Hitting need help

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Famousjc

Coach
Okay so I don't know where to start.
So basically I wanna know what your advice is.
I'm hitting the ball like ASS. I am popping up 75% of the time.
I swung a 26oz balanced and endloaded and popped up a lot.
I swung a 27oz end loaded and popped up but more of a line drive pop up that never went far.
My friend told me to put my hands higher and it helped a little but I feel like there is something I am doing wrong. Am I hacking at the pitches no, am I golfing at the pitches maybe, am I swinging with a straight line probably not.

My hitting last year was .455 avg yes I kept my avg because it was my first year of softball. I was only a singles hitter and one of the things I wanted to improve for next year was hitting the ball a lot harder. Aiming for the fences or not I just wanted to hit the ball as hard as I can without swinging through pitches. What do you guys think?

I will mention I took a lot of bp and never once was I trying to hit for base hits, idk why but when I'm practing I just aim for the fences because it feels good and I don't care if they went out or not. I did hit the ball very well when I was using my friends 2013 miken super freak 98 mid loaded bat and the contact and power were there, when it came to game time, I did not use that bat and hit like crap. Balance and weight of the bat or my swing? Or both
 
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Whitey0817

Addicted to Softballfans
Its not the bat, they're all straight and 34 inches...its your mechanics...are you popping up or lifting the ball up? Post a video up here if you can, you'll have to sift through the trolls and the 450' bomb droppers, but you'll get some help
 
jsam21238

jsam21238

Addicted to Softballfans
Aiming for the fence in BP is the problem. Don't try to hit the ball as far as you can in BP and actually work on hitting the ball hard on a line.
 
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dremersvision

Addicted to Softballfans
Like many have stated, hit hard and straight.

Are you reaching out for the ball?
Are you hitting TomaHawk style?

Golf swings are very bad because they will most likely always go up.

I had this very issue last season. I was always hitting strawberries(popups). I re-learned a different swing, i was standing straight before and i would just use my upper body to hit. That work for some guys but not me.

Now i bend my knees, elbows a few inches apart and with that i have more of a fluid swing but i hit the ball pretty hard. I hope the description made sense.
 
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Garus

Addicted to Softballfans
If you're swinging for the fence, then your eyes are probably looking at the fence at contact. If your mechanics are good and you are popping up, then you are just taking your eyes off the ball. At next bp, focus on keeping the head still and try watching the ball come off the bat. Don't worry where the ball is going, just try to make solid contact.
 
F

Famousjc

Coach
dremersvision said:
Like many have stated, hit hard and straight.

Are you reaching out for the ball?
Are you hitting TomaHawk style?

Golf swings are very bad because they will most likely always go up.

I had this very issue last season. I was always hitting strawberries(popups). I re-learned a different swing, i was standing straight before and i would just use my upper body to hit. That work for some guys but not me.

Now i bend my knees, elbows a few inches apart and with that i have more of a fluid swing but i hit the ball pretty hard. I hope the description made sense.
Click to expand...

I would guess i swing more at a uppercut rather than a straight parrell to the ground angle. May that be the reason for pop ups. Everything you said doea help too.
 
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Famousjc

Coach
Garus said:
If you're swinging for the fence, then your eyes are probably looking at the fence at contact. If your mechanics are good and you are popping up, then you are just taking your eyes off the ball. At next bp, focus on keeping the head still and try watching the ball come off the bat. Don't worry where the ball is going, just try to make solid contact.
Click to expand...

I could say i dont think i ever got to see where the ball makes contact with the bat. Hence forth i probably pull my head. Ill be sure to keep it straight next time.
 
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lcky3

Addicted to Softballfans
Stand where you will be able to hit the ball between your chest and waist, and learn to use an overlap grip.

I now drop bottom pinky below the knob, and overlap my bottom three fingers of my top hand. Waaay more whip and helps you to swing through the ball.
 
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Famousjc

Coach
lcky3 said:
Stand where you will be able to hit the ball between your chest and waist, and learn to use an overlap grip.

I now drop bottom pinky below the knob, and overlap my bottom three fingers of my top hand. Waaay more whip and helps you to swing through the ball.
Click to expand...

I did try that overlap grip but I feel like I have no grip on the bat plus that kinda changes my swinging mechanics or is that just in my head.
 
slobones

slobones

Addicted to Softballfans
lcky3 said:
Stand where you will be able to hit the ball between your chest and waist, and learn to use an overlap grip.

I now drop bottom pinky below the knob, and overlap my bottom three fingers of my top hand. Waaay more whip and helps you to swing through the ball.
Click to expand...

I too am working on this grip lately. Helps my pull the ball a lot better with much more pop.
 
F

Famousjc

Coach
If Thursday or Friday is nice I will get a video of my swinging mechanics. Would you prefer side view or behind?
 
