Catcher stances
This is probably a bit elementary for some of you, but it’s still something to keep in mind. The “natural” stance most people go into when they catch is to squat down on the balls of the field, with the heels off the ground. While it may be comfortable and easy to get into, it’s also slow and unstable — a point I like to prove by pushing gently on the forehead of a catcher in that stance and watching her fall backwards.
There are a couple of better stances that I like to see catchers use. With no runners on base, the catcher can spread her feet out roughly shoulder width apart, toes pointing out. From there, she lowers her rear end with the weight on the inside of the feet. It’s a fairly comfortable stance that relieves knee stress, yet allows the catcher to get up quickly if there’s a bunt.
With runners on base, the catcher needs to be up and ready to go more. For this stance, she bends forward and begins lowering herself until her back is parallel to the ground, and to her thighs, more or less. Her weight is forward over the balls of her feet. This allows her to be very low while still being able to move easily. If she has to block a ball in the dirt she can move laterally. If she has to throw a runner out she can pivot or pop up quickly.
Putting your catchers into a better stance can quickly help them improve their performance. Give it a try.
High school sports are communist
This is more a random thought than a specific complaint, and it doesn’t apply solely to softball. It applied to all high school sports.
I had never really thought about it before but the thought occurred to me this morning that high school sports are communist, while club/travel sports are capitalist. Why do I think that?
Consider this: high school sports are controlled 100% by the “state,” i.e. the coach. There is no voting, there is no discussion. The coach makes a decision, and your choices are live with it or quit. It’s a total dictatorship. If you try to rise up and complain, the odds are that the “conflict resolution” process used within the school will ultimately exile your kid to the sports equivalent of Siberia — the bench, with no possibility of parole. If the kid even thinks about speaking up, same fate. The coach is free to do whatever he/she wants, short of outright breaking the law, with little chance for censure much less dismissal. In many places, unless you’re the football or basketball coach the team can suck for years, underperforming time after time, and your job is safe. It’s good to be the Premier.
Behavior on club and travel sports, on the other hand, are dictated by market pressures. If you don’t like a club sport’s coach or policies, you leave and go somewhere else. If enough people don’t like him/her/them, the club folds up and goes away. Parents can band together and get a coach removed much more easily. Clubs that do well get rewarded, clubs that don’t lose players and wind up taking lesser kids, thus beginning the death spiral. Club and team sports don’t have a built-in constituency either. They have to advertise, recruit, or draw players in some other manner. No-nothing coaches tend not to last very long.
Interestingly, the college model is much closer to club/travel ball than to high schools. While there are scholarships and such at stake, if you don’t like your situation at one place you can always try your luck elsewhere. I’m not saying it’s easy, but you are not stuck.
I’d be interested to hear other thoughts on this comparison. Just remember that this is being set forth in a lighthearted way, so keep it clean and friendly!
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.”
Best new rule…so far
Got the 2007 ASA rule book Monday night and started going through it as I always do. That’s when I found it — my nomination (so far) for the best new rule.
Essentially, it states that a legal pitch must be delivered from the side of the body on the throwing arm side. It specifically prohibits pitches delivered between the legs or behind the back. I can’t help but wonder what happened, and where it happened, that necessitated making a rule about it. Most pitchers I’ve seen are doing all they can to get the ball where they want it with a normal delivery.
This is almost as good as the one about all base runners returning to their original bases after an offensive conference. You shouldn’t even have to have a rule about that. But I guess you do.
Always like to hear the good news
Back in early April (I think) I had the opportunity to watch one of my pitching students in action. Her HS team was playing my daughter’s HS team. To say that Kristen struggled that game would not be an exaggeration. Part of it, her dad told me, was that she was nervous pitching while I was there. (That is part of the female psyche from what I’ve read — she didn’t want to disappoint her coach, whereas I was looking forward to seeing how she was doing.) In any case, between a weak defense and some control trouble it was a tough game for her. She finally came out in the last inning, replaced by a lobber.
We didn’t have a lesson that week, but she came in the following week and we got right to work. We were able to get one more in after that, and at that point I told her two things. One is that she was definitely ready to pitch, so get out there and do it with the confidence. The other was not to get frustrated if the defense struggles. Just keep pitching your game and let the rest fall as it may.
I had the opportunity to check in on her again one Monday night so I stopped by to watch her game. She was doing better but still had a rough point in one inning. Still, it was only that one inning.
