Hitting and Hitters Discussion Girls Fastpitch Softball Hitting

[TheSoftballZone]

Your players must be talented -- these changes don't happen overnight -- the realization that there must be change can, but not the muscle memory factor to make it a game-ready swing -- continued good fortune

 

[TheSoftballZone]

Hi, folks,I'm not joining in to discuss hitting theory, much as I enjoy talking about hitting. I only want to say something to those who might be struggling with hitting, because I dislike discouraging words, especially when they are incorrect.I'm a dedicated hitting instructor, so am speaking from experience of working with many girls, of all experience levels and aspiration levels. The opinion expressed in this thread that a hitter must have the God-given ability to put the bat on the ball is flat out wrong (in its implication). There might be one percent of girls who have a physical disability that prevents normal eye-to-hand coordination, but the other 99% can hit just fine, thank you very much. Please do not get discouraged or hold your daughter down with low expectations due to comments like this. They can all do it. Just find a good instructor like that recent poster did, and watch her blossom! (By the way, I'm not talking about moving from a .100 average to .200. I'm talking about pounding the ball. Just anticipating the defensive response this is likely to elicit.) I'll also mention one other point, since it came from the same poster. A decent hitter can indeed get the proper instruction in one lesson and significantly improve her results on the field, right away. You still have to build the habits (as the big guy said), and that doesn't happen overnight, but it's amazing what these girls can do if they want to. That includes your DD. Please don't let anyone discourage you or her.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

Oops, I didn't mean from the same poster. Sorry.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

CoachDanWith all due respect to your experience and enthusiasm, there are differences in abilities that are much greater then the 1% vs. 99% you described. I believe all girls can improve on their hitting, but, if it is only a matter of coaching, reps, instructional tools etc, then certainly all the MLB team managers would have to do is put the names in a hat and draw them out for a line-up. Even on that level there are differences, there will certainly be differences here in Ohio softball land.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

Does anyone know which version of the RVP Glenn Mccoy is using?

 

[TheSoftballZone]

where is Glenn from?

 

[TheSoftballZone]

CoachDan, since your post was towards me, I will simply say thah you are 100% wrong in saying that 99% of the players have the same hand-eye coordination ability. Do you really think your players have the same hand-eye coordination of a Ted Williams or Barry Bonds? If so, I will congratulate you now on your forthcoming Gold National Championship...good job. Also, if you have the ability to get 99% of your players to world class hand-eye coordination levels, then I suggest you open up a hitting clinic as you will surely become a millionaire.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

Acquisition of dominant muscle memory (change in swing, or throwing mechanics) takes 10,000 reps according to Dr. Michael G. Marshall, he of the PhD in kineseology and 1974 NL Cy Young Award. UM coach Hutchins is a little more giving, citing 7,000 swings for that movement to be the dominant muscle memory.Regardless of whomever is more correct, it ain't happening in one lesson -- or 20-- it's more like a couple months for it to begin to fall into place.Sorry if that's discouraging. But I prefer to deal in reality.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

If you want to see a picture perfect rotational swing, look at page 4C of today's (Thursday) USAToday. There is a picture of Travis Hafner in the process of launching a 3-run dingier. A lot of people will look at a picture like this and think that by the hand/arm positioning that the hitter is being jammed. but to the contrary his hand/arm positioning is perfect...hands inside the ball with the back elbow slotted and his front elbow elevated putting his bat on the same plane as the ball. Note that he is rolled up on his back toe and the back leg is bent, so you know there is little weight on the back foot. Also, note that his front leg is stiff and he is rolling onto the outside of his front foot. This is due to the rotation of his body around a solid axis. Travis was 7 for 12 with 3 doubles, 4 home runs and 10 RBI in helping Cleveland take 2 of 3 from the Chisox...extra base hits and run production are the result of the effortless power that comes with the rotational swing. Kudos to John Gress of Reuters for the great picture.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

My former coach trained me with a softball swing and I couldn't hit a thing. My current coach has corrected that, and now in the 2 months I've been using a baseball swing, I've hit so much more consistently. A baseball swing is the way to go. Your bat gets around much quicker and you can make better contact with the ball. Having a big loopy softball swing doesn't get you those hard hit line-drives, just ground-outs and an occasional pop-out. Something that really helped me change swings was the instructo-swing 3000. It forces you to keep the bat inside the ball and you'll have great contact each time. It also comes with a series of drills; the muscle memory drill, the contact and concentration drill, the hands drill and the opposite field drill. It's a great piece of machinery. All in all, a baseball swing is the way to go.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

Bretman, I see your point, and the one glaringly obvious thing that I didn't take into account is even slow pitch players that are below average, seldom worry about striking out. I understand your point about quickness, but wonder if the reason we sacrifice bat speed is to be quicker, or is it for better bat control? I maybe am only talking about a difference in semantics, not sure. As I said earlier, I have never had anything to do with the slow pitch game on the higher levels, and I believe you when you say you have seen these strange gyrations etc. but the loopy swing that was talked about as being a slow pitch swing would not seem to me to be as a effective, or generate as much bat speed as a baseball/fastpitch swing.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

My personal view would be that the long, loopy swing with the arms fully extended would be a bad mechanic for either slow or fastpitch softball.I'm not sure how someone came to associate that type of swing with slow pitch, but it isn't the kind of swing I have seen used with much success in my years of playing and umpiring slow pitch.I wouldn't call that a slow pitch swing as much as I would call it a bad swing! Fully extending the arms at contact is generally refereed to as casting the hands and is something to be avoided. The longer swing with the hands extended far from the body will result in slower bat speed and less power.What the slow pitch player can do to increase total bat speed is employ more torso reverse turn when loading up and have more bat lag- that is, keep the hands back longer once the hip turn is initiated.While both of these might generate a higher bat speed, which is needed to launch a slow moving ball a great distance, they also will lengthen the time from load to contact (bat quickness) which can be a deadly flaw to the fastpitch player.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

Looking back through the archives I stumbled across this old gem. There is some great info posted about swing mechanics throughout the 4 pages, so enjoy.....

