Category Archives: Hitting
Theory on why it’s so hard to move from the cage to the field
Every fastpitch player and coach knows this experience. You’ve been working hard in the batting cage all season. You’ve hit thousands of balls off the tee, and thousands more off a machine, front toss or even full-out pitching. You’ve been ripping the ball every time. Then you get into a game and it’s nothing but pop-ups, weak dribblers to the pitcher, and whiffs.
Yes, it’s certainly frustrating, especially because you were expecting to do so well. But somehow the swing you had in the cage didn’t quite translate to the field.
There can be a lot of contributing factors, many of which have been discussed before. Certainly there’s an element of nervousness in a game situation that you don’t have in practice. You have lots of chances to hit in practice situations, and if you mess one up you just take another. But in a game if you mess up, that’s it. Your time at bat is over.
There’s also worrying about consequences instead of focusing on the process. There’s the pressure of parents, friends, coaches, teammates. In fact, there are all kinds of things that might be the cause.
Yet it even happens to otherwise mentally tough players for reasons no one has ever been able to explain. But I have a theory.
Think about the environment in a batting cage. It’s very closed and very tight. You can see the top/ceiling, sides, and usually even a back wall. If the cage is 70 feet long and eight feet wide, it’s still a pretty narrow space, as shown in the first photo.
Now think about what you see when you stand at home plate. The world is a lot bigger on the field. Instead of a 12 foot ceiling you have infinite space above — the sky. Instead of a back wall you have 180 feet or more to the end — way too far to be of concern. There is a ton of space, plus a ton of distractions. The second photo shows an empty field, but in a real game you’ll have eight players from the other team in front of you, plus a couple of coaches. And baserunners if you’re lucky. You have an opponent and an umpire behind you. And the always “helpful” fans in the stands.
With all that going on, the ball looks pretty small — certainly a lot smaller than it does in a closed cage. It’s the same phenomenon that makes the moon look bigger when it’s low in the sky. When you see the moon near trees or buildings your mind gets the idea of proportion. When it’s overhead, there is no reference point to measure it against so it gets lost against the background of the night sky. In the case of a softball, your reference points to the ball in a cage are a lot closer so it seems bigger, or more important in the space. On the field, the ball takes up a very tiny portion of your field of vision and thus is much tougher to pick out.
Think about how you hit in a cage too. Because it’s a long tunnel, hitters tend to try to hit the ball up the middle. After all, if you hit a screaming line drive down the first or third base line in a cage, it goes about 10 feet, hits a side net and dies. That isn’t much fun. But if you drive it to center, the ball goes the length of the cage. That feels good, so you focus on driving it down the center. On a field, though, there’s a lot of space ot hit the ball, so it tends to go all over.
Anyway, that’s my theory about the problem. So what’s the cure? You have to visualize the cage on the field, as shown in the third photo. Essentially you have to create a small space in your mind where the ball is bigger relative to the backg
round so you can see it better, and you can stay focused on driving it into a gap.
If you can “see” the cage in your mind, it should help you look where you ought to be looking, and see better than if you’re taking in the entire field plus sidelines.
Give it a try, and give me your feedback on how it worked. If you’re a coach, feel free to copy the photos and show them to your team. I’ll be interested in hearing if this theory proves itself to be true.
Your body can lie to you
While it’s important for athletes to listen to their bodies to receive feedback on how they’re doing, it’s also possible for your body to lie to you. Specifically I’m talking about what “feels” strong and powerful versus what is strong and powerful.
Young pitchers and hitters are especially prone to this paradox. They will tense up their muscles when they go to throw or swing the bat because it feels strong. Their muscles are working hard, so they must be generating a lot of power, right?
Actually, that’s wrong. Tense or tight muscles are slow muscles, and slow muscles reduce the amount of power you can generate. Instead, you want to keep your muscles loose and relaxed so they can fire quickly and accelerate through the critical zone.
Don’t believe it? Try this.
Hold your hand up in front of your face, tense up your wrist muscles, then try to fan yourself using only the wrist muscles to move the hand as fast as you can. You won’t get much air, and if you do it long enough it will probably start to hurt.
Now relax the wrist muscles and use your forearm to make your hand move. You’ll feel a distinct breeze because your hand is moving much faster. That’s the power of loose muscles.
