Early video of my kid.

[Cannonball]

Eric asked me to post video of BB when she was younger. I don't have much video of her as I lost most of it. If any of you have video of her that I shared with you at an earlier age, please share it. I can say that now since her career is over. I'll post a hitting session where she is using a 33 inch, 33 oz. bat. After using the wooden bat, she will use a yellow bat that is a 34 inch -10. Then, she will use her game bat which was a 33 inch -10. Ironically, she will do the worse with her game bat in this video. The machine is set at 36 feet and it is throwing balls that range from new to ones that are slick as can be and so, come in slower and move more. BB is 13 in this video and this is the first year she played 14U, 16U and 18U. How I know how old she is is because of her batting helmet. This was her first year on the Tomahawks team. This batting helmet doesn't have a gold face protector that she will get the next year. For this summer, she hit .582 and her team played in 5 states. The following HS season, she would go 10-0 in the circle and hit well. (Edited, had another school year number here.)

FFS, if you have any video of BB from an early age, you can post it. As far as I know, I've shared almost everything with you. I do realize that you never had an agenda against me or her and so, might not have kept those videos. I'm sure someone else does have them. LOL! Heck, go ahead and post any video up to her 16 year old recruitment video if you have it.

One other thing, this video also has her pitching at the end. This was a typical night for us. You do not see her doing the Tee Drills with hitting. You don't see her fielding. Sluggers asked how much time we spent with our dds growing up. It was not uncommon for her to want to work 3 hours a night. I hope that when you see this video, you'll also take in her demeanor. She is not being forced to do this at all and I hope you get that from the video. BTW, I don't intend to be a bore. I was asked and so, will provide this video. I have a couple more I will share later. For those that view the video, you will see why I said she never matched the MLB Pattern. Still, she worked her butt off every night. I don't pretend she is perfect.





Edited to add:

BTW, when she is using the yellow bat, she hits me with the ball.

 

[justanotherguy]

Cannon,
What age would you say your DD got as serious as she was at 13+? My DD and I keep it fun. We're taking it easy now that we're at the end of the season. There are times we'll practice batting for an hour for every day of the week and other times just a few 15 mins sessions a week to keep the coordination going. I just don't want to ever over do it. She's 11 now. I've posted her over on BBD.

 

[Eric F]

Thanks for posting this, CB. A lot can be learned by a lot of people from her journey - the good and the bad. I have tons of respect for both you and BB.

As for "perfect", it doesn't exist...except in the make-believe world created by people trying to sell you something. IMO, the quality of BB's hitting can be easily measured by the numbers in the books.

 

[Cannonball]

Cannon,
What age would you say your DD got as serious as she was at 13+? My DD and I keep it fun. We're taking it easy now that we're at the end of the season. There are times we'll practice batting for an hour for every day of the week and other times just a few 15 mins sessions a week to keep the coordination going. I just don't want to ever over do it. She's 11 now. I've posted her over on BBD.

BB got serious at an early age but not about college. She idolized the HS softball team. In fact, she asked to have her hair cut and wore it like one of the players. We still refer to it as a "Katiedo." So, a school bus would drop her off at the HS in the spring and she'd run down to the baseball diamond. She had to go sit in the dugout and get her homework done. Once it was done, she'd grab her glove, yes, she had a glove at the school, and she'd be off to the HS softball practice. At first, probably in 6th grade, she had to stay on the outside of the fence early in the season to shag foul balls. Then, before I knew it, she was catching balls in the OF. Then, she was getting a couple of swings in when practice ended. By 7th grade very definitely, all she wanted to do was play softball and make the HS Team. She wanted to play for Coach Lewis. As a 7th grader, she started in the circle for the 8th grade and they won conference. She was easily the best player on the team. Her freshman year, she was better than pretty much all of the underclassmen. I can still remember the first time a college coach talked to her. She was shocked. She wasn't thinking about college. She was pitching in a 16U Tournament and they thought that she was 16. LOL. She has always been big for her age.

Bottom is a pic of BB after Freshman year playing 16U. She has just turned 15. The top pic is BB just a day or two after her 16th birthday and she is pitching against our rival school.

 

[Cannonball]

I have pretty much exhausted my search for video from when BB was real young. I have one old laptop that has a monitor that has burned out. I'm going to try to get a monitor and look to see what I have on it.

Anyway, this search was really interesting. I have read for hours some of the comments on some of the sites about her swing. (Ironically No video is up in those threads anymore.) One guru said that her swing was "amateurish and she will never have success as a hitter." Another comment was that it was good I've over looked my ego and posted her videos because she needs help to even play in HS. (Paraphrased that last sentence.) One person wrote that it was good that I asked for help and showed her video because she could never compete at the D-I level and only at a poor D-II. (Again paraphrased.) On one site, one poster said he didn't like her swing but did think that she was going to have success in college. So, maybe it is good that I can't find any of this old video. Wouldn't want to steer any of you the wrong way. LOL So, if I can't find anymore video, this thread will just die. I did try.

 

[Eric F]

BB's success is an example that there is more to hitting than matching video of someone else's swing.

 

[Cannonball]

BB's success is an example that there is more to hitting than matching video of someone else's swing.

That is very true. It is part athleticism, part work ethic, part having a plan when you go to the plate and part knowing your opponent. Also, one can't place a value on who you turn your dd over to. What happens to a hitter who has had good to great success at the TB level and then arrives at HS or college and the coach wants to make wholesale changes in their swings? Talk about mental torture. That would have been devastating to BB had that happened. There was the college coach who told her she had a "baseball swing" and so, had to make wholesale changes for her to play at his JUCO. She was 13 then and had been invited to this "showcase" because the people putting it on thought she was older. I'll never forget that same guy yelling at the pitchers because they couldn't reach 60 mph. He would yell, "If you are 16 years old and you can't hit 60, give up pitching and save your mom and dad's money."

 

[JJsqueeze]

I just can't figure out why she stopped pitching? from that video it looks like she was very good.

 

[Cannonball]

JJ, she was very good. 29-1 was her record if it was recorded correctly and not had some losses given to her after she was not the pitcher of record. Her school record was 29-4 if you count the 3 games that were scored in error. Many of you will run into that at the HS level. She didn't pitch her senior year. U. of Indy had her drop at 63 mph. They had her change at 52. They wanted her as a pitcher and hitter. Most other schools only wanted her bat. She was a center fielder as well and while slow, she has an amazing arm. She threw out 11 runners one year. Since no one wanted her to pitch, she asked if she could hit more. So, she did. When UMSL had some injuries, she went to coach and told him that she could pitch and win at their level. He told her that out of 18 players on the roster, she was 19th in line to pitch. LOL!

I haven't given up on this thread. I know one guy who I know has old video. I went onto a website to try to contact him and received a message that he has blocked me. I'm going to do my best to get in touch with him. I have no idea why he blocked me. I don't think I ever did anything to him. Anyway, that is my last option other than my computer that doesn't have a functioning screen.

 

[BobInMadison]

Actually, she could still pitch if she wants.

Realize, some people play softball for many, many years.

There are even some senior leagues, and I don't mean college seniors.

The biggest complaint I hear about adult leagues is lack of pitching.