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So we've struggled this year trying to hit slow pitching. The other night we faced a kid topping at 88 mph. We smacked him around. They bring in a kid throwing 67 and we look like we've never played the game.



I preach a swing plane to the pitch, but a pitch of less than 75 mph from 60' is hardly coming in on a rope so in reality you only have one chance to hit the ball since there are no planes to match.



Any of you coaches have an adjustment for this? I'm back to knob to the ball and let the barrel fly. It's worked "a little", but we're struggling.

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Great thread. My 2017 son has been working with a high-level batting instructor (and friend) for 1.5 years and he teaches a very "pro-style" swing with steep bat angle and full high follow-through, power-vee lead arm on contact, etc. (I'm NOT an expert). Anyhow, works great with average or above velocity. But with big slow arcing pitches, he's usually early and hits the ball down and results in a chopper or grounder to 1B or 2B.

 

For this reason, I always wonder why really good change-ups from a fast HS pitcher are so rare. They should, in theory, work wonderfully. But following a fast pitcher with a slow junk baller usually is great once through the order.

I am no expert - but I think it comes down to developing a quick swing(short to ball - long through it) that allows a player time to read the pitch. The quicker the swing - the more time you have to wait. Maybe kind of a cop-out answer that is fairly obvious - but I heard this all the time from kids I coached.

 

Fact of the matter is that " Hitters Hit " 

 

 

Our starting 9 are all mechanically sound. 4 going on to college. I've seen a lot of kids that are "hitters", but struggle with slow pitching. The whole reason to be on plane is in case your timing is off a hair. With arced pitches, you have to be puntual to the ball. Being on plane doesn't help much. I almost want to tell them to top it so they wait for the ball to come off the arc a little.

I kept this varsity team together last year for travel and all we saw was good pitching, now at the high school level we don't have that 80+ fb everyday. The kid that thru 88 just came off his last game of 19 Ks, but we slugged 10 hits off of him.

Common problem.  I don't get how swing plane is critical to the issue.  If the guys can hit 85mph fastballs that's great.  Can they hit batting practice?  Can they hit soft toss?  I bet they can.  I think it's got a lot more to do with pitch recognition, timing, and approach.

Do they chase these slow pitches outside the zone, Drew, or do they still do a good job of only swinging at strikes?

 

Reason I ask: My son struggles with this, too - whether it's a low-velo guy or a curve ball pitcher. For him, it's more discipline that mechanics.

 

Thank goodness he's settled in as the season has gone on, and is drawing walks when he should -- but it was tough the first half of the season.

One thing we do that I feel really helps is that our BP distance is close to the mound.  A lot of people take BP closer to the are of where the infield guard is and the flaws in the swing do not show up as much.  When you extend the length of the BP it forces the players to stay on the plane of the ball, use the big parts of the field more, and be patient.  When I throw we are actually standing on the dirt of the pitchers circle.

Originally Posted by Drew:

Our starting 9 are all mechanically sound. 4 going on to college. I've seen a lot of kids that are "hitters", but struggle with slow pitching. The whole reason to be on plane is in case your timing is off a hair. With arced pitches, you have to be puntual to the ball. Being on plane doesn't help much. I almost want to tell them to top it so they wait for the ball to come off the arc a little.

I kept this varsity team together last year for travel and all we saw was good pitching, now at the high school level we don't have that 80+ fb everyday. The kid that thru 88 just came off his last game of 19 Ks, but we slugged 10 hits off of him.

Sounds like he was throwing too many FB and maybe left too many up.  Having a good change up matters. Your team sounds like they r better hitters. 19 K was prob against a team that couldn't hit an 80 FB.

  We just had local team here who pitched their college bound P against a school that barely can field a team. Ridicules, guess coach wanted to get him another W, when he could have used a lesser pitcher who needs mound time and still won.

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