hitting the ball out front

Maybe we are just on the wrong page but if that ball is not in front of Albert where is it?

The ball is over the plate, not out in front of the plate. The better the hitter the better the ability to let the "ball get deep" and still drive the ball with power. An outside pitch hit out front will generally turn into a ground ball hit to the Short Stop.

quote:

Originally posted by tfox:
Should the hitter actually try to do this or is it more of cue?

My daughter is really having a hard time at this point and she is just too early,the coach keeps saying this and she just seems to get earlier.That is probably a good cue for about half the team but not for her.BUT,she is hearing him say it and I am trying to get her to understand she doesn't have to hit it out front.She has a good swing and great bat speed so she needs to let the ball get deeper.


The other part is her main job is to be a slap hitter and she is trying to learn timing for 2 different styles.She is only swinging when she gets in trouble slapping.


I am telling her that she will hit her stride and figure out the timing once the games start but she is really getting discouraged.

Any advice would be appreciated.


Notice,not hitting out front.

The position of Pujols's body is contact position for a ball down the middle. To find contact position for different pitches you need to get your body in this position and using a tee, turn the body to have the belly button pointing in the desired direction of the hit. For example, if you want to hit a pitch to left field RHH, put yourself in the position Pujols is in and rotate your body until your belly button is pointing to left field. Then place the tee at the sweetspot with a line running through the bat to the target. Notice an outside pitch should get deeper and an inside pitch should be struck sooner, but the body position relative to the shoulders, arms and hands should be pretty much the same. The back knee should also be pointing in the direction of the hit.

quote:

Originally posted by floridafan:
The ball is over the plate, not out in front of the plate. The better the hitter the better the ability to let the "ball get deep" and still drive the ball with power. An outside pitch hit out front will generally turn into a ground ball hit to the Short Stop.

The plate is really not important, because different hitters stand in different relations to the plate. The important part is that a pitch down the middle should be struck in front of the front hip. IMO, the best way to learn contact positions is off of a tee, but to learn a pitch down the middle contact position, do soft toss from 45 degree angle from in front and outside of hitter at about 6 to 8 feet away. Have the hitter take their stance, take their bottom hand off the bat and hold it extended on their front thigh. This is where the ball should be tossed and contact should be made as it gets to the center of the plate.

Powertoallfields states front hip. I've always taught inside front knee and then adjust depending upon the pitch. Good advice on "letting the ball get deeper" on the outside pitch. Naturally, on the inside pitch where you turn and burn, just outside area of front knee.

Coach Cohen has a drill where he puts 3 cones out and then from front toss, feeder throws balls to hitter and hitter is supposed to take the ball over the various cones. That is how you practice this concept. Note, this is "results oriented" practice and so, the feed back is the result. Of course, there is also a different type of feedback relating to muscles groups and how they perform and how they are trained. Really, one compliments the other.

gameth,that pitch has not been hit yet,it will get deep before it strikes the bat.My thinking is out front would be at or around the front foot.

I understand that the swing is quicker and sooner on inside pitches and that on outside pitches you need to let it get even deeper.

What I was looking for was answered,most are in agreement that around the front hip or inside the front knee is where you are wanting to hit when everything is perfect.


She is hearing at front foot which is proving to be more than difficult for her to time that perfectly.

She has improved her bat speed DRAMATICALLY over last year and I believe that is messing with her a bit right now.She is now able to let it get real deep before starting her swing but is still swinging at the same time she used to swing with slow bat speed,it is really starting to weigh on her confidence.



I have worked front toss drills trying to get her to understand how to let it get deep but I believe I will start using the T more and setting it up deep,insted of at her front foot.


Thanks for the tips.

quote:

Originally posted by CoachB25:
Powertoallfields states front hip. I've always taught inside front knee and then adjust depending upon the pitch. Good advice on "letting the ball get deeper" on the outside pitch. Naturally, on the inside pitch where you turn and burn, just outside area of front knee.

Coach Cohen has a drill where he puts 3 cones out and then from front toss, feeder throws balls to hitter and hitter is supposed to take the ball over the various cones. That is how you practice this concept. Note, this is "results oriented" practice and so, the feed back is the result. Of course, there is also a different type of feedback relating to muscles groups and how they perform and how they are trained. Really, one compliments the other.

Coach,

I think Coach Cohen has the best "drill" dvd I have ever seen.

My 12 yr old had the same problem last year. He was working with the local community colleges hitting coach at the time and he would place the tee very deep, even with his back foot to overly exaggerate. He was to hit the ball into the side netting (we were in a cage). Sometimes the coach would have me sitting outside the net facing my son and use me as the target. Occassionally, he would set the tee even further back, behind his back foot. Sounds funky but it worked for my kid.

Also, another thing I did (and still do when needed) is video tape. My kid is visually oriented when it comes to learning. I (or the coach) could talk for hours on something but not make as much of an impact as a 10 second clip of his swing. I'd put her on video and let her watch how far out front she is hitting it. You might be surprised at the results.

Good luck.

