Opinions on Baseball-Style Swing in Softball

Oh no! Don't do that. We love it when we get to play "the rest"!

 

I have my daughter watch vids of Pujols and Manny and others who have flawless swings

as long as she has balance, her head stays still, some slight negative movement load, and keeps her hands in, and is thru the zone palm up palm down, then I'm happy... and let her hand-eye cord and ability take over

the female anatomy vs male anatomy stuff is ridiculous IMHO, coaches like to sell books and videos and come up with goofy sayings like that. You think tennis coaches teach male and female swings?

 

respectfully disagree, if you are teaching a swing based on gender anatomy, then you are overteaching

 

I have to agree with this. I think one of the biggest mistakes that many make is trying to clone hitters or pitchers. The best coach can look at each individual and refine whats there to maximize their talent. Watch a major league baseball game and out of the 18 players you will probablly see 18 different swings. as stated above all will have balance, head still ect. but most will have different ways of getting to the ball

 

Ditto

Absolutely correct. Many hitters are 'over-coached'. I think a lot of the dogma about 'female hitters' comes from youth softball. There you do have kids with very weak upper bodies. There are some things that may help these kids (just making contact) that, in the long run end up being negatives. The need for these approaches isn't there for older, stronger girls, especially at the collegiate level.

 

I have been saying for years there is no difference in the baseball/softball swings. I can remember when softball players were taught the technique of hitting their selves in the back which really shortens the swing. I believe that some people used to want to make softball so different than baseball they taught things just in an attempt to make them different.

 

The swing itself is the same but if you do not realize the differences in how you get there you are missing the boat. Female anatomy does play a role in certain things that are taught.

 

It may be anatomy or it may be the right brain/left brain thing. Most girls must be coached into utilizing their lower body in their swing. Lower body rotation seems to occur more naturally with boys.

 

Ding Ding Ding! Philosophies have certainly changed in the mainstream over the last 20 years. There have always been softball coaches who taught the same thing as baseball but 20 years ago those were few and far between. I myself have changed my hitting philosophy and methods as I have listened and learned through an 18 year career. I believe, as more and more baseball coaches have started coaching softball, the more accepted the swing is a swing philosophy has become.

There are certain principles in hitting either ball that are hard to argue with, although many still try. There also seems to be a new, middle ground in hitting circles that has emerged that is equally as wrong as the old squish the bug. That middle ground is hitting coaches who understand some but not all of the linear/rotational (I'll use the term lirational with credit to Blake Miller at Oregon for the term) concepts. As a college coach watching games across the country, I see a lot of girls who have some negative movement and try to drive forward but either open up their hips too soon or step flat footed and all of their linear movement stops and goes straight up. We have struggled with how to teach/correct this, even at our level. Finally, after working with our Kinesiology Dept we have come up with a method to teach our hitters to, "stay in their legs."

That being said, I think hitting has come a long way in recent years and the best thing a coach can do is never assume they know everything because once they think they have nothing new to learn or can't keep an open mind about different philosophies or techniques then they have stopped growing as a coach and need to move on to something else.

 

This is the key! Also goes for players!! Without that they're at a dead end. You have to be a student of the game.