by slapperdad » Tue May 06, 2014 9:58 am
Here's my reply to a similar question on another board.
My two cents worth and my DD's abridged story.
9-10: I would have considered her a power hitter, good BA, good OBP, good SLG, but she also had some speed. Started teaching her to drag bunt from the left side, you know the old bat LH until she had two strikes deal. At the end of the summer of 10U we talked about switching her, I was adamant, once you make this decision, there's no going back. She wanted to learn to be a slapper.
11: Worked very hard, everyone knew what was coming, packed D in on top of her, she was getting beat at 1st by half a step. I was question #1 what was I thinking, and #2 what was she thinking. We talked a great deal about this being a process. She was firm in her decision, "I want to be a slapper".
12: It all starts coming together. She is rapidly becoming an incredible drag bunter. She's turned into a good slapper as well. Most importantly she's gained pretty good bat control and is getting better at putting the ball where the D isn't. Moves into the #2 slot because she can bunt for a hit where she has stayed the rest of her TB career.
13: Continues to work and refine her skills. Bat control continues to get better. Her ball placement continues to improve. And all along, remember the speed thing, that continues to improve as well.
14: Make the move to 16U, suddenly the game changes. Damnedest thing, these defenses are pretty good too, and they have some speed. We figure out she needs more wrenches in the tool box. She starts working on push bunting, power slapping, and the last piece of the puzzle at this point in my mind is hitting for power. Keeping in mind all the experiences here are based on playing A level TB. At 14, she's the leadoff hitter on her high school team, and leads the team in almost every offensive category.
15: Continue working on the new tools. Believe it or not, drag bunting is still her bread and butter. Her speed peaks during this time. She's a soph in high school, I have consistent numbers contact to first in the 2.75 range. Hitting for power is inconsistent at this point, but it's still a work in progress. Still playing 16U, has a great summer.
16: Moves to 18U playing in "gold" divisions in the showcases. Got taken to school quite a bit by older more experienced pitchers. I still remember some of those games. DD would just nod her head, "ya got me". But still working, honing her skills.
17: Still in 18U, has a great summer, hits well. starts to become a bit of threat with her power game. Throws the sneaky bunt into the arsenal. She now has corners really guessing. While sometime in the last two years, she's gotten boobs and hips, and may have lost a step. We're still working hard. She's not the biggest, baddest, best hitter you've ever seen. But she now has all the tools in the toolbox. She still bats #2 because she can still put a bunt where you can't throw her out. What she may have lost in speed, she's gained in knowledge and also knowing she still has another trick up her sleeve.
I guess the short story is, to continue to improve, and to move to the next level, unless you have world class speed, you need to have plenty of wrenches in your toolbox. At one point in her career she was fast enough to making a living just slapping. But whether she got slower or her opponents got faster, she's had to learn to do whatever it takes. She does have HR pop at times, but that's not her game. Hitting in the #1 or #2 hole requires that she get on base. Another key in this equation is knowledge. In the last five years of travel ball and thus far in three years of high school, she doesn't typically get any signals from the base coaches. She reads the defense and swings accordingly. In fact many times taking pitches to see where they move and how they're playing her.
Sorry for the book, I've been wanting to reply to this thread, but just haven't had time. This is the abridged version of my DD's path. I have no idea whether it's right or wrong, but it's the one we followed and it turned out pretty well for her.
A little updated info. This was originally written/posted a couple of years ago. She just finished her freshman year in college. Hit leadoff all year, had to use all the tools in the toolbox. College is obviously another level. She seems to do a lot more swinging away than she has in the past. I felt like she had a decent freshman season, literally minutes after being put out of their conference tournament she was talking to me about what she has to do to get better this summer.
If I could offer you any advice, my advice would be don't neglect the power game when they move to the left side. If we made any mistakes with my DD it was not working on it soon enough.
Every man lives by a code:
1.Always look cool
2.Never get lost
3.If you get lost, look cool