Another great benefit, as you may have already seen, is that loose muscles don’t tire as easily as tight ones. Loose muscles also help you keep your head from getting in the way, because the more relaxed you are the more confident you’ll feel — and the more likely you are to find a groove that makes a good motion repeatable.
The only caution is don’t equate loose with slow. You still want to be quick in your approach, attacking a pitch or swing with the intent to give it all you’ve got. Once you find the way to do both you’ll be well on your way to reaching your potential.
So while you want to listen to your body when it comes to things like pain and overuse, remember it can also lie to you. Take Frankie’s advice and relax. You’ll do much better.
Batting cages
Apparently there is a requirement that batting cages be located in an area that’s difficult to find. I’m not sure but I think it’s a law.
Softball Hitting – Why Staying Loose is Important
When it comes down to hitting, every body wants to hit the ball hard and with power. Of course, the first natural reflex when we need to generate more strength and power is to “flex” our muscles to generate greater forces. It’s a normal reflex as more muscles are contracting = more forces being produced.
However, “flexing” your muscles before you hit is counter-productive. Flexed muscles are tensed muscles. Tensed muscles are slow muscles. Slow muscles = slow bat speed. Slow bat speed = reduced power.
What you need to do is stay loose until you are ready to fire. In other words, you stay “loosey-goosey” to use a term I heard Coach Murphy used before until you are ready to attack the ball. Anything you do before should be done while being relaxed. Watch the following video for more explanation about this important physiological principle.
What Betty Crocker can teach you about hitting
There are all kinds of ways to explain things to hitters. Some people like to get really technical. I prefer to use analogies when I can.
Tonight was a case in point. I was trying to explain the timing of the load to a hitter. She was getting a late start, and consequently wasn’t getting to the ball on time. She was also rushing her swing a bit.
I wanted her to take her time through the load, and then be quick with the swing. So I explained it this way.
I asked if she had ever baked cookies. She said sometimes, when the mood strikes. I told her to think of the load being like making the dough. It doesn’t matter how quickly you make the dough. You can take your time doing that. But once you put them in the oven, there is a definite point you have to finish or they will burn.
Making the dough is the load. You can take your time. Once you get to the point where the front heel drops and the swing begins, though, there is a finite amount of time to complete the swing. That’s baking the cookies.
It may not be the standard canon for hitting. But it worked. She got the idea of the timing. And I got to think about Christmas cookies. It’s all good.
The “big dog” system of measurement for aggressiveness
Tonight I was working with a pitcher, and while what she was doing was technically fine it just wasn’t very aggressive. I tried to get her to attack the pitch more but she wasn’t quite getting what I meant. So I came up with a new way of explaining it that had the advantage of being both fun and effective.
The new method is what I’m calling the “Big dog system of measurement” for aggressiveness. Essentially, you take how aggressive the pitcher (or hitter for that matter) is being and compare it to a dog. You then try to move her up the scale.
For example, with Alyssa I told her she was currently at Labrador. I have a Lab, and they are loving, happy dogs. They can get aggressive when pushed or angered, but it’s generally short-lived. By nature they’re sweet. When I told her she was at Lab level she understood what I meant. I then asked her to step it up to German Shepherd. Shepherds also tend to be nice dogs, but they are more aggressive than Labs, which is why they’re used in police work. She went for it, and darned if her pitches didn’t pick up a bit and start smacking her dad’s glove harder.
At this point, here is what I have on the scale: Basset Hound (you’re practically comatose), Lab, German Shepherd, German Shorthair (I had a girlfriend who had one of those and it scared the heck out of me), Doberman Pinscher, Rottweiler and Pit Bull.
As you might guess, the dogs are ranked from least aggressive to most. Since it’s the “big dog” scale I didn’t include Jack Russell Terriers, Dachshunds (which can be very aggressive on your ankles) and other small breeds. The object, of course, is to make it up to Pit Bull. That’s a competitor!
I am looking for additional suggestions to help round out the scale. They have to be well-known breeds so the players can relate; they’ll have no idea if an exotic dog is aggressive or not. And for you dog lovers out there, please don’t bother defending a particular breed. I know the really aggressive dogs are usually that way as a result of their owners. But in this case I’m going with the popular perception to get the point across.
Again, the beauty of the big dog system is it provides context for what you’re asking. At least it did for the pitchers tonight. Anytime you can be more specific you’re going to be more effective too.
The dominant hand
I was working with a right handed hitter the other day, and we were talking about finishing the swing. She had a tendency to get to contact then come up short. In the course of our discussion she referred to her top hand as being her dominant hand — probably because she is right handed.