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F

Famousjc

Coach
Update. Did not get a video but I did try a different grip. One pinky below the knob, and 2 fingers on the the other hand gripping the bat. Well idk why but my swing was there. Hit them balls HARD. Hit one out and sliced an oppo off the fence. Most of the others were warning track power and now I'm just gonna work on hitting straight for line drives. I'm happy.
 
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F

Famousjc

Coach
BigDog said:
Swing level and hit the ball in the middle.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna do try that tmo but the wind is suppose to be from 20-30 mph lol so I might just take a day off. I really wanna get a video of my swing though. It seems on inside pitches I can't extend my arms well since I do have longer arms, so would you recommend swing a little sooner? Also on low pitches hows it even possible to swing level. You can't unless you drop to your knees like Adrian Beltre.
 
DOM713

DOM713

Addicted to Softballfans
I'd say just stay with a regular baseball grip, drop a pinky if you'd like to but don't overlap. If you have a problem with the bat getting to deep into your top hand during the swing buy one of those rubber thumb guards that baseball players use, it really helps keep the bat out in the fingers of your top hand throughout the swing. If your slicing the ball it makes me believe your holding the bat to tight and not releasing.
 
goro25

goro25

Sin Vergüenza
Without seeing a swing, the only advice I can give is to make sure you only swing at strikes. I know you think you can hit every ball within 6 ft of you, but you can't.
 
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lcky3

Addicted to Softballfans
Famousjc said:
I'm gonna do try that tmo but the wind is suppose to be from 20-30 mph lol so I might just take a day off. I really wanna get a video of my swing though. It seems on inside pitches I can't extend my arms well since I do have longer arms, so would you recommend swing a little sooner? Also on low pitches hows it even possible to swing level. You can't unless you drop to your knees like Adrian Beltre.
Click to expand...

You solve that by moving as far away from the plate as you can and moving toward the pitcher.

I'm 6'1" with decently long arms, and I stand just inside the batter's box with my back foot at the midpoint of the PLATE. I can extend on just about any pitch that way, and I don't have to extend my legs way out. Also helps with hitting the bottom half of the ball without having to try and golf it.

With your long arms, if you're standing there, and you can't extend your arms at all, then you shouldn't be swinging at that pitch.

For an outside pitch, I simply rotate toward RF on the balls of my back foot when I draw my front foot up, and take your normal stride. You'll still get power the other way because you will be swinging straight without slicing at the ball.

Most important, watch the ball all the way.

Results so far using the 3-finger overlap: 8 HRs, 1 triple, and 4 doubles out of my 16 hits.

Also batting .640, and that's only cuz I didn't care my last game cuz my team was sucking ass that game.

I know it feels like you're not gripping the bat, but trust me, you are, and your arms will be a lot more relaxed. Just give your hands a light squeeze when you're about to make contact, and you will be fine.

***Keep in mind this would be for regular ASA, whose pitch height is 10'. You have to adjust how far up or how far back you by the height limit of your league, and also how tall or short the pitcher is.

For example, a short pitcher with a 10' limit would have great difficulty dropping a 10' pitch on the back of the mat, so why stand all the way back unless you plan to do a Happy Gilmore golf ball whacker dude and run up in the box.
 
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lcky3

Addicted to Softballfans
I tried just overlapping the pinky last year, and I had moderate success, but much more so this year with the 3 finger overlap.

Think of your hands as the hinge between your arms and the bat. The less of a hinge (more overlap) your hands have, the more the bat can whip on a point.

With a baseball grip, you have basically two parts you're trying to hinge your swing. With the overlap, you only have one.
 
DOM713

DOM713

Addicted to Softballfans
lcky3 said:
I tried just overlapping the pinky last year, and I had moderate success, but much more so this year with the 3 finger overlap.

Think of your hands as the hinge between your arms and the bat. The less of a hinge (more overlap) your hands have, the more the bat can whip on a point.

With a baseball grip, you have basically two parts you're trying to hinge your swing. With the overlap, you only have one.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying the overlap is bad, just that if he's having swing problems I'd stick with something that gave better bat control than whip.

The most consistant and powerful swings I've seen have been straight baseball grip or dropping one pinky.
 
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lcky3

Addicted to Softballfans
DOM713 said:
I'm not saying the overlap is bad, just that if he's having swing problems I'd stick with something that gave better bat control than whip.

The most consistant and powerful swings I've seen have been straight baseball grip or dropping one pinky.
Click to expand...

Different strokes for different folks, you have to find what works for you.

I just find now that I have more control since my hands are basically one entity now, and whip IS power.

It's about bat speed in slowpitch. You don't have to swing out of your shoes to generate power, and you don't have to worry about "control" so much.

I think a lot of that philosophy comes from baseball, which is like comparing apples and oranges.

Just like standing with your legs far apart (baseball stance) doesn't generate nearly the power as standing with them inside your shoulders and launching forward with you whole body, which you can't do with a pitch coming in at 80 mph, but you can do it with a 20 mph slow pitch. It's called "loading"
 
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