Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Mon Apr 29 08:31:27 2002

Can anyone with knowledge of fastpitch tell me what purpose the slapping of the bat against the back serves while a batter warms up ... Those that I have saw are far from a good swing and I know some of these girls have to have black n blue marks . Is this something that is being taught or just a fad ?
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> > > Some people belive that by stopping the arms and wipping the bat with the wrist gives more power. it results in htting the back
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> > Joe A. is short,to the point and totally on the money.
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> > So I will ramble on a little.This ingrains the linear handpath that kills getting the energy of the body into the swing.This is the horrible nipping in the bud of the vast majority of young kids who fall into the hands of well meaning but ignorant coaches and end up with an arm swing.This is a very hard mechanica to fix once ingrained.Do you see the great hitters do this?No.It makes you slow to the ball with no power,inconsistent timing(hitting is timing)and little ability to adjust to location.
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> > Besides that it's pretty good.You can hit the high outside pitch to the opposite field.You can drop the head of the bat on the low inside stuff and hit some high hoppers that avoid going foul(bathead angle/early extension is a big problem for inside stuff tending to give dead pulls yuou have to compensate for by stepping in the bucket for example).You can make contact especially in these locations if you don't try to overpower the swing.
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> > You would be better off learning slapping as a different style,from the left hand side if possible.Hit away for power using rotational mechanics as seen here.Learn bht and take command of the inside part of the zone.The pitchers aren't ready for this,but they are ready for anything else.
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> Plus the kid will have back pain when they get older.
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> Joe A.

Your first post was on target. I think you're stretching here but don't they look ridiculous? it's the 'softball' swing, I've been told. Though my daughter hits better and harder with a 'baseball' swing.
The head coach of Holy Cross (worcester) women's softball described the difference between a softball and baseball swing as 'nothing - they're the same'. He and others have taught that way for years with good results. but the travel teams are full of girls with that stupid hit your shoulder swing they pay money to learn. ??????