Hitting and Hitters Discussion Rotational hitter popping up

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Greetings everyone, Long time lurker who just joined the group today 9/29/09 I have sent a PM to Hitter, but wanted to ask the question here also. We are teaching my 11year old dd rotational theory hitting, and recently she has started on occasion to hit major league popups instead of line drives, any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

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If you have any video of your DD that would be helpful. Otherwise we're just guessing.

 

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Howard will surely have a longer more definative answer, but as a short answer to your question: Assuming that your DD's other mechanics are good, then "finishing HIGH" should greatly decrease the amount of Pop ups.

We teach a slightly upward swing on the ball and finishing the swing high.. I have seen a big decrease in the amount of pop ups with this. One of the reasons, which I explain to my hitters, is that if you strike the bottom of the ball, normally causing a pop up, but have an upward angle through the ball and finish high, you will drive the ball rather than pop it up......

 

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gmd-- welcome aboard . my kid has this problem occasionally , esp with low strikes. The backside collaspes and her shoulders get UN-level. A slight tilt is propably OK (I'll let the experts have their say on that) In the pic of my kid (my avatar) you can see this slight tilt. We even noticed when doing tee work that her head was tilting on that low strike. We told her to keep her head still , go nose to the ball (this keeps head down at contact) . And don't drop the back shoulder so much.

Now if I could just get that front foot to close up some ........ good luck --the replies should be great. We all love hitting. MD

 

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As MD said..........welcome to the madness, First thing I look at is the starting positiion of her hands at load if they start to high she,ll have to drop them to get at the ball, and when they drop the back shoulder will go with it....... but like Cshilt said without actualy seeing it, this is just a S.W.A.G................ for you non Ky folk thats ........Scientific wild a$$ guess..........

Tim

 

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In college I was a rotational hitter and didn't find much success because of this tilt. I started working with an ex-major league baseball player who was opposed to sticking so definitively to rotational (as am I NOW), but one thing he had me do for my "tilting" problem was freeze after every swing and fix my tilt. It seemed non-productive, but I started noticing my body naturally wanting to end correctly. He believed that if you could get your body to start right and finish right it could take care of some of the problems in between. It helped for a while.

The only recommendation I can give, however, is don't pigeon hole your daughter into only finding success as a rotational hitter. It takes an extremely strong FEMALE to hit with power this way as the pitchers start to develop more velocity and movement. As a rotational hitter I hit with little power and for a decent average. When I started combine both the linear concept (transferring weight) while allowing my backside to rotate as needed for the inside and outside pitch I found much more success and even groundballs started tensing up the infield because they were hit so hard.

Hitter is a great person to talk to.

 

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Fire in the hole !!!!!! LOL MD

 

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Lemmings unite. Lead us from the dark side of the rotational swing.

 

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Whatever happened to keeping it simple??? I understand all of the hype about hitting systems ( this olympian uses this system, this player uses that, etc..). I have seen too many good hitters screwed up because parent or coach ( or both) thought they could improve even more with a new system. Why fix it if it isn't broke. More than likely if your kid is struggling to hit, there is something wrong with the basic fundamentals of their swing ( hand position, stride length, etc.). Try fixing that first. There are plenty of drills you can use to make your kid a better hitter. Don't get me wrong, I am not bashing the programs because I have seen the positive results as well, but I think that too many are using this as a quick fix instead of going back to the basics first.

 

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Thank you, BigKahuna! My middle daughter made a rather good travel team, and one of the perks was some "elite" hitting instruction. The batting instructor told her she couldn't even breathe right, and if we gave her about, oh, 50 lessons at $50 a pop, he'd fix her......Took a legit over .600 lefty w/power and turned her into a screwed up mess who was worried about every aspect of her swing except actually making contact with the ball. I don't care how Crystl does it, or Natasha, or whoever--bat has to hit ball square while on a good plane, with chin on ball, and while unlocking hips--then good things happen. In just our six years of travel, have seen 3 different and difficult ways to hit the dam- ball being taught. Bug crushers, rotators, no striders, exaggerated strider, right-views, etc. I didn't realize how much batting had evolved since I played in college 25 years ago----

 

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good points ! (does this jeopardize my lemming status ?)

 

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Must have misunderstood the original poster, could have sworn they were asking for thoughts on an open forum about a problem with pop ups from a rotational hitter.....

 

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Whatever happened to keeping it simple??? I understand all of the hype about hitting systems ( this olympian uses this system, this player uses that, etc..). I have seen too many good hitters screwed up because parent or coach ( or both) thought they could improve even more with a new system. Why fix it if it isn't broke. More than likely if your kid is struggling to hit, there is something wrong with the basic fundamentals of their swing ( hand position, stride length, etc.). Try fixing that first. There are plenty of drills you can use to make your kid a better hitter. Don't get me wrong, I am not bashing the programs because I have seen the positive results as well, but I think that too many are using this as a quick fix instead of going back to the basics first.

