Hitting and Hitters Discussion Hit for Power, or Slap for placement ?

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Just wondering how many coaches put all their eggs in 1 basket and focus on the longball, compared to how many focus on the short game.
At the 16U / 18U level, a good pitcher can possibly take a big stick out of the game or reduce her effectiveness.
Does a coaches philosophy change year by year? Should it ?

 

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small ball with speed beats power

 

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Personally, I believe any ball can be hit. How that ball is hit depends on numerous things. If you have a strong athlete with very good hitting mechanics, she'll hit for average and the long ball will take care of itself. If I have a speedster, my focus will be her short game and learning to move the ball around to all parts of the field. This to is dictated by solid mechanics.

 

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Well put shockwave

 

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It depends on the kind of team you have but I tend to have 3-4 long ball type hitters and 5-6 small ball players. I see at least 4 slappers on college teams these days. I think that the game is now to the point where you have to have a mix.

Situation also decides things too. Runners on with less than two outs, etc. I have seen a lot of girls who have struggled hitting and turning them around to the left to slap has worked for them. But that doesn't always work. Every girl should know how to bunt and I usually want most girls to learn the slap or drag bunt. You don't know how good they can be until they try it? I had a player last year who hit around .280 which isn't too bad.. A nagging injury led us to switch her to slapping and drag bunting from the left. She had always been fast. She ended up flirting with a .500 OBP. I wish we would have had her slapping earlier. So I highly recommend that you have almost all your girls at least learn and try it. There are a small percentage of players where that doesn't apply. No two players are alike so it comes down to a coaches decision.

Now when you get to the game it's all about situation. Whatever the case, I look at who is up to bat and what we need at that time then weigh strengths and weaknesses of that player. Are they in a slump, streak? You want to have them do what makes them most successful for that at-bat. I would never put a player into a position that I didn't prepare them for and didn't feel they could be successful. I want them to have confidence in what they are doing.

But like I said you can't know what you have if you never have your typical hitters try some slapping and you never know when a situation may call for it. You may even find they are more successful that way.

 

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Not quite sure how you take the big stick out of the game...pitchers still have to throw strikes and the effective big hitters at 16 and 18 know that....should be even more interesting this year as pitchers have to move back the additional 3 feet.......I would say this benefits both the hitters and slappers .....the more successful teams have a nice blend of speed and power........I have heard the speed and slappers beat the power hitters every time but ....if that is the case why are most "elite" teams always trying to pirate the big sticks off the uh... er... "whats your team name again" teams?
Teams that focus on one or the other speed vs power...set themselves up to be one dimensional.....some of the bigger bats I have seen out there spend quite a bit of time practicing their small ball game as well.......once the opposition learns that the player can hit with power or bunt the run in from 3rd do the corners play in or back....hmmm decisions decisions!
Just my opinion

 

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We teach our left handed hitters to become legitimate hitters with power and it starts with throwing and learning weight shift techniques from the left side.

We also teach our right handed hitters how to power slap after or during a bunt to draw in the defense so we always try to place a doubt in the minds of the other coaches. Our kids can hit a pitch 5 to 8 inches off the plate and we do not have a strike zone, we have a hitting zone. We practice situational hitting from both sides to increase the value of our hitters.

A test I have shown many coaches is I place a Tee exactly 11 inches off the back outside corner of the plate before I start working with them. I draw a line on the floor and explain they must step forward and hit the ball. Usually IF they hit the ball it is off the end weakly....most miss it completely! Then the education process begins

I think you need power and bat control and we have as good or better a chance of hitting the ball as they do striking us out...get on base or advance the runner and we have a quality at bat in our opinion. You as a coach must know what your players are capable of doing and who can do it when called upon. I always think the expression on a coaches face is priceless when they intentionally try to walk a hitter and they get a big hit off the walk. Most pitchers are taught to pitch out side. Why? Because most hitters can not or do not practice being able to cover the entire plate.

Howard

 

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I always go with the thought that bunting & slapping are tools of the game, along with hitting the ball, and not sole attributes for a player. Like Misstified's response i think all players should know how to use them in a game, you never know when the situation will call for it. With that being said, id rather have the high OBP gap hitter.
The tricky part as a coach, is getting yourself to call for a bunt with your big hitter up there.....

 

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There is really no right or wrong answer in my opinion.
A good balanced team has a mix of power and short gamers.

"My" perfect team, if I could put it together would have 2 or 3 big sticks with the rest being ultra fast (2.85 or better) slappers / short gamers. But thats just me.