While it was just a terminology, it provided a teaching moment. I had planned on having her do some one-handed drills so I had been practicing them myself before she got there. When she mentioned her dominant hand it provided the perfect opportunity to get started.
First I had her use her choke up on the bat and use her bottom hand only. She’s done these before, so she started pulling the bat through and hitting the ball fairly hard off the tee. Then we switched to her “dominant” (top) hand. She had a tough time getting the bat through effectively, even while choked up.
It was a revealing moment to her. She’s always relied on her top hand for most of the power, so she rarely reached extension. She made consistent contact but never really hit the ball hard (which is why we were working together). After that demonstration she paid more attention to working her bottom hand and started extending after contact.
The real proof, though, came later that day during a game. This girl who was hitting pop-ups and so-so ground balls during the summer cracked a single, two doubles and a triple off three different pitchers. All were solid.
It’s important for hitters to understand the role of each hand, and how they work together. By taking advantage off the strength of both they can drive the ball more powerfully rather than leaving power on the table.
The lost art of bunting
Like many of you out there we recently completed tryout season. We judged players on a wide variety of skills both offensive and defensive. One thing that struck me as I watched player after player was how it seems like the art of bunting has been lost.
The biggest flaw was a tendency for hitters to swat at the ball instead of receive it. To lay down a good, soft bunt you need to catch the ball with the bat — pull back on it slightly as the ball makes contact, like a soccer player trapping a pass. Instead, what I saw a lot of was players punching the bat toward the ball as it came in.
I’m not sure why that’s happening. Maybe coaches aren’t spending as much time on bunting as they used to. In this era of hotter bats perhaps it’s being abandoned. Or maybe the coaches themselves just don’t know how to teach it. In any case, it’s nearly impossible to lay down a soft bunt when you’re punching at the ball.
A good way to teach “catching” the ball is to tape an old glove onto the end of a short, light bat and have players actually try to catch the ball as it’s pitched. They’ll figure out very quickly that they have to softly receive it if they have any hope of keeping it in the glove. You can also use a lacrosse stick, although you may have to use baseballs to get them to fit into the basket.
Bunts that are hit too hard become easy outs. A bunt that only travels about 10 feet from the plate gives the bunter a much better chance of making it on base because the fielders have to run further to reach the ball. The only way to make that happen is to use a soft bunting technique.
A cue for hitters who are dropping their hands
Dropping the hands is a fairly common problem among young hitters. I personally think some of that is due to the number of coaches telling their hitters to “throw your hands at the ball,” and part of it is telling them to “swing level,” which translates in their heads to “level to the ground.” But mostly it’s probably just a natural reaction to trying to hit a moving ball with a moving bat.
Tonight I was working with a girl who was doing just that. She was trying to hit a thigh-high pitch, but her hands were coming down so low that there wasn’t much angle to her bat. I wanted her to make sure she was keeping her hands above the ball, but saying that just didn’t seem to make sense to her. So I told her to keep her hands above her waist, and just lower the bat to get to the ball.
Bingo! That seemed to work. She went from hitting bouncing ground balls to driving line drives and pounding some deep fly balls. She continued to hit through the ball consistently.
I don’t know if it will work for everybody, but it certainly worked tonight — probably because it was specific and measurable. Saying keep your hands above the ball requires judgment. Saying keep your hands above your waist (or bellybutton) is a lot easier to understand and execute.
Feeling better about my team’s hitting
Over the past couple of weekends our team has been struggling at the plate. It’s not that we’ve been overpowered by great pitching for the most part. In fact, I’d say the pitching overall has been on the weak side. But in spite of that we’ve been popping up and hitting a lot of weak ground balls. It’s been maddening, really.
So tonight I’m watching the KFC World Cup series — USA v. Australia. USA got up 3-1 early, and was in command of the game. Then Australia brought in a relief pitcher, a girl throwing a lot of pitches in the low 50s, with a few in the high 50s. So what do you think happened?
The USA has hit five straight weak pop-ups. They are really struggling with the off-speed and general junk.
These are some of the best hitters in the world, and they’re having trouble making the adjustment — doing exactly what we were doing. Somehow I suspect they’ll get through it quicker, but I guess tonight I’m seeing it can happen to anyone. I’m feeling a little better about our difficulties adjusting. But just a little!
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 