Hitting and Hitters Discussion What would you work on first?

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This video was from last year (9u), but her swing hasnt changed much if at all. I apologize for the crappy resolution, but it was taken from my phone. I know she has problems with drag, rotation, finishing off the swing. But where would one start? [video=youtube;AT8NzEV3pFQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT8NzEV3pFQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
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How well does she throw over hand? Does the back foot release?

She appears to be over striding and weight shift is not forward as it looks like the front knee is locked out.

Howard
 
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I would work on her grip 1st. I'm betting since the back elbow is up she is not lining up her door knocking knuckles, if she does that should pull the back elbow down so she has the upside down "V". 2nd I would try to work on a toe touch instead of the long stride. 3rd I would make her hold her bat behind her at her waist and hit balls off the tee to get her hips rotating. 4th I would put a plunger in the tee and a half deflated basketball on it to work on her follow through, be careful with this make sure she doesn't hurt her wrist. Lastly give her something to focus on to keep her head down on the follow through. I usually use a red wiffle ball at the front, outside corner of the plate.
 
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Feet first...balance. If ok, posture or her ready position...grip, bat angle, her proper toe touch, her separation, and her hands drop so hand path work all off the tee. Her back foot doesn't look like any weight shift is occurring and her stride seems wide but without seeing a better shot that's where I'd start.
 
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Looks like her back elbow is up hig. Arms should be angled making a roof or pyramid shape. Also looks like her hands are below her shoulder, have her hold the bat up higher.
 
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Agree feet first but can't tell much from 2 seconds. That's all that's playing on mine. But also she looks like she has a casting swing with her arms. Meaning she gets too long too quick. And it didn't look like any arm extension. Honestly didn't have time to see the feet.
 
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Just went and looked at it over and over. Doesn't look terrible for 9 just a few small adjustments that look like she will pick up quickly. She just isn't weight shifting rather leaning back. Have her focus on keeping her nose over her belly button and shifting her weight forward. No lean either way. Start there feet didn't look terrible right now but you can have her come up on her back toe more to help with the shift too and not squish the bug and not leave her weight back on that bak foot.
 
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If she can not shift her weight to hit she is not going to throw over hand well.

The glutes do not fire the female ACL. Their ACL works more like a ball joint and the males work more like a hinge.

The hamstring is the main stabilizer for the ACL and most females the quad is over developed. However they can be taught but it is just how they are designed.

Unless they learn too step on a flexed knee to throw you will find it difficult to stride to a flexed knee when you hit.

This is why most hitters pull the ball and can not hit outside pitches.

Ask Kavin about how important throwing is at the college show cases. It makes the college coaches look twice when they are above 60 MPH.

In my opinion you will have more success when you teach the throwing mechanics first and then teach them how to use a hammer. Balance can not be over stressed enough.

I do not recommend the behind the back drill as it causes the back foot to spin verses the weight going inside the back leg.
 
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Thanks for the replies. Alot of good info here. To answer or to explain a few things. As far as her grip, she does line her door knockers up, she has religiously done this for 2 or 3 years. I do agree with having her hands down too low. She starts out pretty decent, then when she "loads" the hands drop, rather then taking the knob to the ball. I also agree with her extension, but, does she need to come to extension at contact or just after contact? I just now started to have her use her back knee (driving it toward the back of the front knee), I think this has helped her instead of her trying to use her back foot (bug). Throwing wise, she does pretty well, we worked on that during fall ball. She still opens up a lil too much on the throw, but the power is there. She plays 3rd, and throws a line drive to first. Manitou Dan sent me a msg offering some lessons, I think we may just have to take him up on his offer. She has improved since this video was shot. She has her weight centered more over the middle part of her body, we've shortened her stance (just a lil) and her stride up by over half. I just think I need someone with a little more experience to fine tune it.
 
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Watch this video excerpt... it covers this topic very well!!

At about 2minutes 30 seconds she (Crystl) goes through the steps and it clearly shows when to roll them over...right at 3 minutes she finally rolls the wrists.

