Contact vs. Power !!

What are you teaching your kids ?? I have found out over the past few seasons that kids that try to crush the ball every time they swing are not as successful as those that swing through the zone, and try to contact the ball. I have actually sat down, and watched swings over this 2009 season,and observed how the head & shoulders ( not the dandruf shampoo ) pull out vs. a swing that is smooth, and stays compact through the zone. Mechanics,Mechanics, is what will make a batter successful @ the plate !!

 

I think you are on to something!

 

an aid for this

I have a traning device for sale called the shortstroke trainer if anyone's interested. Will help w/ tendencies to overswing.

 

www.thewhiphit.com

 

Not sure what anyone is teaching kids today because we do not see much of it with very few exceptions, but this is what Coach Dobbins teaches in Raleigh at Grand Slam and he is really good at it: http://scal.home.mindspring.com/swing.htm ...... One thing people do not understand about hitting is that it is allot like taking guitar or piano lessons. You can't go to a lesson and then go home and NOT practice and expect to be any good at it. It takes allot of practice, but when your DD gets it down it's sweet.

 

here is a novel suggestion, teach the batters to stay back, then the head and shoulders wont look like a wave coming in from the sea......

 

This is true. No lie, we have a small girl on our team that is little (short and skinny) hitting homers. No one ever thinks she can hit it out but she sure does :]. Her mechanics are great and this is why she hits homeruns! So contact def comes before power. Just wanted to give a little feedback! :]

 

I think it depends on the pitcher... we have one pitcher in conference where, IMO you will get ONE good pitch on avg to hit per AB.. for her its simplify and shorten your stroke. For others you can afford to get longer and try to drive something to the fence... game situation, pitch count etc has a lot to say about the equation as well.

 

Complex Art

I teach driving the ball where it is pitched, whether I'm working with a linear hitter or a rotational hitter. However, a hitter must realize that you can't drive a ball unless you square it up. So, you must have good contact. This not only comes from mechanics, but also from: vision, hand-eye coordination, timing, location, etc. When I watch hitters I will classify them as either an offensive hitter, or a defensive hitter. The offensive being one that appears to have a plan when they step in the box, the defensive being one that steps in the box in a reaction mode trying to put the ball in play and not strike out. Trust me when I say that there are more defensive hitters out there than true offensive ones. I say that to point out that while mechanics are very important, we should also be honing the hitter's mentality. There's more to it than "Just Make Contact" or "Grip It & Rip It".

 

one other thing...

the longer I am in this the more i realize hitting is about 95% mental and less about mechanics. Let me give you an example: I was working with the MS baseball team indoors with a high quality pitching machine last Friday. One of the OF'rs is a big strong kid but his mechanics are awful... way too much top hand. no rotation, no extension or finish. And on top of this he's a kid who isnt going to work at it for one second outside of practice. I had coached him for several seasons in LL and his swing had remained the same.

After telling him the same old things I had told him for years I finally just, to be brutally honest- got po'd. I started teasing him, telling him the common teen speak of the day that the machine "owned" ... well it made him mad!

Now this machine he was hitting off of is state of the art. It can thrown sliders. splitters, knucklers etc by adjusting a few knobs not the machine set up. We had it set up throwing some really nasty curves. I mean, you probably arent going to see a better curve unless you were playing D1 ball. Well after he got mad and started to focus this kid was ripping it! and I mean every pitch!

We have all seen examples of this in other ways on the ball field.

.. BTW.... after he finished a coach wanted to work with him on hitting thru the ball by using a deflated soccer ball (like the LB's used to do at 14 Guru)... well first soft toss he threw at him kid swung and missed!.. a soccer ball!!!

the best ones either in the field or at bat are the ones who can focus and concentrate.