Psychology of young hitters

[southpaw coach]

I have been using video to analyze our 12u girls and find it interesting that girls with good mechanics hitting tee, soft toss, and even off a machine act radically different when faced with a live pitcher.

With live pitching many girls revert to dropping their hands (after loading and just before swinging), stepping out (regardless of pitch location), and pulling their heads off the ball.

What is the best way some of you have found to get kids to bring their good mechanics into the batters box when hitting a live pitcher?

 

[dbias]

I use tee and softtoss to work on mechanics and the pitching machines for bunting. there is no substitute for live pitching though. Actually it is a good use of time. The pitcher, catcher and batter all get a workout and for the most part i try to run it like a real game by calling balls and strikes and keep track of it, even indoors in a cage.

 

[southpaw coach]

We do a lot of live pitching at our indoor cage. My point is that these kids KNOW what they are SUPPOSED to do mechanically (and prove it with the tee work or hitting off a machine) but behave differently and deviate from those mechanics with a live pitcher. I suspect the psychological aspect is fear of getting hit or fear of failing in a live situation.

What is the best way to get them to bring their proper mechanics to the batters box when it's live?

Perhaps if I can start by getting them to stop dropping their hands. If it is fear of getting hit by the ball, I understand why a player would react by stepping out. What I can't understand is why she would drop her hands (causing an upper-cut swing).

 

[PEPPERS]

When we practice hitting we have a hitting station where we practice nothing but stepping into the box and being relaxed. Believe it or not you have to practice being relaxed, tight muscles are slow muscles. Step into the box, rhythm and movement a deep breath exhale, and you’re ready to hit.

 

[southpaw coach]

Interesting. That's the kind of feedback I'm looking for. Thanks!

Now, does that help them bring the proper mechanics in to the batter's box?

 

[FPMark]

It's real easy to focus on what you want to do (hit the ball hard) with no pressure. The difference is can they perform under pressure. You may need to teach them how to stay relaxed and comfortable in a game like peppers suggested. But some of the problem could also be fear of failure/ disapointment.

Teach them to go to the plate with a plan for what they WILL do, not what they DON"T want to do. The mind is a funny thing. Under pressure a lot of people's goes into a defensive mode. The player will focus on the wrong thing and you can throw all the propper mechanics out the window. It's more of a survival mode. "Please!!.. DON"T let me strike out!!" and what happens? Their focus goes to not letting the ball cross the plate in the strike zone, instead of hitting into the gap, hitting behind the runner, hitting a sac fly, or whatever the team needs.

Relaxing and taking a deep breath between pitches, focusing on what you WILL do, and knowing that you have a good swing and can do it will lead to better comfort at the plate, and improved mechanics and success.

 

[Ivy's Dad]

Nothing beats practicing live pitching to hit live pitching. My DD and I practice in the back yard often using the plastic "wiffle" balls. I pitch from approximately 20 feet so the reaction time is about the same as a pitcher throwing a softball from 40 feet. I do get hit now and then, but the plastic "wiffle" balls are pretty light and only sting a little.

I find that the most important thing in hitting is confidence. My DD expects to get a hit every time she goes to the plate. That's the mindset every hitter needs to have. This can be developed in practice. I start off with easy pitches down the middle. I gradually make the pitches harder to hit (low inside, low outside, etc.) until she starts to miss the ball, then back off on the difficulty until she's hitting every pitch again. It's important to practice hitting balls in the difficult parts of the strike zone, but it's also important to have a high degree of confidence when stepping to the plate. This approach seems to be working well for my DD, but YMMV.

 

[fastpitch91]

Tee work locks the eyes in too close to the plate; the ball on a tee is static, of course. The hitter needs to decide to hit "in front of her." The hitter also needs to practice on less than ideal planes and locations.

I use a modified T work drill (once basic mechanincs are set) that is adapated from Howards red light drill. I place a secont T with a ball 15 feet ahead of the T with a string connecting he forward T to the "hitting T". I paint lines on the string to give it a pattern. I then have the girls focus first on the front ball follow the string in and then hit the ball. I also add a third T about 6 feet out that I can use to "bend the string" to simulate a curve, screw, rise or drop ball by adjusting the middle T relative to the hitting T. A combined eye training, focus and hitting drill. Now the final step is to position two strings from the middle to two hitting T's ( eg a curve and a screw) and have the hitters switch backand forth between the two.

Live pitching is great but with a typical team of 12 girls, 2 pitchers, its not realistic to have enough pitchers to give the rest of the team any meaningful amount of reps.

 

[SBFAMILY]

The T is your friend. Unless you practice over and hour a day hitting off a T, you will never have good mechanics. We had over 100 kids at our clinic this weekend. They all knew they were coming to a hitting clinic with Bustos. We asked the ? how many swung a bat in the last week 7 times? 6 times? on down. Few if any had even picked up a bat. That is when she told them about using the T . That even elite players like her hit off a T more than an hour a day. Hitting off a machine is used for timing doing the Barry Bonds drill and never for working on the swing. Having them hit live pitching with bad mechanics is crazy. out of 100 kids 90 of them couldn't even throw correctly and we think they can hit! We asked them and all told us they knew how to throw.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Working off a tee should include tracking mechanics by looking through the net and tracking the ball to the tee.

A drill we use is too put the ball on a tee and then stand at a safe distance away from the net on the opposite side. Use only tennis balls or even a rag ball and go through the pitching motion without the step/ stride and as the tennis ball or rag hits the net the hitter tracks the ball and hits the ball off the tee keeping their head down after contact by looking at a rag that is glued inside the tee.

DO NOT USE a softball while tossing the ball into the net as you could throw it almost perfectly and the hitter could hit it perfectly and the ball collision could rebound back to you. Use some common sense and it is safe in our opinion.

Front toss is better however you may not have the space and this works very well as to timing and tracking.

We teach tracking by having them look forward to the red light or a mark on the wall and getting a good two eyed look. To prove they are looking at the ball/ pitcher release point we modified a liner out of a construction helmet and put that on the hitters head and ask them to look at the pitchers release point. We then attach a telescoping pointer with a soft golf ball pointer on the end (this pointer was used prior to the laser pointers being invented).

It clearly shows the they are not turning the head far enough towards the pitcher release point. The nose is a good indication the head is not turned far enough. Now actually turn the head further and they usually feel discomfort in the neck and shoulder area. Simply have them move the back foot towards home plate an inch at a time until the dis comfortable feeling goes away. Usually about 2 to 4 inches does it. TSW termed this a 5 to 10 degree open stance. When standing in front of a mirror you should be able to see the white area around the lead eye or the head is not turned far enough. Think of using binoculars correctly and then if you moved the right eye piece further you would not be seeing the the ball with a good two eyed look.

The only kids we have using a closed stance have all had lazy left eye surgery. Most are even or slightly open based on body type and eye socket type.

We turn our head first or what is termed giving the head a head start and the eyes will lock up on the ball and the eyes move faster than the head can turn and we track the ball better. It is termed vestibulo ocular reflex.

Howard also uses a strobe light to demonstrate it at his garage. Those who do not use this method of tracking can not hit a ball when soft tossed and you will see the bat go over the ball and miss the ball by less than a quarter of an inch.