Mike Stith told me this...

[RADcatcher]

For reference of who Head Coach Mike Stith is, he is the head of the BAT BUSTER organization & top team head coach. He told me this story himself.
( I'm leaving out the name of the player because it's really about the story)

He said
He was doing weekly hitting instruction with a particular player on his team who is a very strong hitter. Very talented, productive top tier player. He had worked with her for over a year.
He said she did one thing in her hitting mechanics that he was trying to get her to stop doing. So time and again he would try to instruct her on how to remove /change doing that one thing in her hitting mechanics.

One day while Gary Hanning (another prominent coach in the organization)
Was watching and listening to the hitting lesson. Afterwards Gary had this conversation with Mike.

Gary said she is already one of the best hitters in the nation why do you keep wanting her to change that part of her mechanic? She is such an outstanding hitter just let her hit.

Mike Replied to Gary, you know pointing that out, you're right let her hit!
From that, Mike decided to back off commenting about the thing she was doing. And the mechanical thing remained.

*That player went on to be one of the top College hitters in the nation consistently for 4 years.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Got to tell us what that "one thing" was in order for us to determine if they made the correct decision.

 

[PJR202]

In hitting, just like pitching and many other sports, there are a lot of wonky styles or ways that wouldn't be traditionally sound mechanics. The common factor almost every time is that the critical spots are being hit. Hips, front side resistance, eye on the ball (or target for a thrower). Everything has critical points that need to be hit. What happens between those points may be less efficient, but arent necessary in order to get the job done mostly well. Ichiro, Bagwell, etc

 

[Orange Socks]

Not softball. Golfer Jim Furyk made quite a career with a wonky swing.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Not softball. Golfer Jim Furyk made quite a career with a wonky swing.

He had a weird swing BUT at contact he was in a pro position. That being said Paul Azinger (pro) hit a trapped hook and was quite different position at contact. I would say golf is different because the ball is stationary and timing not an issue but tempo and rhythm are huge.
Interesting topic:
Timing vs tempo vs rhythm?????
Does a softball swing gradually pick up bat speed reaching top/max speed at contact or at transition to launch full speed immediately?

 

[RADcatcher]

I would say golf is different because the ball is stationary and timing not an issue but tempo and rhythm are huge.

To that point would you say Hitting off a tee is also different?

Always prefer working on hitting with the ball moving because timing is critical!

 

[Comp]

Candrea had a girl he recruited that could hit anything. The first thing he did was try to get her to be more selective on what pitches she swung at and she immediately went into a hitting slump. He finally relented and told her to go back to swinging at whatever she wanted and her hitting slump was over. Every player is different and what may work for one will not necessarily work for another.

 

[Northball]

I don't fault Mike for trying. As coaches, we are always trying to help players improve. Until she bats 1.000, there's technically room for improvement.
So then it turns into risk/reward (improving vs. messing up the swing), and how to best spend your time coaching. Getting that .454 hitter up to .456 doesn't help the team as much as helping a .225 hitter elevate to .275.

 

[RADcatcher]

Candrea had a girl he recruited that could hit anything. The first thing he did was try to get her to be more selective on what pitches she swung at and she immediately went into a hitting slump. He finally relented and told her to go back to swinging at whatever she wanted and her hitting slump was over. Every player is different and what may work for one will not necessarily work for another.

Like that BOOM I'm a hit anything person also!

 

[Rolling Hard]

I strongly lean towards the hit everything, yes, yes yes approach. I also refer to this approach as pitching machine approach. When hitting off pitching machine the hitter is ready to swing at every pitch. Would much rather have a batter swing at a pitch out of the zone (can still result in a hit) than take a strike. (Can never result in a hit) I don't like taking strike one. Only against the best and fastest pitching where the batter maybe forced to pick one side of the plate is taking a strike understandable. Example: batter (that has been watching for patterns/sequences) and is looking for pitcher to start her off CB away and pitcher busts her with velo inside and she can't pull the trigger. Ok. Reset and guess again. Some batters, when out matched, may be better off taking and educated guess in order to give themselves a punchers chance.
Getting players to understand this is another can of worms.