Last night I received an update from dad, Joe. He told me in a recent game she struck out 17 hitters on her way to picking up a victory. She also came into another game where she struck out eight in three innings. She’s on top of the world right now.
It would’ve been easy for her to give up and say “I can’t do this.” But that’s not in her nature. Kristen stuck with it, focused on the things we identified together, and is now reaping the rewards. It doesn’t get any cooler than that.
Kind of a drag
One of the most common problems I see with hitting is an affliction called “bat drag.” It occurs when the elbow on the back arm gets ahead of the hands during the swing. This puts you into a weak position, with the bat flat and stuck way behind. As the body turns, the bat has to be pulled from that back position all the way to the front. As you might expect, this makes the bat late getting through the zone.
It’s not that difficult to cure. It just takes a little time. Step one is to maintain the “box” that is formed with the shoulders and the elbows. Bat drag usually begins when, on the beginning of the turn, the hands push back and the lead arm straightens out. As the shoulders begin to turn the hands remain back. But the hitter knows she should be moving forward, so the back elbow starts moving forward instead of the hands. At that point it’s going to be tough to get a good, quick, compact swing.
To fix it, set the bat down and grab your shirt by the back shoulder. Practice taking “swings” by striding and turning while hanging on to the shirt. Be very aware of what your back elbow is doing. Once you start getting the hang of it, move to the bat. Go slowly at first, then gradually pick up speed. If you can do it in a mirror, or video yourself doing it, it will help you check to make sure you’re on the right track.
From there, move to the tee, then either to soft toss, the pitching machine, or live pitching. Feel the back elbow come more into the side than past the hands, then extend through.
It may take some work to get it fixed. But it’s worth it. You’ll pick up bat speed, shorten your swing — and most importantly start hitting the heck out of the ball!
Focused batting practice and course corrections
Had a real good example this week of the difference focused batting practice can make, especially during the season. Last Sunday, my friend and fellow coach Rich Youngman and I got together with four girls — our two daughters, plus two other girls who currently or have played for us in the past — to do a little BP. All had been struggling with their hitting to one degree or another. Two of the girls were really struggling in their high school seasons, while the other two were not hitting to their satisfaction. There were two girls from each of two high schools so it was all perfectly legal. Don’t bother calling the IHSA!
We set up a pitching machine and just rotated through them. As each girl came to the plate, Rich and I evaluated their mechanics and offered some suggestions. We had them focus on specific things they needed to do, and I videoed them for later study.
In each case they started out hitting rather anemically, much like their game performance. But as we worked through the mechanics, they began showing improvement. The machine was set around 45 mph since they all had been struggling to adjust to slower pitching anyway, and was then upped later into the mid-to-high 50s. FYI, we were using a Jugs machine with a generator at a field. I love the Jugs machine!
Anyways, we took a long time with each girl. The entire session lasted 2-1/2 hours. All of the girls were motivated to learn and improve, so that made a huge difference. It was a lot of fun, and no one complained or asked if we were done yet.
Now comes the payoff. Every single one of these girls saw marked improvement in their hitting this week. That’s an awfully fast turnaround, but I think it goes to show what focus and intensity can do. One girl, Kathleen, had been struggling so badly they DH’d for her Monday. I know Kathleen’s mom reads the blog so feel free to jump in with a comment if you like. Tuesday they let her hit for herself, and Rich tells me she was the first one to get a hit on her team. She hit a double into a gap that got some offense going. She hit well Wednesday, and then got the game-winning hit with a double on Thursday that went over the left fielder’s head. She’s now considered a hot bat.
Another girl, Michelle, told us she’d been striking out continuously all season on varsity. This week in her first at bat against one of the area’s better pitchers she started with a sac fly, then popped a double and a single. That was on Tuesday. On Wednesday I think she went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, including one that hit the fence, and Thursday she started a seventh inning rally for her team with a single up the middle. She did have a couple of Ks in that game, but that was a big club.
Rich’s daugher Stephanie started a little slower early in the week, but then started hitting the ball on the nose, he says. In her last seven at bats she has four hits, including a double and a triple. More significantly, she’s been hitting the right center gap instead of trying to pull everything and popping up to the left hand side. The triple was a lead-off triple that started a rally, and they ultimately won the game.
