Hitting outside pitch

[kelpro]

Any thoughts on hitting the outside pitch? Mindset, Drills.... We seem to have trouble with this one, with Blue having a 4'' wider plate. Been a common theme here lately.

[play-more/talk-less]

I'm no hitting coach but dd has a good one and he teaches to let the ball get deep on outside and drive it to opposite field.The only drill (other than live pitching) that he does is use a tee and position the kid farther forward so the ball is deep at contact and practice hitting opposite field if they try to pull it you can see a big loss of power. Seems to work good for my dd just my 2 cents like I said I'm no expert.

[Coach11]

Any thoughts on hitting the outside pitch? Mindset, Drills.... We seem to have trouble with this one, with Blue having a 4'' wider plate. Been a common theme here lately.

Batting tee, batting tee, batting tee.

Batter needs to keep from opening shoulders too early.

Also equally as important is to teach them to understand the count. 2 & 0, 3 & 0, they shouldn't be swinging at this pitch anyhow.

If they're behind in count and ump has been calling 4" off the plate a strike all day, they should be fouling it off.

[scott]

Crowding the plate will help you hit the outside pitch. But you give up the inside.

[jth1959]

Start with the Tee. Move to soft toss where you position yourself across and slightly behind the batter, toss towards her right hip (for a righty). Then move to front toss. In all cases pick a spot half way down the hitting cage and have her drill the ball into the right side of the net (for a righty). Remember linedrives and more linedrives, fly balls are nothing but outs.

[GIMNEPIWO]

age group?

[wadeintothem]

So OK, lets call the strike zone 27 inches (17+1+1+4+4).. who knows, maybe even a little wider. I'm happy with that.

The bat alone is already lets say 32 inches +/-. Of course that bat is attached to 24-30 inch arms extending...

I'm thinking - swing the bat and you'll be good to go on that outside pitch.

Where are they swinging from? The dugout?

[anonlooker]

My DD got (a little) better when she stopped blaming the umpire!!!
I'm just sayin'.

[GIMNEPIWO]

We have a 'hit behind the runner' drill to teach the gals to take the outside pitch to right field ... we set up the pitching machine to hit the outside ... if the hit goes to right they run to 2nd ... anywhere else they run to the foul pole, pick up the balls, put em' in the bucket and get to the back of the line ...

[Stubs]

We have a 'hit behind the runner' drill to teach the gals to take the outside pitch to right field ... we set up the pitching machine to hit the outside ... if the hit goes to right they run to 2nd ... anywhere else they run to the foul pole, pick up the balls, put em' in the bucket and get to the back of the line ...

That sounds like a great motivator! I find that our girls respond much better and even have fun when a drill is competative or will cost them something if not done right.