Daily Archives: May 10, 2007
Great article on hitting the changeup
Saw a great article a few days ago on some cool strategies for hitting the changeup.
I have one to add, which is really aimed at getting hitters to wait back on slower pitching than they’re used to. Telling them to “wait on it” is kind of vague. When hitters are used to seeing faster pitching (faster being a relative term), it’s hard for them to know just how long to wait.
What I will often do is draw a line in the dirt in front of home plate, and tell them not to start their swings until the ball crosses that line. Sometimes it’s just 10 feet in front of home, other times it’s further out. Sometimes I guess wrong and it has to move. But the principle still holds.
Rolling the wrists
You know, people have to know their limitations. There’s nothing worse than a coach telling a player she needs to correct a problem when there’s no problem to be corrected. Well, there are a lot of worse things of course, but it’s what’s on my mind today.
Here’s a perfect example. Today one of the high school coaches told my daughter not to roll her wrists. But it’s apparent that she doesn’t know what rolling the wrists really is. Here’s a picture of her at the contact point:
<IMG style="WIDTH: 157px; HEIGHT: 171px" height=631 src="/images/55650-48775/Kimmie_contact_point.png” width=268>
As you can see, she is palm up/palm down at contact. Here she is at extension:
<IMG style="WIDTH: 166px; HEIGHT: 167px" height=620 src="/images/55650-48775/Kimmie_extension.png” width=372>
The hands are still palm up/palm down. The wrists won’t roll until long after contact, and not until after extension. Working on not rolling the wrists would be a complete waste of time.
That’s something to keep in mind. Not everyone who has the title of “coach” has the qualifications to be one. As Mark Twain used to say, “Better to keep your mouth shut and have everyone think you’re a fool than to open it and prove they’re right.”
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 