adjusting to pitching speeds

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We played a game tonight against 3 pitchers who I doubt hit 40- everything had some arc. ?In hindsight I should have just bunted all of the time- it was embarrassing. ?(Their starter is out for the year.) ?Unfortunately, tomorrow we will see a girl who throws in the upper 50's, and has a nice assortment of pitches. ?

We are going to try to get their early to get some extra swings- but what do you suggest I do? ?I can do some drop toss or pitch from behind, but we have nobody to throw batting practice. ?I can also throw wiffle golf balls from about 10 feet. ?

What do you think?

 

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I know this sounds over simplified and obvious, but after good swing mechanics, good consistent hitting is all about timing and seeing the ball well. It's about getting to the ready (toe touch) position with timing, and "seeing the pitch" into your hitting zone. Hopefully your girls have worked over the winter hitting a mix of change ups an fast balls. Nothing replaces live pitching for this. Soft toss, whether side or rear, has it's place for building good swing mechanics and/or bat speed, but live pitching is a must for timing work and vision.

I would choose the wiffles from about ten feet (wear eye protection). Toss a good mix of fastballs, change ups and off speed. Inside, outside, up and down. Actually try to strike them out. See if they can hold back on your change up. From 10 feet, you can just "short arm" your toss for a change up - they won't see it. Have them strive to hit line drives back at you NOT pulling left or right - REGARDLESS of the speed you throw. Then you'll know if their timing is early or late. If you have time, you can even challenge them by starting with a count.

I did this with both my kids - softball and baseball - and it worked wonders.

 

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Timing drop drill: I prefer standing on the ground and dropping the ball. I have seen people stand on chairs ladders and drop balls?do you ever see a ball fall out of the sky in a game coming from a pitcher? Why would you want the hitter?s eyes or head moving up/ down that much to do a drill when we would not want them to do this in a game?

Simply stand on the outside corner of the plate and extend your arm out and hand with the ball in it over the plate with your palm down. When you move your wrist down this is the cue for the hitter to start their load and continue to keep moving to hit the ball. Make sure the hitter is looking foward as if there is a pitcher in front of them and to look at the ball when they get to toe touch like they would if the ball is being pitched. The person dropping the ball can lower the starting point or raise it to try and make it more interesting for the hitter to time. We start on the outside corner and then up the middle and then inside.

If you know your hitters well enough you can drop inside or outside pitches without fear of being hit by the bat. Drop about 10 to 15 balls.

Another drill we do for timing is go to a cage or use a pitching machine....

Adjust the machine so the balls are at waist level over the plate. Have the hitter extend the bat over the plate and adjust so the ball hits the bat.

We start at 45 MPH then work 55, then 65 and start over. We are only hitting baseballs and do not hit softballs when at a public cage. If you have your own pitching machine use softballs.

WE start all the way in the back of the cage to simulate a low pitch and then take a step towards the machine after each swing until we are at a point where our hands can not be above the ball and then reverse our direction and start moving backwards. This allows us to see the pitches down to up and the up to down and changing speeds on each swing much like a pitcher works.

At a public cage DO NOT GO PAST the cage walls or it becomes a safety issue with other people hitting.

We do the same thing for outside pitches by simply moving off the plate to take it the right side of the cage wall and move in on the plate for hitting the inside pitch by taking the ball to the left side of the cage wall as right handers.

I have even had our hitters, i.e. as a right hander use a lefty fielding glove and catch the balls coming from the pitching machine to time it.

We also do this with our slappers to get them to track the ball better as we are working on their foot work also. We want them to track the ball to the glove with their eyes.

Hope this helps...

Howard