Finally, my daughter Kimmie saw her first varsity at bats this week after moving up from JV. In her first game she went 2 for 4. The two outs were a fly ball to right center that was caught on the run, and a fielder’s choice with bases loaded that ended the game on a mercy rule — her second RBI of the game. Guess you could call it a walk-off fielder’s choice. Thursday she struck out in her one at bat, but that was against the same pitcher that gave Michelle and the other girls problems, so it could be worse.
The point to all of this is that improvements can be made with quality BP, and a sincere desire by the players to learn and improve. There weren’t any magic pills, no secret sauce as it were. Just plain old hard work and intensity. There’s still more we can do with each of them — they’re all dragging the bat to some degree — but it’s a great start.
If you have similar success stories, please be sure to leave a comment. Everyone likes to hear how others have broken out of the doldrums. Usually, it begins with effort. As the old saying goes, the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Pitch speed isn’t everything
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to watch a game (on TV) between the University of Tennessee and LSU. It was an excellent matchup of two very good SEC teams — who were rated #1 and #5 respectively at the time.
While it had all the usual drama and some great plays, I noticed something kind of unusual that seemed to go against the conventional wisdom. When Monica Abbott threw a pitch, it generally registered in the 65-67 mph range. No surprise there. That’s what everyone expects a D1 pitcher at a top-rated program to throw.
But then when Dani Hofer was in the circle for LSU, the numbers were “shocking.” I never saw a pitch speed above 58 mph, and frequently she was below that number. LSU did lose that game 2-1, but Hofer was only charged with 1.08 earned runs. Interestingly, their other pitcher (Emily Turner) got two wins, but received a little more offensive support from her team. Had Hofer gotten the same number of runs she’d have had a win.
I thought it was pretty amazing, especially in this era when people claim to have seen 10 year olds who throw 65+ with eight different pitches. Hofer was obviously moving the ball well, hitting her locations, pitching to weaknesses, and getting hitters to swing at pitches they didn’t like. She only struck out five, but it didn’t matter that much.
The reason I point it out is there are a lot of pitchers out there who may never crack the 60 mph mark, much less throw consistently in the mid-60s. Their DNA, size, number of fast twitch muscles, or other factors simply may not allow it. But it doesn’t mean they can’t be effective.
Hofer is definitely a testament to the saying I used on the back of my T-shirts this year: it’s not how good you are, it’s how bad you want it. I’ll bet most D1 teams wouldn’t even give her a first glance, much less a second. But with a record of 21-2 I’ll bet some of them wish they had.
Breaking out of a slump
One of the most frustrating things in softball is to one day find yourself in a hitting slump. Things were going along fine, and then suddenly it seems like you can’t buy a base hit. Then no matter what you do you can’t seem to find a way out.
Take heart, though. There are ways to break out of that slump and get your hitting back where it ought to be. Here are a few quick ideas.
Number one, difficult as it may be, is to relax. Players often perceive themselves to be in a slump long before there really is a true slump. They may have been unlucky, not getting the results they wanted, or just having a bad day. For example, you can hit the ball on the nose and have it go directly into a fielder’s glove. That’s not a slump, even if it happens four times in one game. That’s just bad luck. What can send it into the death spiral, though, is feeling like you’re in a slump and starting to press. You’re so desperate for a good hit that you start swinging at bad pitches, which creates weak hits, and before you know it you’re so uptight you don’t know what to do. THAT is a slump.
You just have to relax. Take a deep breath — in through your nose, out through your mouth. Then focus on seeing the ball. If you can relax you can be more positive, and if you’re more positive you will have a better at bat.
Of course, there may be some mechanical reasons why you’re having trouble hitting. That’s where video comes in. Record yourself swinging in a game, and compare it to when you were hitting better. Or even better, have a qualified hitting coach do the comparison for you. Once you see what’s going on, get on the tee and start working out the kinks in your swing. A good tee session can go a long way toward fixing what ails you.
Working with a coach can also act as a touchstone — something that gives you confidence just for having done it. For some players it may be a parent. For others it may need to be someone other than a parent. But just having that familiarity and comfort level can help drive away the “evil spirits” that are afflicting your bat and keeping you from being all that you can be.
Slumps are not permanent unless you make them so. The best thing you can do is change your routine, give yourself a fresh start. The more you separate yourself from the current slump, the easier it will be to overcome.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 