I agree which is why we say lay the foundation to hitting in our clinics...balance, strength and grip. What we think is unusual is most male coaches do not even understand how the female balances! Then watch them throw and ask who taught them NOT to release from the back side and then ask them why their arms hurts when they throw. We showed this to 24 Ohio Hawks Coaches and did a Static clinic and we teach throwing first to show and so they will feel a linear weight shift. A mother at the Static Clinic made it a point to say my daughter knows how to throw and we came here to hit! After 45 minutes and during lunch she came up and apologized saying now she saw the difference and her daughter was throwing more accurately and her arm does not hurt her at the elbow or shoulder.....

I would ask you what you consider to be the basics and share with us what you think works. I have not seen a quick fix either and it is like building a house and you must lay a foundation and the girls work differently than the boys and it is usually never taught so they can see it, feel it or fix it.

Thanks Howard

 

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Thank you, BigKahuna! My middle daughter made a rather good travel team, and one of the perks was some "elite" hitting instruction. The batting instructor told her she couldn't even breathe right, and if we gave her about, oh, 50 lessons at $50 a pop, he'd fix her......Took a legit over .600 lefty w/power and turned her into a screwed up mess who was worried about every aspect of her swing except actually making contact with the ball. I don't care how Crystl does it, or Natasha, or whoever--bat has to hit ball square while on a good plane, with chin on ball, and while unlocking hips--then good things happen. In just our six years of travel, have seen 3 different and difficult ways to hit the dam- ball being taught. Bug crushers, rotators, no striders, exaggerated strider, right-views, etc. I didn't realize how much batting had evolved since I played in college 25 years ago----

Why did you let them change anything if you knew how to do it or what should or should not be done in the first place?

For me I think using the techniques that the best female hitter in the world uses works pretty well. You can pick and choose who you go to and what you want her to learn and from who ever teaches what technique you think works. When it comes to hitting I will stick with Crystl and for slapping Natasha, Lowe, Berg, Topping....in my opinion.

Howard

 

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MD and fastpitchrox............ its not to late all you have to do is walk twoards the light.....click your heels 3 times and repeat theres no system like RVP

 

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i think my words did'nt relay what i meant - I'm firmly in the camp of what Howard teaches. my intention was to say some discussions on hitting evolve to the point that an advanced degree in kinetics and physics are needed. Not pointing a finger at anyone . Just threads on hitting can get very very detailed and it's hard to follow some times. MD (see ya this weekend BD )

 

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Wow, First I want to thank all of you who took your time to help a perfect stranger, but from coming to OFC for a number of months I am not surprised, I don't have any video yet, only still pictures taken from the dugout. But she has just been invited to play for an "A" bracket team as a guest player this weekend, so I will tag along as a dad not coach with the camcorder and shoot some video. Most of the response is leading me to a shoulder alignment issue, which makes sense if she is still trying to figure out the swing plane of the pitch and not just uppercutting, that may be why it doesn't happen all the time. Patrick Hunter

 

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Howard,

I don't claim to be a great hitting coach, average at best. But what i do know is that I agree with you in your keys to hitting. I am more the type to tweek what the girl is doing. I do know that I would like some info about your next clinic, hitting and most specifically throwing. My daughter has a good arm but not long into the season complains her elbow hurts. She has had surgery on both (not ligament or cartilage related) but I have to believe your techniques can certainly help. Any info you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!!!!

 

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Howard,

I don't claim to be a great hitting coach, average at best. But what i do know is that I agree with you in your keys to hitting. I am more the type to tweek what the girl is doing. I do know that I would like some info about your next clinic, hitting and most specifically throwing. My daughter has a good arm but not long into the season complains her elbow hurts. She has had surgery on both (not ligament or cartilage related) but I have to believe your techniques can certainly help. Any info you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!!!!

We will be in Zanesville this weekend and the thread is in the general section and back in Cincinnati Oct.24 and 25....I will PM you.

 

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"The proof is in the pudding"

All that you have to do is talk to the parents and players who goto Howard. If thats not enough then just look at their before Howard numbers compared to their after Howard numbers. No doubt that these girls have to do their part when it comes to working on the technique to be successful at it...you only get what you put into it just like anything else. I think we need to add a new abbreviation to the stat sections of the scorebook. "BH" for before Howard and "AH" for After Howard...lol. How ya doing big guy?

Sonny