Mallory Hitting Help

[rdbass]

Serious question.

Give Mallory advice.......Here I'll help get you started....
Core....now go.......

 

[CoogansBluff]

I like the use of bringing the pitching machine out on the field.

The hitter should take the time to observe the flight of each ball. The path of the ball never lies. Learn from it. You want line-drives. Mistakes in terms of grounders or fly-balls with too much air will happen and should be 50/50 (not a dominance of grounders or a dominance of fly-balls). In other words, you want something like 50% line-drives with 25% grounders and 25% too much air.

What speed would you recommend that makes the 50-25-25 both challenging but realistic for this age group?

Also, does a swing/miss count as too much air?

 

[seedamin]

One thing I noticed and this was an issue for my DD, which is why it caught my eye, is that she wants to try and pull everything. If you try to pull an outside pitch, it will end up as a chop or weak ground most of the time. DD's hitting coach has been working with her to sit back and let those come further into the zone and push them to the opposite field gap. Its really helped.

 

[straightleg]

Bustos 3 set dvd's and or RVP Instructional tape for fastpitch have a lot of good information on them.
Even though I teach the same mechanics to boys and girls, I approach the girls a little different, and focus on a couple different body parts more.



Straightleg

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I like the use of bringing the pitching machine out on the field.

The hitter should take the time to observe the flight of each ball. The path of the ball never lies. Learn from it. You want line-drives. Mistakes in terms of grounders or fly-balls with too much air will happen and should be 50/50 (not a dominance of grounders or a dominance of fly-balls). In other words, you want something like 50% line-drives with 25% grounders and 25% too much air.

What speed would you recommend that makes the 50-25-25 both challenging but realistic for this age group?

Also, does a swing/miss count as too much air?

I use the 50/25/25 guideline for front-toss to game-like pitch speeds. For game-like pitch speeds I like to get the timing correct for a range of speeds and maintain the objective of squaring balls for line-drives.

A swing-and-miss is a non-squared ball. There should not be a lot of these.

 

[go4um]

One thing I noticed and this was an issue for my DD, which is why it caught my eye, is that she wants to try and pull everything. If you try to pull an outside pitch, it will end up as a chop or weak ground most of the time. DD's hitting coach has been working with her to sit back and let those come further into the zone and push them to the opposite field gap. Its really helped.

I sorta agree about the pulling but my perspective is that it is caused by the back arm taking over the job of finding the ball instead of the front arm moving the bat into collision with the ball and the back arm just helping to turn the barrel. The result of the front arm finding the ball is the "stay inside the ball" with a big hitting zone swing so that hitting oppo doesn't require a push.

 

[Buttermaker]

Hey, you are the one posting pictures with the awesome advice of "can you feel the difference between the 2 swings"

I was asking a serious question. Why would you use that clip? Do you want the upper body folding over the front hip like that clip shows?

To the OP - my advice is to ignore that clip. He is big strong kid that uses his upper body to swing the bat.

Instead - I would ask Mallory to get her back elbow up more in her set up and add in a little front leg cock to her swing before she strides out. My cue would be to try and get the front hip under her belly button as a way to engage her core as she cocks the front leg and to try and keep the core engaged until she feels like she needs to swing - then relax the core muscles to swing. Then try and re engage the core (grunt if you have to) right at contact.

I think her swing is not that far off.


Instead -

Give Mallory advice.......Here I'll help get you started....
Core....now go.......

 

[marauderssoftball]

[video=youtube_share;5iMIO5zLeR4]http://youtu.be/5iMIO5zLeR4[/video]
(Video is not publicly listed, let me know if you'd like me to take it down. Easier to share this way!)

I could go into more detail below but I decided to shorten it up before I got to into it!

1
I start from her warm-up swing as this is where I first caught her shooting her foot out and then bringing it back. The circle shows where her foot starts.


2
This is where/how far she shoots it out.


3
Then she places it right back where she started. This seems small but it shows that she has no negative move to build up power and that her stance may be a bit too wide. My advice is to shorten the stance so she can step fully forward or keep the wide stance and lift the front foot straight up then place it back down in the same spot, not kick it out forward. I’d also like to see her front leg firmed up here, not bent while the back leg is in this position.

Her back knee is fine here but I highlighted it because.....(see #4)
Walkthroughs off a tee (Hitting Drills - YouTube)
Have her watch her swing

4
She straightens her back leg and her front leg up and locks her knees which takes her weight/power and moves it up and not fully into the ball later on. This move up can be fixed with a negative move and better heel plant/weight distribution.
Elvis drill (Hitting Drills - YouTube)
Rolling Front Toss (Hitting Drills - YouTube)

5
This (green line) is where her initial centerline/weight is centered.


6
The yellow line shows how far she moves her weight back (not far apart enough in my opinion).


7
Then she re-establishes her centerline as the pitcher is about to release (first red line).....
Don’t do this!

8
Then moves backwards again....
Don’t do this!

9
She kicks her foot out......


10
And then moves her front foot backwards as her body is trying to move forward. The back knee her is in a good position but the front knee should not be bent. It should be more firm.

Notice the height of her head here and her back knee.....
Remember her front foot should be fully planted before she starts her swing. This will also help her hit off-speed pitches as it will give her time to recognize the pitch. It will also help her timing.

11
Now her head is higher which shows which way her weight is going (up and away!) as both legs lock up.
Body should move backwards/forwards like on a skateboard, not up and down.

 

[rdbass]

See I got you started...core.....

Instead - I would ask Mallory to get her back elbow up more in her set up and add in a little front leg cock to her swing before she strides out. My cue would be to try and get the front hip under her belly button as a way to engage her core as she cocks the front leg and to try and keep the core engaged until she feels like she needs to swing - then relax the core muscles to swing. Then try and re engage the core (grunt if you have to) right at contact.

my advice is to ignore that clip. He is big strong kid that uses his upper body to swing the bat.

My...MY... you're saying that because the boy is stronger ignore that gif. I would never tell my DD that.

 

[rdbass]

Do you want the upper body folding over the front hip like that clip shows?

You mean like this. To funny....