Hitting and Hitters Discussion SLAP PUNCH and HIT

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The BUNT and all its forms......... I have worked and worked to see our players can just put a bat on the ball and put it into play. I have to give a high five to the ladies who are willing to do this at anytime for the teams. With a great deal of practice I still have players not completing this task in games but great in batting practices.

I know some players are the natural queens of the batters box and some just want out as fast as the walk into it.

I have a plan to make it manditory, participation in a bunting clinic before the 2009 season with a goal of 500 attempts. Too Harsh??

I would like to know how other coaches and trainers work out the bugs when it comes to a player split in exicuting their skills. A true Night and Day effect from players in Practices and Games.

 

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well one thing in practices you usually are throwing right down the middle from a person or a machine so they can practice it. Move it around a bit, in, out, up, down during practices too. Not sure about the 500 piece, but make a contest out of it in placing where it lies for points and stuff.

 

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Everyone needs to know if you can't lay down a bunt you won't play for most teams. Crystal Bustos had a good one liner about bunting that got us all laughing at our last camp.. Even she was required to Bunt by Candrea . It's a very important part of the game that many parents do not understand. Sale it, Practice it. I play golf. So I tell the kids you see many at driving ranges, only hitting the driver. You see the good players using all the clubs and the short game wins most golf matches the same as softball.

 

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We do not use a pitching machine for batting practice however we use it for timing and rhythm and for slapping and bunting fundamentals.

Make sure who ever is feeding the pitching machine gives the timing and rhythm by holding a ball in the feeder tube with the left hand and then has a ball in the right hand... as the right hand goes back and then starts up have the hitter load and at the top of the arm circle or K position feed the ball in the left hand into the tube. ( This keeps the delivery of the ball smooth and game like verses fumbling with the ball trying to get it into the feeder tube and the hitter having to step twice etc. )The hitter should be at toe touch at least when the arm is at the top and prior to the ball coming out of the machine.

We start the hitter further back than where the umpire sets up and after each swing they move forward one step until the ball is above the hands and then we reverse taking a step backwards until the ball is just below the height of the knees.

We also do this by having them step away from the plate to simulate outside pitches and then crowd the plate for inside pitches.

We feel it creates what we term as a swing DNA by allowing them to see a pitch from low to high and making them adjust to the speed on every pitch.

I think the previous post about practicing in a way that makes it game like to prepare them to do it in a game when they have to execute is critical and builds confidence they can do it under extreme circumstances by working down to up and up to down and changing speeds on each step helps them to learn how to dance with the pitcher.

 

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Everyone needs to know if you can't lay down a bunt you won't play for most teams.

I'm probably repeating myself (advancing age makes it difficult to remember what I said yesterday, let alone what I've posted in previous years), but SBFamily reminded me of something we overheard when our DD was playing 12U. We were at Zanesville. The Finesse 16U team had just completed a game that they had WON and they settled themselves fairly near us to have their post-game breakdown. The coach said in a very controlled but emphatic voice: "You need to know that the next time a girl makes a face in response to the bunt sign, there will be an immediate opening on this team for that girl's position." Back then Finesse was a really dominant force and DD's eyes got real big when she heard that statement. By the time DD was 16 she had pretty good bat control and most of her coaches had given her the green light to bunt on the 3rd strike if the situation made a surprise bunt appropriate, so I guess she took the Finesse coach's statement to heart.

 

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Players have to believe in it before the short game is effective

 

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Warning this is long winded so the internet police stay calm!
This is some of the information we pass out at clinics....

"Get the hitter to believe in their abilities and not go up to the plate thinking if I am going to hit the ball but where is the defense going to give me the greatest opportunity to hit the ball so we can advance the runner or get on base!" Howard Carrier

"Baseball and softball is a game played by kids however it is orchestrated and run by adults and adults do not like to loose especially to kids or other adults!" Howard Carrier

I think Mike Schmidt said it best, "You must focus on your execution and not on the results. You've got no control of the results only on the execution. Tension comes from fear of failure, one thing you must learn to cope with in baseball; you will fail more than you will succeed."

