught and she was not going to continue playing like that as we wanted her to stay healthy. They questioned it, said being down low and not being up was being lazy, that she wouldn't be able to get passed balls or wild pitches fast enough.
I pulled out her pop up times, her time from the plate to the backstop, and her gear getting on time and told them they didn't need to worry about it, she was routinely timed and was as quick as what a 16 year old should be.
They had two choices at that point. Keep her and let her catch how she was taught or let her join another team and play against her. She finished her Fallball season with them, then tried out for a different team.
DD was working for 8 months with a D1 hitting coach (up until she took a HC job across the country). Coach worked a lot with bat angle and using DD's power to "do her job" as a power hitter. We go to a showcase evaluation and the head of it says that she needs to use two tees to hit "through the ball" because she is "dropping her hands"(DD hit at least 6 out during the eval and exit speed off a tee by 3 different radar devices measured 71 mph. We leave evals to go to a hitting lesson. We tell D1 coach what eval coach said. She puts a tee behind homeplate and pitches to DD - DD promptly hits 10 out never hitting the tee behind her with her swing. D1 coach says that proves that DD is not dropping her hands and that bat angle does not equal dropping her hands. She then tells DD and me that if anyone else ever says that DD is dropping her hands because of her bat angle that we should have them give her a call. We laughed and she said "No, I am dead serious. You have my cell phone number and I want you to have them give me a call and I will explain it to them". Still makes me laugh thinking about her fierce face when she said it...
Why does everyone suddenly think their DD needs to emulate Alex Hugo to be successful? Alex is a great hitter, but I bet she hits 500 balls per day 6 days a week and has top 1% eye/hand coordination and bat speed. Here is a video of one of my DD's HS teammates hitting a bomb. Did she raise her foot? Do you think she used her lower half to generate the power required to hit the ball over the scoreboard in left field? For reference this player is @ 5'-8", 140 lbs and hit 7 home runs and batted .427 for the season.
SFHS vs. Newnan home run
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12 girls on a team, 12 individual approaches to hitting in not uncommon. Being
comfortable and producing offensively is what drives girls at all ages. Help the
players who reach out. If a player is using outside instruction and not producing,
mention your observations to the parents but do not correct technique without permission.
Perfect example, my DD was hitting ok, but not for power, I enlisted a hitting coach and her
offensive numbers started to slide. After a few weeks, the 'new' swing came together and all is good.
comfortable and producing offensively is what drives girls at all ages. Help the
players who reach out. If a player is using outside instruction and not producing,
mention your observations to the parents but do not correct technique without permission.
Perfect example, my DD was hitting ok, but not for power, I enlisted a hitting coach and her
offensive numbers started to slide. After a few weeks, the 'new' swing came together and all is good.
- May 17, 2012
- 2,846
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Watching the video on my crappy phone and it does appear that she lifts her front foot in order to load the hips reward. I would say she does use her lower half.
My point was that with hitters who don't lift their front foot at all (stride or no stride) are the hitters that typically aren't using their lower body.
If hitting is like throwing the left foot has to come off of the ground (try it yourself).
I would also say that hitters that are blessed with great physical and mental attributes but poor mechanics are not the hitters to emulate. They are outliers.
When she loads she pivots onto the ball of her left foot, but I do not think her foot ever comes off the ground and she certainly does not have the pickup and place that Alex Hugo does. I am not a big fan of young players emulating Alex Hugo and prefer the KISS approach to hitting for 98.2% of players. Alex Hugo is part of the 1.8%.