 

[TheSoftballZone]

i noticed what you wrote about fastpitch being played by men who were baseball players first...and i thought i wasn't the only one...
living in Texas, we were raised on men's fastpitch, it's what we did all summer, and if you asked all the weekend warriors they either played college ball or even AAA ball (one of the opposing shortstops on a rival team was lauded as being from the Cubs organization)..my dad included.but, i also noticed that to be able to catch up to those swings, many of the better hitters, went from less of a stride or kick like the major league's to more of a widened stance, quicker hands, but still rotating the hips for that burst of power. I also remember alot of flipping the wrist talk in the dugout bretman, wow, an ump who also knows his swing...very cool my dd's hitting coach (a college player who devotes her summers to her dad's 10u team) is all about the term box and that she was extending her arms in the zone...she's getting somewhat better (ie, more confident) but i cant help to think, if only we had played sooner..poor girl, 2nd year travel, first year 14's AND go from switch hitting to an only left-handed approach this year! I'm actually with bigtrain on this on (yes, i said WITH bigtrain) in that it takes 7,000 to 10,000 swings for muscle memory...so whatever method/approach everyone's DD does have, don't take days off during the week or even in the off season if you truly want to improve..or become those weekend warriors (thank god my dad didn't play winter ball or my mom would have divorced him years sooner!)this was a great thread,

 

[TheSoftballZone]

This is indeed a gem, and a very good discussion of old school vs enlightened hitting skills using great new technology that wasn't available until recently. After reading bretman's posts, I have to say that here is someone who gets it about hitting. I agree with all your past posts, bret. I invested in RightView Pro last year, and combined with Englishbey's stuff I also purchased, the results are simply incredible. I just got tired of listening to what I knew was bad advice. I'll be the first to say that I have only scratched the surface with understanding the complexities of hitting. I learn something new every day.There are NO SHORTCUTS. As a matter of fact, it's more work than most kids have ever seen. The difference is that it's SMART work, not just repeating the same bad swings. I use Englishbey's principles combined with the video analysis technology of RightView. They work great together as companion products. The pro clips that come with RightView show WHAT the batter does, and Englishbey's video explains in exhausting detail HOW they accomplish those mechanics - and why.The missing link in these products is the vision aspect - seeing the ball, knowing what pitch to expect, and recognizing a pitch that is breaking away from your hitting zone. There are professional seminars using numbered and colored tennis balls that address this, but to my knowledge they are very expensive. Does anyone have knowledge of a consumer version of this? Also, the (very important) mental aspect was mentioned earlier. If anyone could list the specific book or video, etc., that covers that, it would be greatly appreciated. My advice to anyone wanting to provide their kid a better opportunity for hitting success is to get on the bandwagon of today's teaching. But the results will only be as good as the effort you put into it.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

We haven't had a good hitting thread for awhile. This thread is almost two years old! Thanks for dragging this one up.When I'm not umpiring, I still play on a men's fastpitch team. That's why I've tried to keep up with some of the latest swing technology out there. Hitting has always been a hobby of mine, so I have books and tapes stretching back about 25 years. It is amazing to see how things have changed in that span of time!

 

[TheSoftballZone]

it's funny, bretman, down in Houston, you could find a mens fastpitch game going on most weekends and weeknights, you just had to know where to look...i was curious, and they are now more ladies fastpitch being sponsored than ever before....if my stomach weren't so big, I'd be there taking my hacks and trying not to wreck my knees!

Glen McCoy is working out of Pinnacle Sports, located on Route 18 in the Akron area. I can't say enough good things about him, as a hitting instructor and as an all around good man.

Both my daughters work with Coach McCoy, his coaching skills are some of the best. After a couple of swings he usually can pick out what they are doing wrong and will give them the drills to work on. 2 weeks ago we went in to Pinnacle with my oldest daughter ready to quit the game, slumps will do that to the confidence. We had not seen Coach McCoy since one of his tune up classes (about 7 weeks). Well to make a long story short that weekend my daughter did not just break out of a slump but exploded over the fences. She went 9 for 13, 2 home runs and 3 doubles she is much easier to live with!!!!!. We are believers! We tried to get in last week to see him but I believe he was out of town, we say do not share his skills with others! Just kidding.

 

[TheSoftballZone]

I dug this old Thread up, its from 2010. It was great Thread on Hitting. For anyone that remember the old Yabb Board Days of OFC-Ohio Fastpitch Connection, that was when the board was Black and Gold and Yellow.

What I'm doing is going thru that old Stuff I had manage to save over the years. I was doing a little math. And if it wasn't for the the lost of Post and Thread since OFC started we would well be over the 1,000.00 post and about 350,000 thread. I can't dig them all up but I'm slowly looking at the Gem I managed to save.