Hitting and Hitters Discussion Help With Inside Pitch

[default]

Hello,

I was looking for some advice. My DD who played for one team last year and now plays for another team this year will be facing her old team this fall.
We have played them once and sense they know how well my DD can hit (.697) they always tell the pitcher to pitch to the inside of her.
She did not fair very well last time we played them (2 K's), I wanted to know if anyone had some good advice that I can pass along to her to help her beat the inside pitch.
I have heard that before the pitch she is to stand as close to the plate as possible, the when the pitcher starts her movement she is to back up away from the plate as much as possible to try to hit the inside pitch.

Any advice would be wonderful.

Thanks

 

[default]

Hello,

I was looking for some advice. My DD who played for one team last year and now plays for another team this year will be facing her old team this fall.
We have played them once and sense they know how well my DD can hit (.697) they always tell the pitcher to pitch to the inside of her.
She did not fair very well last time we played them (2 K's), I wanted to know if anyone had some good advice that I can pass along to her to help her beat the inside pitch.
I have heard that before the pitch she is to stand as close to the plate as possible, the when the pitcher starts her movement she is to back up away from the plate as much as possible to try to hit the inside pitch.

Any advice would be wonderful.

Thanks

ummmm....697 ba!!?? looks like she is doing just fine! The whole moving in out thing sounds like a nitemare,open the hips sooner to hit the inside pitch but there are plenty of other people on here that are better than me at hitting..p.m. hitter and he will probably help ya....Dang,697.. i would leave her alone

 

[default]

I'm sure she saw plenty of inside pitches while she was racking up that very nice BA. I would lean more towards her being mentally prepared to face her old team. She is most likely pushing to hard to "show them". relax, breath and put it over the left field fence. In other words, take it where they throw it.

 

[default]

Leave her alone.

If that was really her average than the last thing you need ot be doing is having her change.

If she knows they are going to pitch her inside then I suspect she just needs to anticipate that and turn on one.

 

[default]

Hello,

I was looking for some advice. My DD who played for one team last year and now plays for another team this year will be facing her old team this fall.
We have played them once and sense they know how well my DD can hit (.697) they always tell the pitcher to pitch to the inside of her.
She did not fair very well last time we played them (2 K's), I wanted to know if anyone had some good advice that I can pass along to her to help her beat the inside pitch.
I have heard that before the pitch she is to stand as close to the plate as possible, the when the pitcher starts her movement she is to back up away from the plate as much as possible to try to hit the inside pitch.

Any advice would be wonderful.

Thanks

I see from your previous postings that your DD is a 10U player. From her average it sounds like she has a great foundation; she is either athletic, has great hitting form, or both!

Her team from last year may be aware of a mechanical flaw and be trying to expose it. Maybe she has bat drag, casts her arms, or has a hitch -- it is hard to tell you what to "fix" without seeing her if this is the case.

Generally speaking, moving around in the box isn't that good of an idea. Maybe if the hitter has a pretty good idea that the pitch is coming inside, but otherwise you're setting yourself up to wiff on an outside pitch if you're guessing.

Better would be to practice hitting off a tee and setting the tee up in various locations on the inside part of the plate. She'll have to rotate a little more and she'll need to keep the hands in front of the barrel until contact. Even though she'll be swinging at the ball a little more out front of the plate, she'll have to wait a little longer to release the bat head in order to keep the ball fair. Practice, practice, practice. If she is a power hitter they won't want to pitch inside to her once she learns how to hit the inside pitch.

 

[default]

Going to start with the mental approach to getting ready to hit. I teach my students what I call the 3 dimensions of hitting.

1. Look inside and adjust out. In other words at set up their focus should be on the middle in on the plate. Why? Because that is the first pitch they have to react to and the one that will be on them the fastest. I then teach them to fish hook the hands around the hip. I do this by placing a tee inside and tight (Very Tight) to them and force them to develop the correct movement (Hand path/Hip movement combination) to hit the ball on the sweet spot. This will get them to turn on the ball.

