Hitting Quick Fixes - Hand Positioning

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The quickest fixes you can make are the ones you can control, and that starts in your stance. Lots of times kids get into bad habits just by where they start their hands. If their hands are too low, they may have a big uppercut swing. If they start too high, they may chop down too much. If you find your hitters struggling with consistent hard contact, watch their hand placement in their stance. The biggest adjustment here is the kids have to remember where to place their hands. They can control that, but they need to practice it.

Things to watch for that would suggest moving their hands:

1. Swinging and missing underneath the pitch (uppercut).
2. Hitting lazy fly balls and high pop ups (uppercut).
3. Fouling off a lot of pitches straight back (uppercut).
4. Hitting a lot of ground balls (chopping).
5. Cutting underneath the pitch and fouling pitches off (chopping).
6. Hitting weak pop ups (chopping).

While there are other factors that go into it, creating a consistent hand path to the pitch is paramount to creating a consistent swing, and that starts with hand placement in the stance.

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