Hitting question on low pitch

Pics and clips

Couple of pics
pic1 Vernon Wells.... notice that the Bat angle / shoulder staying perpendicular to the spine angle... There is your "tilt" as someone mentioned.

pic 2 & 3
pic 2... Amanda Freed and Lovie Jung. Shoulder angle and Bat angle are close to parallel.

Pic 3-4-5 Sequence of swing
Becky Marx.. Univ of Michigan. Bat head, low through the zone, finishing very high. She is still "inside" the ball. See link below for gif file if this is not working. picture 12
http://imageevent.com/siggy/hitting/olympic


Pic 6.... Ortiz Shoulder angle and bat angle parallel

If you follow the pitch down with your bat head, and keep your shoulders parallel to the swing plane. then everything works like swinging at a pitch belt high... Maintain those athletic angles...

 

Exactly!! I referred to it as tilt; bat angle parallel to shoulder angle is a more accurate detail description.

I believe when "swing level" is the main instruction is where the problem comes in. When one thinks in terms of "level" there is a tendency to visualize the bat parallel to the ground. That would be the case for a pitch at or a little above the hitting zone but the lower the pitch the greater the bat angle/shoulder angle should be.

Of course, with an improper swing, there will be a lot of sliced hits when bat angle is used. But even that is better than a top-sided ground ball.

 

That is one way to view it but by walking the batter, doesnt that really say the batter won the match up? They are, afterall, a runner now.

 

That's true; until she becomes LOB. You don't get any runs for that.

 

My point, exactly

Hitters like Cochran are so rare a good pitcher can usually pitch around them. Yes Cochran wins the battle, but the good pitcher almost always wins the war.

 

great thread...........

.......... Been following all day. Everything that has been said is true, but CD nailed it.... keeping your angles, bat head and shoulders, your swing should be pretty much the same on any pitch. Stay inside the pitch where ever it is and go after it!

 

.......yes, if the "great pitching" team can score atleast one run.
No, if the "great pitching" team gives up atleast one more run than they can score. HaHA
Softball pitching has been and always will be the key to staying IN A GAME, not necessarily winning the game.
The old saying, a batter can fail 70% of the time at the plate and be successful.

Going Bluefin fishing in the a.m. gotta go.
Fishman

 

Swing Plane

Most hitters will tend to upper cut on a low pitch trying to lift the pitch instead of trying to drive tru the ball by swinging down tru the pitch, if I am throwing front toss to my hitters and the pitch is low, I encourage the hitter to swing down tru the ball and the result is a very hard low line drive that is a seed tru the infield, now if they time it just right, they can get some lift to the ball as well, but that should be a nice little extra than the desired result. If your trying to get loft in your ball carry you need backspin, to get backspin you need to hit the bottom half of the ball and tru it, if you are upper cutting it will be very difficult to get backspin on a low pitch. Think about all the pop-ups to the infield and now ask yourself if the swing was a drive tru the ball swing that just missed the mark or is the swing taking an upper path to the ball and getting the bottom half only to go straight up. Unless your playing slowpitch homeruns and light tower power should be a mistake while trying to take some-ones glove off, either in the infield or outfield. Widing your stance will also give you a better chance at driving the low pitch, upright stances will lead to more uppercuts. Remember too that baseball players can get away with an uppercut swing due to the fact the ball is coming down hill. Good Luck on your quest.

 

Sorry if I hi-jacked this thread earlier. It was totaly by mistake, but it kind of took on a very interesting life of it's own. It's been a fun read.

I've heard the 70% of the time at the plate a batter can fail and still be successful, and I've also been told that good hitting will tear up a good defense and pitching is part of that defense.

But all things equal I don't think there is a wrong answer. Not when you can have a DH, or a RP be a World Series MVP. I'll still like the hitter though.

 

Pitcher's game

I agree pitching is key to having a winner but someone has to catch her and unless she strikes out 21 batters, some one has to field the ball. A great pitcher can lose if the other eight do not do their job. If you have speed, can bunt and steal, you can sometimes scratch a run even against the best. We have scored without hitting a ball out of infield!