This covers the Horizontal dimension.

2. Look High and Adjust low. It is easier for a hitter to focus on a ball up in the strike zone and adjust down to it due to gravity. If they are off balance they will never be able to adjust quickly to the rise ball and catch it flush. You can have too much knee flex and tilt in your stance. If you do you wont catch up to the rise ball in time at the higher levels of the game.

This covers the Vertical Demension.

3. Look Fast and Adjust slow. Always look fast but pay attention to the spin on the ball. It will tell you off speed if you study spins. Also pay attention to your pitcher. Often she will tip the change up by taking a little longer on the mound or adjusting her hands in the glove. Something I work on all the time with my pitchers to make sure they dont do that for a hitter.

This covers the demension of Speed.

Hope this helps.

Dana.

 

[default]

Going to start with the mental approach to getting ready to hit. I teach my students what I call the 3 dimensions of hitting.

1. Look inside and adjust out. In other words at set up their focus should be on the middle in on the plate. Why? Because that is the first pitch they have to react to and the one that will be on them the fastest. I then teach them to fish hook the hands around the hip. I do this by placing a tee inside and tight (Very Tight) to them and force them to develop the correct movement (Hand path/Hip movement combination) to hit the ball on the sweet spot. This will get them to turn on the ball.

This covers the Horizontal dimension.

2. Look High and Adjust low. It is easier for a hitter to focus on a ball up in the strike zone and adjust down to it due to gravity. If they are off balance they will never be able to adjust quickly to the rise ball and catch it flush. You can have too much knee flex and tilt in your stance. If you do you wont catch up to the rise ball in time at the higher levels of the game.

This covers the Vertical Demension.

3. Look Fast and Adjust slow. Always look fast but pay attention to the spin on the ball. It will tell you off speed if you study spins. Also pay attention to your pitcher. Often she will tip the change up by taking a little longer on the mound or adjusting her hands in the glove. Something I work on all the time with my pitchers to make sure they dont do that for a hitter.

This covers the demension of Speed.

Hope this helps.

Dana.

Wow! Very good info in plain english. Thanks!

 

[default]

Welcome.

 

[default]

Welcome.

I will add one more thing as far a tipping pitches.

At the 10U and 12U level many pitcher "cup" the change up. So when they start there wind up they show the pitch. They are trying to keep the ball on the palm and there hands are not big enough to do it without an exaggerated cupping.

You have to watch the pitchers. But often if you see skin at the bottom of the wind up it is a change and if you see all ball it is a fastball.

DISCLAMER- this is not 100% fact but there is a fair amount of pitchers that show. I even talked to a ex-college pitcher and she said that hiding the grip out of the mitt is a big deal. She said she struggled because her change grip could be seen so she slid her mitt over to hide her hand during the beginning of the windup.

When I scout other teams during tournaments my job is to see if the change is being tipped. Our girls are starting to get the idea. I am just not sure that 10U and young 12U girls are mature enough hitters to grasp and use this knowledge. Our old 12U team is all over this stuff. They are definitely starting to get the idea. So you may be giving the young ones information overload.

 

[default]

If your dd is a 10U going to 12U, she has grown a little bit and likely moved to a longer bat. Just guessing here; but I suspect that her toes are on the white lines of the batter's box. When she swings her hands travel through the strike zone and the meat of the bat is beyond the plate. Pitchers at this age are beginning to be able to pound the black of the plate and they will only get better.

Try stepping back from the plate and giving up the way-way outside pitch that isn't a strike anyway. Work the bat so that she has plate coverage and has a chance at the inside pitch.

When my 17 year old dd sees toes on the chalk she is throwing a series of screw balls inside. Your dd obviously needs little work on her swing if her average is as high as you say. Try something simple; just re-position her in the box getting a more balanced plate coverage using all of that $300 bat (not just the handle)

For gods sake don't let this get in her head and don't do anything brash; this need not be an intervention!