Hitting question on low pitch

I know you all have heard people say "she really golfed that one"..."he really went down and got that pitch"..."it looked like a 3 iron shot"..etc. How do you guys teach a hitter to hit a low pitch? I am talking at the knees are just below the knees. I have heard people say to bend over more from the waist, bend your back knee more, and/or just throw the bat head downward. Looking at pro baseball players it looks to me like they drop their back shoulder and drop the head of the bat downward also. How do some of you guys/gals teach it?

 

....good thread chacha. only thing i can say is however a batter goes about reaching a pitch, success will start by keeping your head still.

my wife just said move back in the box and take the pitch for a ball.
i said that her comment was pretty cool, and did she have any other advice......so she told me to take the trash out and quit talking during her show on TV.

Be right back

 

Tilt

This is something I'm studying as we speak. It seems like every time I think I've settled on a style to teach I learn something that makes me adjust.

I made that comment to someone a few weeks ago and they told me their style had always been the same over the years. They said they followed Candrea. I've come to notice that Candrea changes also. That's actually a good thing.

The more I study hitting the more hitting seems to be not very different between baseball and fastpitch. And that's a very good thing!

I think you'll find that the answer to your question is "tilt." Not to be confused with dropping the shoulder; although they look very similar to the untrained eye. Here's a very good link:

http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/olympic?z=9&l=0&c=4&n=1&m=24&w=4&x=0&p=15

How are Olivia and Alex doing? Tell them I asked about them.

 

Thanks Phreak...please expand on "tilt".

 

Tilting as I understand it basically is bending at the waist and angling at the shoulders and keeping the bat parallel with the angle of the shoulders to reach the ball with the bat.

The higher the pitch is in the hitting zone the more level the shoulders and thus the swing. The lower the pitch the more angled the shoulders. This has the effect of hitting line drives over the infielders instead of hitting the ball downward.

With those thoughts in mind, look at the video clips. Notice also that even if the pitch is not very low there is still a fair amount of tilt.

 

good videos...

I've had those saved for my daughter to use as examples for a while.

One of the things I've noticed with the "power" hitters in softball is the obvious effort to lift the ball. This is where the "tilt" comes into play. With baseball players this would be considered a mechanical flaw... basically teaching a kid to hit fly ball outs. You would much rather see a boy learn to hit line drives and, if his power develops, the homeruns will take care of themselves.

One of the big differences in baseball and softball is the field size. As a boy grows in size and age, the field increases in dimension. With softball, the girls are on the same sized field for their whole career with the exception that the outfield fence moves back around twenty feet (220').

If you take two high school seniors, a baseballer and a softballer, and they both "lift" the ball with their swing. The odds are the baseballer on average will hit the ball around 300" and on most high school fields that's a flyball out. The softballer on the otherhand, if she has some strength, will be hitting the ball around 250" and will be trotting around the bases a lot!Which of those two will most likely go on to play in college?

In pro baseball, especially in the "roid" age and in conjunction with the smaller "hitter friendly" ballparks, there has been a focus on lifting the ball. Now, with fewer players on the "juice" homerun numbers are down (and more realistic!) and teams are re-learning to win using speed, high on base percentage, moving runners, defense and pitching... real baseball!

Oops! Let me get back on track... If a girl has some power, teach her to get some lift on the ball when she hits. If power isn't her game, hit linedrives and run like hell!

 

simple stategy that I use

Focus on what most players understand, CONTACT vs new body mechanics...

Let the head of the bat (sweet spot) follow the flight (break) of the ball.
They (the girls) will understand that the sweet spot has to square up with the ball. I am guessing that this is pertaining to a drop ball or drop curve??

Plane of the bat through the hitting zone does not necessarily mean it is parallel to the ground. That's what a drop ball pitcher wants you to do, thus hitting the top of the ball and on the outside of the ball, resulting in a weak ground ball.

All the tilting, dropping shoulders, etc will happen naturally if you emphasis this mechanic. Simply put, let the head of the bat follow the break of the ball.

Of course, you also have to teach them to recognize the pitch....

 

I just love this stuff, especially when folks know what it is you're trying to do and sometimes put target on your back. But get all the finger pointing and nay saying in while you can because when a DD gets it down your pitching will be toast.

 

Does great pitching still beat great hitting?

 

That's a the million dollar question! I remember watching the NCAA World Series once and there was this one team who had this phenomenal hitter. The other team would always pitch around her because she was just so good. I think it was Arizona but I can not remember. But they won it all. The things is I would think the odds favor the good hitter, because if an outstanding pitcher makes one mistake it's over, and everyone knows that if you can not hit you can not score runs.