Hitting grounders

[NJSwampdragons]

During the fall my DD hit a lot of grounders. We’ve been doing the CamWood program, but she still seems to hit a lot of would-be grounders when we turn to her real bat.

Any drills or suggestions to help?

 

[Eric F]

The first things that jump out at me are the position of her torso ahead of her rear hip at heel-down, and a downward barrel path to contact. Some people will say this is what you want to happen. I'm not one of those people. For my DD, it's an immediate and predictable recipe for mediocre ground balls and pop-ups (depending on where on the ball she makes contact). One of the things I look at is my DD's head position compared to her rear hip. I want to see her head above her rear hip at heel-down/launch, and working behind her hip through contact.

 

[Rolling Hard]

She gets taller as she swing losing her posture.Therefore clipping the top of the ball.

 

[Eric F]

She gets taller as she swing losing her posture.Therefore clipping the top of the ball.

That, too.

 

[Towny9]

Not trying to be funny, but have you ever asked her to try to hit it in the air? Kids tend to organize their bodies around a goal.

 

[ArmWhip]

That tee is very high and she's still swinging down to the ball. What does she do on a low tee?

 

[NJSwampdragons]

That tee is very high and she's still swinging down to the ball. What does she do on a low tee?

I set it low today for some of the drills with the CamWood bat and she was mixed. Then when I set it higher after being low it was more line-drives.

 

[NJSwampdragons]

I’m think maybe it’s a sequence issue. Any drills to help with sequence?

 

[Shelia B]

I mean hey grounders are better than strikeouts lol. In all seriousness my youngest dd also struggled with the hitting a lot of grounders problem and let me tell you there is nothing harder than getting a defiant teenager to change their swing just slightly. She says that the hits work and we’ve been trying to get it into her head that the grounders work now cause she’s fast and can beat out most throws, but once you get into the older ages most grounders are a guaranteed out unless you’re one of the speedsters than can run 2.7 and lower. So either we’re gonna have to keep working with her or maybe she’ll get a speed boost when she’s older .

 

[ArmWhip]

Towny brings up a good point, what is her intention when she is hitting, both in practice and in games?

"The intention of the athlete is the driving force that regulates all movement. This is, without question, the biggest issue I find with young hitters. Far too often hitters are moving in very inefficient patterns, and when asked about their intention, they are “just trying to put the ball in play.” A quote from this article.

Coaching Baseball Swing Mechanics Part 2: Application

In part one of this blog, we talked about the difference between internal and external cues when coaching hitters. Here we'll dive into to application of

www.drivelinebaseball.com