What drills to do to improve my daughters succes at the plate

[FiveFrameSwing]

I understand the Barry Bonds drill involves hitting off machine pitched balls and moving closer each time the hitter has success. Not sure why you referred to this drill unless you think of the Bonds drill in another way.
Making this "soft focus" drill reflect real hitting as much as possible by the balls coming at the hitter from the same angle a pitched ball would come from. IE the hitter looking left (RH hitter) instead of looking forward(soft toss style).

TR ... do you have any video of this version of the Barry Bonds drill being performed?

Virtually every time I've seen this drill performed the mechanics of the swing broke down considerably ... I've even seen hitters with a healthy swing induced into using a poor OTT type swing ... which may be why video of the drill is scarce. If you have video of it then please post it.

 

[Eric F]

I see pushing the hands to contact. How would you teach this to avoid that interpretation?

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I see pushing the hands to contact. How would you teach this to avoid that interpretation?

Also notice the head down. Not good.

This version of the Barry Bonds drill is not being performed well ... but it is the Barry Bonds drill that I've seen used in many places.

IMO this version of the Barry Bonds drill should be about tracking. Simply an eye tracking drill. To me, it's a decent enough drill to use 'after' introducing the concept of a 'soft focus'. The goal should be more to catch the ball deep in the zone, and not perform an interpretation of a swing ..... as I repeat ... it is an "eye tracking drill".

The drill as I've seen it performed is the same, MINUS the head down movement and MINUS the push after the 'catch'. The drill as I've seen it performed concludes after the 'catch' as the hitter then prepares for the next thrown ball.

 

[tjintx]

The is definitely NOT what I had in mind. Funny, he tells the hitter the location of the pitch on the last throw(inside). It would make hitting so much easier if we knew where the pitcher is going to place the ball ahead of time



In my mind I pictured the hitter catching balls then immediately dropping them as another ball would be on its way.

I don't have any video of the other Barry bonds drill It sounds like a ballistic drill so I agree that mechanics are going to break down at some point. TR

 

[SBFAMILY]

The drill tommyroberstson posted is the only Barry Bonds drill I'm aware of , never heard of this other one. The only thing he left off was you also work in and out, along with closer.

 

[rdbass]

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/sof...301-where-would-i-find-barry-bonds-drill.html

 

[HOF86]

I see pushing the hands to contact. How would you teach this to avoid that interpretation?

This far from the Barry Bonds drill.

 

[Eric F]

This far from the Barry Bonds drill.

I was responding to the drill shown in the video.

 

[SBFAMILY]

rdbass I can send it to you if you wish. I think I sent Eric F a copy. It is basically hitting off a pitching machine and every time you hit the ball you take a step forward till you miss the ball three times then you take a step back wards. We also work on taking a step in and out to work on inside and outside pitches. That is it . Nothing fancy about it. Just a way to use a pitching machine better.

 

[PEPPERS]

IMO the drill SB is referring to helped DD get her timing down for the really speed pitchers, which she saw many in 18 Gold, some I would guess in the mid to upper 60’s. After doing this drill for a while, it was hard to throw a fastball by her.

The ideal way is to have a person feeding a machine like the Jugs softball pitching machine, making an arm circle to simulate a pitchers motion and feed the ball into the machine to simulate a pitch. Howard advised you did not want to get any closer than 15 feet for safety. Start at the back edge of home plate, each successful hit take a step forward and hit again when you get to the 15 feet marker start backing up until you get to the starting point. Speed depends on age and ability IMO the first few times set the machine at a speed the hitter can be successful as skill improves increase speed.

As SB advised also move in and out on the plate for inside and outside pitches, it helped DD a lot IMO.

SB if you have a better description than mine I would like to have a copy also.

Thanks SB