You can hit the ball perfectly and the defense makes a perfect play, we hit the ball and executed properly, so let it go and do it again the next at bat but let it go for now, so it doesn't effect your attitude or emotions, let it go and now go play defense and focus on your execution not on the results. Do not dwell on what you just did poorly let it go!

You can not go back in time even for even a millisecond and you can not change what just happened, deal with it and let it go, so it does not effect how you play the rest of the game. We can work on it at the next practice not during the game so stay focused on the here and now.

Remember when coaching or teaching and there is a difference in my opinion, some people learn by hearing the spoken word, the written word and pictures and others by using all of the above. Some of our players have learning disabilities and are dyslexic and don't want others to know about it because they don't want to feel different or ashamed and the parents help hide it because the coaches over react when they find out.

You often wonder why some players miss the signs? Take a player behind the dugout and give them your signs and see if they truly understood it. After you have done the entire team you can make your own decision. Don't make a spectacle of that player however see what you can do to help or how you could communicate differently to help.

I know one pitcher who is dyslexic and it is an issue with getting the signs from the catcher. Live in their world for a second and understand how frustrating it must be not understanding the signs. If the catcher and pitcher can work out the signs in a way they understand it then we all win! Getting signs from the third base coach is also an issue as well when the pitcher is a base runner.

The pitcher is not stupid; she just see things differently than others. It would be a shame not to use her athleticism to your advantage as a coach. I have heard coaches call the pitcher stupid and they laugh it off and say they are having a blonde moment.

That is not fair to blondes either.

 

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We are going to work on all of the phases more than ever. Last year we faced the eventual state runner-up and when the corners charged within 10 feet of the plate my catcher laid down a perfect push bunt for a hit. In our sectional last year with a runner on second the corners came about half way up and my 3B had a slsap bunt over the pitcher's head. While most batters did not buy into these different techniques, these two key examples proved how valuable these tools are, and I am going to insist that they do their best to master these skills this year, or I will pinch-hit.
We also chart "Quality at Bats". We give a six for the deep solid line drive, a zero for the strikeout looking with scores everywhere in between. As mentioned above, you can have the perfect hit but the defense can be in the perfect position.

Also, have any of you heard of the gizmo you put the leg of the pitching machine into that rotates the pitches? This could take away the groove of the pitching machine pitches. I don't have it, but want to investigate it.

 

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The Gizmo? Sounds interesting do you know who produces or stocks it?

 

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It is called the Swing Zone Pitching Machine Accessory. You attach it to a leg of a tripod machine. Here is where I heard of it: http://www.softballexcellence.com/Detail.bok?no=252

 

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Pitching machines. We use the Griffey Drill. Make sure you move up, then back , inside and outside and never take more than a few pitches in the same place. This will represent different pitches to hit. We also hit baseballs, not softballs.

 

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Question on machine speed... What is the distance for which the speed is set- for example, if I set my machine at 60mph, is this 60mph for 40 feet? I typically set it up a little closer, and if I do the Drills as suggested, and move the batters distance, what can I say they are facing? I know it really doesn't matter as long as I can get them to develop a good swing at fast pitching, but I am just curious.

 

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If the pitching distance is 40 feet set the machine at 36 feet in my opinion and be sure to give rhythm and timing to the hitter as was covered before.

Varying the speed is not an issue as much as timing and rhythm and location adjustments so if the machine is set at 60 MPH they make the ball quicker by moving forward and slow it down as they step backwards.

This way you are making them adjust to location and speed on every pitch and when they reach the point that the ball is above their hands reverse the direction and go backwards and again you are adjusting on every pitch.

We even have the hitters as a right hander use a lefty glove and catch the ball out in front of them tracking the ball to the glove with their eyes and to get a sense of rhythm and timing as they are using their hitting mechanics steps and reaching out with their right hand to actually catch the ball.

This is a great drill when converting a righty to a lefty also.