To slap or not to slap

[thaase]

My daughter has a nice RH swing and is 10 playing 12u. Only issue is while her swing is sound at times struggles driving the ball in games. I doubt she will ever be a "power hitter" but able to drive the ball gap to gap would prob be good as she can pick it up the middle with a good arm. Rarely strikes out usually makes contact. She's 5' 82lbs very quick feet and a fast learner but wouldn't say she's fast. From the right side with simulated swing consistently 3.3 with occasionally a 3.2. My original plan was to stay RH see how summer ends up when she turns 11 and make the switch but afraid by that time may be too late. Had a slapping lesson today and picked it up real quick. I am thinking about working on both until we can fig it out as we hit RH at home but start the slapping as a back up plan. Bad idea??? Wish I had crystal ball to say she would get faster if 3.0 from left now be a no brainier. Thanks from a stressed out dad

 

[riseball]

I am not a fan of having kids start slapping at an early age (10U-12U). Sure they have great success at the early ages just putting the ball in play which earns them an infield hit or a base on error. But all too often they never develop the ability to hit the ball hard. Have seen some who are HS age who have no ability to the ball out of the infield much less deep into a gap for extra bases. There are few things more frustrating than to have bases loaded with 1 out and Susie Slapper comes up who cannot hit a ball to the the green on the fly.

That said I would move her to the left side and have her learn to actually hit first and slap second. Until she develops the ability to stand in left handed and drive the ball to the fence I would limit the slapping in games. Then once she has some power ramp up the slapping frequency. Because in the end you want a kid who is a triple threat not a one trick pony.

 

[thaase]

I am not a fan of having kids start slapping at an early age (10U-12U). Sure they have great success at the early ages just putting the ball in play which earns them an infield hit or a base on error. But all too often they never develop the ability to hit the ball hard. Have seen some who are HS age who have no ability to the ball out of the infield much less deep into a gap for extra bases. There are few things more frustrating than to have bases loaded with 1 out and Susie Slapper comes up who cannot hit a ball to the the green on the fly.

That said I would move her to the left side and have her learn to actually hit first and slap second. Until she develops the ability to stand in left handed and drive the ball to the fence I would limit the slapping in games. Then once she has some power ramp up the slapping frequency. Because in the end you want a kid who is a triple threat not a one trick pony.

Man that's my point exactly! Why I like the lady we saw tonight she puts a bigger emphasis on slapping and power slapping first for the reasons u describe. I'm seeing it now bunch if kids hitting weak groundball. I personally could careless about a batting ave now as long as they are driving the ball. I'll take an 0-4 with 4 line drive outs then 4 inf hits right now. Thnx for the reply!! Her biggest question mark is her speed

 

[BT3100]

My DD who is 11 (5/03') began working with a coach this fall one on one. The coach is a D2 head coach for a good program in the area.
She started to work with my DD on hitting from the left side as she was a right hand hitter. Three lessons in she was driving the ball hard from the left side. On the 5th lesson she began focusing on slapping and over the winter developed into a pretty good slapper. My DD is pretty speedy and her TB team asked if she would work on slapping as they need a good top of the lineup hitter.
I will say that 30-40 minutes of each 1 hour lesson was spent on the Tee developing a smooth stroke and countless hours of happy gilmores to get the feet work right
I think that 11-12 is a good age to start to develop switch skills as once they hit 13-14 it's harder to teach a new plate approach IMO.

 

[DiamondDad316]

Can anybody recommend any good slapping videos and/or YouTube videos? There are a lot out there and trying to narrow the search.

 

[thaase]

My DD who is 11 (5/03') began working with a coach this fall one on one. The coach is a D2 head coach for a good program in the area.
She started to work with my DD on hitting from the left side as she was a right hand hitter. Three lessons in she was driving the ball hard from the left side. On the 5th lesson she began focusing on slapping and over the winter developed into a pretty good slapper. My DD is pretty speedy and her TB team asked if she would work on slapping as they need a good top of the lineup hitter.
I will say that 30-40 minutes of each 1 hour lesson was spent on the Tee developing a smooth stroke and countless hours of happy gilmores to get the feet work right
I think that 11-12 is a good age to start to develop switch skills as once they hit 13-14 it's harder to teach a new plate approach IMO.

