What's a typical hitting lesson?

[dodgerblue]

We were in the same situation a few years ago with my DD moving from 16U to 18G. The Gold coach said with her speed she should be hitting from the left side so we gave it a shot. One day the head coach was not at a showcase and the assistant coach told her to do what she wanted so she hit from the right and got a stand up triple. Since that day she's never hit from the left again. My DD can still beat out an infield hit from the right side so as far as she's concerned she will hit right handed. Do what's best for your DD not what a coach tells you. So if she's not successful from the left switch her back to the right. Slapping a few years ago was a great tool to have in the line up but now the defenses have gotten alot better in most cases the slapper gets thrown out about 80% of the time. Good luck.

[MavFan]

We were in the same situation a few years ago with my DD moving from 16U to 18G. The Gold coach said with her speed she should be hitting from the left side so we gave it a shot. One day the head coach was not at a showcase and the assistant coach told her to do what she wanted so she hit from the right and got a stand up triple. Since that day she's never hit from the left again. My DD can still beat out an infield hit from the right side so as far as she's concerned she will hit right handed. Do what's best for your DD not what a coach tells you. So if she's not successful from the left switch her back to the right. Slapping a few years ago was a great tool to have in the line up but now the defenses have gotten alot better in most cases the slapper gets thrown out about 80% of the time. Good luck.

Funny, slappers tend to still have a high OBP. I don't know many slappers hitting .200. I also find it funny that your kid can beat out a infield hit from the right side, but slappers get out 80% of the time.

The key to slapping is not to be one dimensional. I agree that gone are the days of the kid who can just put the ball in play and beat it out, but if a kid can bunt, slap and hit the ball in the gaps they are still a very valuable commodity.

I also agree with you that you need to do what is best for your kid, but to imply that slapping is no longer relevent, because it didn't work out for your DD, is simply not true.

[igoodman]

My DD is a very successful slapper that plays for one of the better travel ball teams. She is naturally right handed but has been batting from the left in the past 4 years. What she has learned throughout the years is that repetition is the key to success. If you don't stay at it and don’t practice it often enough, your body will forget the mechanics because it is not your body’s natural way of moving. She has also learned that to be good you need to practice a combination of it all. She does a combination of bunting, slapping and hitting away. Half of her routine with the slapping coach is done with a toss and half of it is done using the machine. Besides going to her lessons once a week, she also goes to the batting cages on her own at least once a week. Doing that helps her maintain her form and keeps her hitting strong. If your daughter wants to continue the slapping, support her and continue her lessons, but also ensure to take her on a regular basis to the batting cages. Lessons alone is not enough. The batting cages will give her the freedom to work on things on her own and allow her to build on what her coach has already taught her.

[Baller]

I really appreciate all the insight from those who have been there and done that. Just to comment on a couple of the statements. She is doing what she wants. She wants to bat left handed. We work out in our cage at least once a week in addition to her lessons and weekly practices. We work a combo of hitting, slapping and bunting. Her instructor emphasizes that being able to do all 3 keeps defenses of balance. She also uses the hit a way regularly. Slapping alone would not suffice. She actually strikes out less as a lefty. Just 6 times in more than 100 at bats!

[Gone in 2.6]

My dd has been taking lessons from the same instructor for 3 1/2 yrs. The lessons consist of mainly soft toss and tee work. She has hit live less than 10 times. She occasionally uses the machine, but usually it's if we ask. The instructor is well known and has students from many top orgs such as FC. Dd switched to a slapper last year, but the lessons remain mostly the same. Is this typical of most lessons? I think dd should see more live or machine work so the instructor can work with her on timing of the slap. I have sugggested this, but it goes right back to the same. Is it time for a new instrucor. Dd really likes her.

For slapping coach pitch is a very effective tool. The coach should be working with her on how to handle different pitch locations. Also she should be teaching the slapper to THINK. Where does she go with the ball? What kind of slap does she use? The answer can be different every time based on pitch location, count, game situation, defensive alignment, field condition and base runners.

A slapper should be able to call her own game and not "need" any signals from the 3rd base box. In most cases, she should be able to call it better than a 3rd base coach because of superior viewpoint of the action (especially the pitch locations). But none of this will come to fruition without a lot of drilling on the mental part of the slap game.

There's nothing more useless than a slapper coming up to bat with a runner on 1st and less than two outs and hitting said runner into an out. She should not need a sac bunt sign and should not "need" to bunt AT ALL to protect that runner.

Your description does not suggest she is getting the training she needs to be the best she can be.

[Gone in 2.6]

We were in the same situation a few years ago with my DD moving from 16U to 18G. The Gold coach said with her speed she should be hitting from the left side so we gave it a shot. One day the head coach was not at a showcase and the assistant coach told her to do what she wanted so she hit from the right and got a stand up triple. Since that day she's never hit from the left again. My DD can still beat out an infield hit from the right side so as far as she's concerned she will hit right handed. Do what's best for your DD not what a coach tells you. So if she's not successful from the left switch her back to the right. Slapping a few years ago was a great tool to have in the line up but now the defenses have gotten alot better in most cases the slapper gets thrown out about 80% of the time. Good luck.

They do? Wow, that is an ugly stat.