She is early on speed also,(atleast for her age group)just hasn't learned the new timing and where to hit the ball.

Most all her hitting is done from front toss drills, but she is not seeing enough live arm and I can't throw an underhanded throw to save my life,atleast not from anykind of distance.

lesterclan,we are using lots of video,some I have even posted here from youtube.

The good part is one of her teamates dad and now,my sons assistant coach did play minor leaque ball,so I have a brain to pick that is close to the situation and he told me tonight to keep throwing the front toss but just keep changing speed.I have been doing that but he says to keep with it.Along with the T stuff.

He said the key is to do it EVERYDAY.

quote:

A big reason is because they hit off of tees.....Moving a tee up or back has nothing to do with learning rhythm and synching the body.....Hitting off a tee hinders rhythm and synching the body......

Bluedog,

I know you don't use tees, but how do you teach a young hitter what contact position is? By the way, I agree with the above quote.

You only want to hit the ball out infront if you want to pull the ball... which you shouldnt be looking to do.

In high school the majority of the pitches you see will be outside obviously. What I was trying to say i guess was you shouldn't be looking to pull pitches every time, only on inside ones.

quote:

Don't make them hit off a tee that has been placed farther back.....This has nothing to do with their timing.....

Just trying to figure this out. The ball will be reaching the plate in the same time if it's inside or outside right? How do you teach them to hit an outside pitch? Do you tell them to wait longer or do you just keep tossing ouside until they feel where the best spot to hit it is? Do you feel like most kids can do that? I would love to find a better way to teach a kid to find the right contact position, I hate tees! They keep coming apart or they don't last very long so half of your time is wasted trying to fix the tee.

quote:

How do you teach them to hit an outside pitch?

I don't...Do you believe Frank Robinson was taught where to contact the ball in Deemax's clip?

quote:

I would love to find a better way to teach a kid to find the right contact position,....

Pre-swing rhythmic activity and synching the upper and lower body is what they need to learn....I would suggest that players get off the tee and learn this stuff......

quote:

Do you feel like most kids can do that?

Yes, I do...

You don't teach kids to hit outside pitches? So what you're saying is that you're teaching kids to fail in high school?

I don't think that would be a good swing for fastpitch softball,considering the force at which a softball hits the bat is considerably higher and the ball is much heavier,I feel the bat will be pushed back from the softball with that swing.The arms have no leverage on the bat,they are completely extended at contact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_de3HJvO-N8

Remember it is a 95# girl we are dealing with in this particular case.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueDog:

quote:

Remember it is a 95# girl we are dealing with in this particular case.

Oh yeah....Sorry, I forgot.....

quote:

I am telling her that she will hit her stride and figure out the timing once the games start.....

Oh, O.K.!!...That should take care of it!!

I am telling her that because her confidence is shaken and she is not getting much live arm hitting in practice,the weather has been horrible and the coaches just haven't had enough opportunity to work on it.

I can do soft toss drills but no real live arm stuff,she will get it once she gets some ab's but I have to keep her head up during the mean time.

Bluedog, tell me why you don't teach kids to hit outside pitches. They're going to have to hit them someday.

quote:

...Do you believe Frank Robinson was taught where to contact the ball in Deemax's clip?

I believe he mis-timed this pitch, but that's beside the point. I believe people can learn to do many things using trial and error, but if someone can give you a good starting point, it can save a lot of time. I agree taht the syncing of the upper and lower body is the key, but the position of the body is different on different locations and pitches. It's not something that I take a great deal of time on (maybe 10 or 15 swings on each location, inside, middle, and outside, if they feel it) then move on to front toss in the same locations, then BP. How many swings would you say it takes someone to learn the body positions through trial and error? You're not saying that you can pull every pitch, are you? You know, Ted Williams had trouble with low and away (as do most hitters), but there was a drastic drop-off for him. Good news is, he didn't swing at those pitches very often. I guess it helped that he didn't swing and miss very often either, so he usually got a good pitch to hit. I forget what the numbers were, but the year Bonds hit the 73 HR, I think it was like only 7 times that he swung and missed in one entire month.

Seems like the front toss is paying off.I am able to get her some pitches to hit with the around the world pitch.

They were able to get a full night in just hitting live arm.

Even though she is still a little early,she was apparently making sold contact and timed one pitch pretty well and sent it about 20' from the fence.215 ft fence and it was right center(lefty) so the timing is getting better and that kind of power out of a 95# 13 year old girl is about all that can be realisticly expected,especially from a slapping speed player.imo

I have been working the T around the zone and she did make a comment that it felt different going for the ball in those different areas.Definately something she needs.

Hitting the ball out front is a result, not an aim.

By setting your aim to hit the ball over the plate, the arms are at full extension (Note : Not fully extended.) directly in front of the batter allowing angular accelleration to speed the bat forward to make contact in front of the plate.

Batters who aim out front waste that same angular accelleration in their follow through rather than in contact.

Hitting the outside pitch the other way would be struck in this same period of angular accelleration in this short to the zone and long through swing.

This also allows the batters to keep their weight back and balanced in the event of an off speed pitch.