Just curious why the switch to left? Take advantage of her speed? Or hoping for more power lefty than RH

 

[marriard]

My daughter has a nice RH swing and is 10 playing 12u. Only issue is while her swing is sound at times struggles driving the ball in games. I doubt she will ever be a "power hitter" but able to drive the ball gap to gap would prob be good as she can pick it up the middle with a good arm. Rarely strikes out usually makes contact. She's 5' 82lbs very quick feet and a fast learner but wouldn't say she's fast. From the right side with simulated swing consistently 3.3 with occasionally a 3.2. My original plan was to stay RH see how summer ends up when she turns 11 and make the switch but afraid by that time may be too late. Had a slapping lesson today and picked it up real quick. I am thinking about working on both until we can fig it out as we hit RH at home but start the slapping as a back up plan. Bad idea??? Wish I had crystal ball to say she would get faster if 3.0 from left now be a no brainier. Thanks from a stressed out dad

I have concerns - you personally don't think she is fast and she has a decent swing already. At 10 years old you have no idea what kind of hitter she is going to be even 12 months from now. My DD went from being a getting the ball out of the infield, contact hitter in 10U to smacking it off the wall in 12U in less than 12 months and she is not what you would consider big physically.

I also don't believe you switch until you KNOW you have a mature player with elite speed. Until they physically mature, you have no idea if they will have the speed needed to be truly successful at slapping. I am not a big fan of those that switch before 14U or even 16U because average speed slappers are not in high demand and going back to being a 'regular' hitter is going to be really tough. There is plenty of time to switch - I know girls who have switched in 18U and college or have had success. You are certainly not going to be late at switching because you didn't do it at 10 years old or even 13 years old.

That said, if you decide differently and go ahead and do it, I am big believer that when you decide to go over and go lefty slapper you do it 100%. No more right side or switching mid-at-bat. You go do it. If she bats .100 for 6 months before getting good at it, then so be it. Alternately, forget it and work more on her regular hitting and see how she matures over time.

 

[RetiredCoach]

I am not a fan of having kids start slapping at an early age (10U-12U). Sure they have great success at the early ages just putting the ball in play which earns them an infield hit or a base on error. But all too often they never develop the ability to hit the ball hard. Have seen some who are HS age who have no ability to the ball out of the infield much less deep into a gap for extra bases. There are few things more frustrating than to have bases loaded with 1 out and Susie Slapper comes up who cannot hit a ball to the the green on the fly.

That said I would move her to the left side and have her learn to actually hit first and slap second. Until she develops the ability to stand in left handed and drive the ball to the fence I would limit the slapping in games. Then once she has some power ramp up the slapping frequency. Because in the end you want a kid who is a triple threat not a one trick pony.

I think that this is right on!

I will add that kids in the 10-12U age range should not be put in cubbyholes. And that at the higher levels, if a slapper does not have outstanding speed, their usefulness is limited.

 

[thaase]

I have concerns - you personally don't think she is fast and she has a decent swing already. At 10 years old you have no idea what kind of hitter she is going to be even 12 months from now. My DD went from being a getting the ball out of the infield, contact hitter in 10U to smacking it off the wall in 12U in less than 12 months and she is not what you would consider big physically.

I also don't believe you switch until you KNOW you have a mature player with elite speed. Until they physically mature, you have no idea if they will have the speed needed to be truly successful at slapping. I am not a big fan of those that switch before 14U or even 16U because average speed slappers are not in high demand and going back to being a 'regular' hitter is going to be really tough. There is plenty of time to switch - I know girls who have switched in 18U and college or have had success. You are certainly not going to be late at switching because you didn't do it at 10 years old or even 13 years old.

That said, if you decide differently and go ahead and do it, I am big believer that when you decide to go over and go lefty slapper you do it 100%. No more right side or switching mid-at-bat. You go do it. If she bats .100 for 6 months before getting good at it, then so be it. Alternately, forget it and work more on her regular hitting and see how she matures over time.

Thanks for all the info guys I completely agree on not sure what's going to happen. There's a young lady I give lessons to at 12 hit like a .165 now one year later is an absolute beast and crushes like u said less then 1 yr. we actually talked about it last night and she said how much she liked slapping. At this point we agreed to keep working RH and time permitting work on LH like u said never know may get faster. Basically let her have a little fun with it and let's see what happens. Time permitting is the funny part. Thnx again gentlemen