Crystl Bustos's 7-Step Process to Hitting DVD - YouTube



Bustos - 7 Steps

  1. Ready - Standing relaxed in the batter's box
    • Measure off of the plate with the bat from the second outside corner of the plate, place the stride foot at the end of the bat.
    • For most players use a slightly open stance, shoulder width apart. We can measure by placing the back foot instep against the ball of the stride foot to get a visual of the offset we're looking for.
    • Get a good grip. Hold the bat down as if you were holding a golf club. Open your hands, now grip the handle with the middle two fingers of both hands, just letting the pinkie finger and index finger close loosely around the handle.
    • Bring the bat up to rest on the rear shoulder with the hands below the chest.
    • Look ahead to the pitcher. Head level with both eyes forward. The pitcher should be able to see "white" on both sides of the iris.
  2. Set - When the pitcher is ready to start her motion, we get into our hitting stance
    • Bend at the waist, soften the knees. The order is important. Bend slightly over, but not past the toes. Take the knees towards the toes without the hitter's waist "sitting" down. The weight should be on the balls of the feet and the hitter should feel more pressure on the big toe of each foot. Some may need to turn their feet slightly inwards, or "pigeon toed" to achieve the feeling. There should be almost no weight on the heels or pinkie toes.
    • Elbows up. Bring the elbows up, lifting the bat off of the shoulder. The forearms will form the shape of a triangle. The hands should be at least as high as the top of the back shoulder and no higher than the ears. The bat should be at approximately a 45 degree angle, bisecting the head. She should be able to tap her ponytail with the barrel of the bat.
    • Keep the head level and eyes forward to the pitcher.
  3. Separate to Toe Touch - Stride and "walk away" from the hands
    • As the pitcher's hands separate and the ball gets to about the 12 o'clock position, we perform a slight load by turning the stride foot knee slightly inward.
    • As the ball is released, and prior to traveling half way to the plate, we stride forward onto the big toe of the stride foot. The stride foot heel is still off of the ground at this point.
    • While the hitter strides forward the hands "stay" in the same place, as though she were "walking away" from them. The rear elbow should elevate slightly while the elbows of both arms maintain the same distance apart. The hands should be at, or slightly behind, the rear shoulder's armpits.
    • The bat should remain "slotted", or continue to bisect the head.
  4. Elbow-Knob-Box
    • As the stride foot heel drops, we push off of the rear foot's big toe which lifts the rear foot's heel.
    • While the rear foot's heel is lifting, we turn the triangle shape of the forearms into a box by keeping the lead elbow above the level of the hands while simultaneously lowering the rear elbow into the "slot" position (just in front of the hip).
    • Although it is a pass-through position, the top hand will be stacked over the rear elbow or slightly ahead. If the hands are behind the rear elbow we get "bat drag", which is undesirable.
  5. Release to Contact - Rotate as needed and take the barrel of the bat to the point of contact
    • Think about rotating the belly button to the location of the pitch; toward the second baseman on an outside pitch (RH), toward the pitcher for an up the middle pitch, or towards the shortstop for an inside pitch.
    • Transition the hands to contact by keeping the hands inside the ball in relation to the balls depth in the box and the pitch location. We allow the ball to travel deeper for an outside pitch and hit an inside pitch before the ball reaches the plate.
    • Keep the palm of the back hand facing the direction you are trying to drive the ball.
    • Release the angles of the wrists to send the barrel of the bat into the contact point.
    • At contact we want the lead elbow to be above the hands and the hands to be above the barrel of the ball.
  6. Extension - Hit through the ball
    • Hitting "through" the ball is almost a no teach, however, some hitters stop at contact. We want our hitters to power through the ball.
    • After contact the wrists roll and the arms become fully extended creating a "V" shape that many call the Power-V. The "V" should be towards the direction we are intending to hit.
  7. Finish - Finish high
    • After hitting through the ball we must allow the bat to decelerate. If our elbow, hands, and bat have followed a good path the follow-through should be above the height of the shoulders.
    • The relative height of the follow-through will be dependent on the location of the pitch. Higher for a low pitch and more level with the lead shoulder for a higher pitch.
    • Some hitters release the top hand during the follow-through, but this is individual for each hitter.

 
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Crystal has alonger video out now with some more detail, it's around 20-30 minute slong and it's pretty good.
 
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