[Chin Music]

We were in the same situation a few years ago with my DD moving from 16U to 18G. The Gold coach said with her speed she should be hitting from the left side so we gave it a shot. One day the head coach was not at a showcase and the assistant coach told her to do what she wanted so she hit from the right and got a stand up triple. Since that day she's never hit from the left again. My DD can still beat out an infield hit from the right side so as far as she's concerned she will hit right handed. Do what's best for your DD not what a coach tells you. So if she's not successful from the left switch her back to the right. Slapping a few years ago was a great tool to have in the line up but now the defenses have gotten alot better in most cases the slapper gets thrown out about 80% of the time. Good luck.

So slappers should be hitting under .200 by your formula. Gone, your kid ever hit under .400?

[BigSoftball]

We were in the same situation a few years ago with my DD moving from 16U to 18G. The Gold coach said with her speed she should be hitting from the left side so we gave it a shot. One day the head coach was not at a showcase and the assistant coach told her to do what she wanted so she hit from the right and got a stand up triple. Since that day she's never hit from the left again. My DD can still beat out an infield hit from the right side so as far as she's concerned she will hit right handed. Do what's best for your DD not what a coach tells you. So if she's not successful from the left switch her back to the right. Slapping a few years ago was a great tool to have in the line up but now the defenses have gotten alot better in most cases the slapper gets thrown out about 80% of the time. Good luck.

So slappers should be hitting under .200 by your formula. Gone, your kid ever hit under .400?

The difference is that RC is a real slapper.

I suspect the .200 comment refers to the multitudes of kids who think they are slapping but usually just tap weak grounders to the infield, occasionally beat out a throw, even knock one through a hole, but aren't true snappers by any stretch. What amazes me is how many of these kids still exist in 18u. Real slappers like RC are treasures, to be sure.

[AlwaysImprove]

We were in the same situation a few years ago with my DD moving from 16U to 18G. The Gold coach said with her speed she should be hitting from the left side so we gave it a shot. One day the head coach was not at a showcase and the assistant coach told her to do what she wanted so she hit from the right and got a stand up triple. Since that day she's never hit from the left again. My DD can still beat out an infield hit from the right side so as far as she's concerned she will hit right handed. Do what's best for your DD not what a coach tells you. So if she's not successful from the left switch her back to the right. Slapping a few years ago was a great tool to have in the line up but now the defenses have gotten alot better in most cases the slapper gets thrown out about 80% of the time. Good luck.

They do? Wow, that is an ugly stat.

Yep, not well said. For me, the old style placement slapper, with a above 2.75 home to first used to be pretty common in our area. They used to be on base a lot. That has now gone away. Defenses have gotten very quick.

For those that are below 2.6, they are going to be extremely successful and their value in the sport greatly increased. Given that average slappers are no longer the huge win they once were, having base runners is even more important. Hence the value of someone like Chavanne, and Pohlman go way up.

Was not long ago a lot of teams would start with 3 slappers and maybe come back around to 2 more in the 8/9 hole. Since they were reasonably fast, they would have OBS in .400. Now with defenses getting so fast, those OBS numbers have dropped. Add in a move to 43 feet has increased the number of stronger hits and you now see a lot more swinging away.

If you are not quite that fast, you can still be a slapper, but you had better bring additional tools to the plate. Like hitting the deep ball, fake bunt slapping (one that actually fools defenses), etc.

[jonriv]

We were in the same situation a few years ago with my DD moving from 16U to 18G. The Gold coach said with her speed she should be hitting from the left side so we gave it a shot. One day the head coach was not at a showcase and the assistant coach told her to do what she wanted so she hit from the right and got a stand up triple. Since that day she's never hit from the left again. My DD can still beat out an infield hit from the right side so as far as she's concerned she will hit right handed. Do what's best for your DD not what a coach tells you. So if she's not successful from the left switch her back to the right. Slapping a few years ago was a great tool to have in the line up but now the defenses have gotten alot better in most cases the slapper gets thrown out about 80% of the time. Good luck.

They do? Wow, that is an ugly stat.

Yep, not well said. For me, the old style placement slapper, with a above 2.75 home to first used to be pretty common in our area. They used to be on base a lot. That has now gone away. Defenses have gotten very quick.

For those that are below 2.6, they are going to be extremely successful and their value in the sport greatly increased. Given that average slappers are no longer the huge win they once were, having base runners is even more important. Hence the value of someone like Chavanne, and Pohlman go way up.

Was not long ago a lot of teams would start with 3 slappers and maybe come back around to 2 more in the 8/9 hole. Since they were reasonably fast, they would have OBS in .400. Now with defenses getting so fast, those OBS numbers have dropped. Add in a move to 43 feet has increased the number of stronger hits and you now see a lot more swinging away.

If you are not quite that fast, you can still be a slapper, but you had better bring additional tools to the plate. Like hitting the deep ball, fake bunt slapping (one that actually fools defenses), etc.

I would agree with AI- there is always a place for a very fast & disciplined slapper, but it appears the days of lineups stacked with fast to mediocre slappers is over. Defenses have caught up. I will have to say that nothing is more frustrating to a defense than a highly skilled slapper with speed(like 2.6's DD)