 

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The tricky part as a coach, is getting yourself to call for a bunt with your big hitter up there.....

sneaky sneaky............

 

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sneaky sneaky............

You better not be calling one of my hitters BIG

I will tell her Mother about you Tiger ...I mean Tim! They both start with T :lmao:

 

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you definately have to have a mix of both power and speed a one dimentional team can always be beaten i realize that if they are very good at slapping it is hard to beat but if all you can do is slap then you can place defenders and pitch location to decrease odds significantly what keeps teams honest against slapper is the potential to have power with it

 

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Any "Big" hitter can be taken out of any game if the other team decides to do so. Either by knowing their weak point, or by just walking them if they have to. Regardless, every Big hitter needs to know how to execute the small game at any time and many do not know how to, of which should be a basic point of teaching at the early ages.

 

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My dd's coach says..." Big hitters can change a game , girls that can only get singles cannot . " I've always have had issues with many diff. coaches and parents that praise a player for hitting a homerun and only go 1 for 10 on a weekend , while other girls hit 6 or 7 singles out of 10 and almost nothing gets said about them. Just my 2 cents.

 

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My dd's coach says..." Big hitters can change a game, girls that can only get singles cannot . "

Wrong. Especially if the single-producing player is fast. At the risk of stating the obvious, we tend to think of "big hitters" as those with big RBI numbers and RBI's increase with runners on base. Singles hitters, bat control hitters who can sacrifice runners over, big hitters . . . they are all important pieces of a whole.

And why would you ever tell a girl who hasn't mastered the long ball that she can't change a game? That's not only factually wrong but psychologically defeating.

 

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6 for 10 and nobody acknowledges that...wow.....scratching my head on that one.........any coach wih any experience has that player in leadoff position right now......even if I see an opposing player hit that well I make a point of approaching them and letting them know how much their hard work has paid off...not just anyone can do that in a top line tourney...

A player who goes 1 for 10 and the one hit is a home run in my opinion is not a big hitter...she is not even an average hitter.......now a home run and 2 or 3 other hits makes her an effective hitter....and yes she can then change the game but only if those rabbits get on base ahead of her.......

I also think a "big" hitter can only be stopped if she is the only big hitter on the team.....thus my reasoning for a good blend of speed and power. If a pitcher knows any players weakness be they small ball or big hitters then either player can be taken out of the game........just walking a big hitter will not take them out of the game on even an average team, as they then become a potential scoring run or are you assuming that because they are a big hitter they are useless on the base path? I still stick by my thought that a one dimensional team limits their element of surprise.

 

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HIT FOR POWER........."You don't know the POWWWERRRRR....of the Dark Side of the Bat"....

 

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Wrong. Especially if the single-producing player is fast. At the risk of stating the obvious, we tend to think of "big hitters" as those with big RBI numbers and RBI's increase with runners on base. Singles hitters, bat control hitters who can sacrifice runners over, big hitters . . . they are all important pieces of a whole.

And why would you ever tell a girl who hasn't mastered the long ball that she can't change a game? That's not only factually wrong but psychologically defeating.

I completely agree with you cgs, slap hitters with lots of speed tend to put so much pressure on defenses and the really good ones can get a stud pitcher out of her rythmn. A BIG stick can just be pitched around, generally when they are on the base paths they dont change a catchers or coaches pitch calling like a really fast base runner.

I think a really good team needs a nice mixture of Slappers, control hitters and power.

 

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a couple years ago at 10u which any of you that know 10u know baserunning wins alot of games we were playing one of the top 2 teams in state in a scrimmage when nsa states was rained out was 0-0 game all the way threw got one really fast baserunner on she got in 7 pickles around diamond won game 1-0 now i know the older you get those girls get in pickles like that they will be out but have there are many instances where basehits change games i have seen more games changed in last 4 years by bunts and basehits than i have homeruns.

 

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I believe the game is changing. Small ball will always be important but I think it is shifting to a more power game. I am seeing less and less slappers filling the college ranks. The ladies are learning better technique hitting and fielding, working at it all year and overall getting better instruction. The pitchers plate moving back to 43 set it all in motion. I even recall a team last year in the NCAA that pulled an all american slapper for a freshman. It worked out as the freshman hit a 3 run home run. I see too many girls that are fast sort of abandon hitting for power and go 100% into slapping which I think is a huge mistake. Why not do both? In todays college game if you cant get the ball out of the infield you better be blazing fast.