Starting Swing To Early

WHAT AGE ...

 

She is 17. She has had help with her batting and was hitting good then high school ball came. The coach wasn't happy with how she was hitting and screwed her up. I tried to work with her but I'm dad if you know what I mean.

 

Yep !!

You mean there is 2 us out there...my DD is 17, but she hits the ball well compared to alot her age, but the change-up usually is effective on kids with quick hands... she must bat in the top 4 !!

Guru

 

She normally bats in the 3rd 0r 4th position. If your daughters hands are fast how do you get her to wait on the ball to let it come in?

 

When I mentioned point of contact that is what she needs to know to start her swing on time. With the tee of course the ball is already at point of contact. Place a ball on the ground at the correct point of contact and then pitch to her from behind a screen close enough to be fairly fast. Tell her to swing only when the pitched ball reaches the ball placed on the ground.

Also, get her to swing late intentionally. Tell her to exaggerate her flaw by swinging way too early and also sometimes way too late.

Whatever you do, don't do like a couple kids I know were told to do. They were told to swing a heavier bat to slow their swing down. That is absolutely wrong.

The real key is learning where the point of contact is AND keeping the hands (and weight) back (don't leak) until she swings.

 

Mechanics & Timing

You must identify if the problem is in the timing or mechanics. I know you said she hits the ball well off the tee, and that is the case in a lot of instances. However when things are live, things seem to change a great deal. So mechanics are probably contributing, but I'd bet that she needs some timing help as well. I am in the Hickory area, and I would be glad to take a look and discuss further if needed. Drop me a PM.

 

Hey

I also use a ball on a rope and swing it at different speeds, that will help her see movement and adjusted speed !!

Guru

 

Hey, put the tee away and concentrate on timing period.
Go to a batting cage where she can see 3 or 4 different speeds of a "pitch" coming her way.
45 MPH cage will make a 17 look silly, no offense.
Mix in the 65 and 75ish gigs in the cage and then bounce back and forth.
Go back to the little league 45 cage and watch what happens.

No slander to the folks who are leaning towards mechanics training.
Without the proper mechanics, there's gonna be very little hope in being a successful hitter.

A tee drill is for mechanics, a horizontal moving ball is for timing.

 

if this were a timing issue she would be swinging and missing

she is hooking the ball, hitting the outside of the ball, not staying inside the ball... call it by any name you wish.

if you want to go to a hitting cage fine but hit nothing to the left of the pitching machine... I am not NOT talking about btw letting the ball get deep. I am talking about hitting the inside of the ball.

 

I suggested the tee solely for the purpose of making sure she knows where the point of contact is. The point of contact is the critical point here. If you swing too early that means the ball is not at the point of contact yet. I agree with the idea of hitting the inside of the ball, also.

He mentioned that his DD did not know at what point she was starting her swing. That's why I mentioned toe-touch, heel up, and point of contact.

Bottom line is she will not know when to swing if she does not know her point of contact. IMO, the point of contact for a down-the-middle pitch is somewhere between the front foot and the center of the body. Not the front of the plate because the batter isn't always in the same position in the box.