Cut Swing 101: Learn how to cut the ball w/ a USSSA Conference Pro | ASA / USSSA Slowpitch Softball 

It's mega useful. I'm a little obsessed with getting it down pat right now. Hopefully can start to work it into game scenerios soon. Thanks for watching!

It also helps having an easy/ smooth swing. Not trying to kill the ball.

Should you always cut swing (if you can)?

This helped us out a lot as well. Really glad we had an expert give his advice and glad we got to share it with you all.

Hey great advice! We are always interested in any strategy that can improve our game.

I've been working in this off the tee myself. Decent results so far!

Thanks for watching! We have an ever growing list of video ideas. We'll put that one on there!

Thanks! We figured if we record us learning these skills it could help others learn too!

A little practice goes a long way. For me I just have to keep refreshing the skills in practice so they are ready to use at game time.

Brandon is a great dude and a fantastic ambassador for the game. Genuinely loves to play, ump, and teach others.

The cut swing is a completely different feel for sure. We will be practicing!

can you elaborate?

We are getting one as well. Keep an eye out of the channel for a more in depth review.

Glad to hear you learned it at an early age. Having to learn it now after decades of Softball/Baseball is a bit tougher but will be a great addition to my skill set. Thanks for watching!

Good stuff and like the focus of your channel. Let me know if you want to break down some senior bats and swings.

Glad to hear it's working for you! Keep practicing it and make it automatic!

His swings being almost all pull side in this video, is my fault. Those just happened to be the swings I used over the audio. I assure you he can cut the ball very well backside. He actually prefers his backside cut swing over his pull side. For cutting to the opposite side, he still tries to meet the ball out in front of his body but because he is pushing towards left field the ball travels a little bit further back before he strikes it. I think the same cues apply to cutting in any direction. Stay tall, stay over the ball, and make sure to hit it out in front of your body. If you want to see some great example of him cutting to all fields check out our last video with him walking us through his BP session. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7HnFXP7YqkY.html

Thanks for watching Luchiano! Any tips you have for players trying to learn how to cut the ball?

Ya man. All I focus on is lining up my knocker knuckles and taking the knob to the ball.

I've seen your swing and I feel like you could probably teach him. You've got a great cut to your swing! But, by all means, encourage him to watch haha!

@@LeagueNightSoftball oh I've tried... LOL!

I (Cam) have a Suncoast on the way thanks to Mr. Traylor.

Let us know how it’s going. If you find anything that’s helping, share your tips!

Aaaaaayyyyye!

We would always recommend standing as far forward in the box as you can and still get the pitches at the appropriate height. For slowpitch, I feel like chest high is probably optimal but up to shoulder and down to waist are manageable heights for still being able to hit the ball hard. If you can convert that tomahawk to a "cut" swing, you'll be in business!

I used to line up way back in the box as well. Old baseball habit. I have found the more and more forward I get in the box the better I hit.

If you cut it right with backspin yes

Hey Monto! The cut allows you to hit the ball hard while keeping it low to the ground. There is a great amount of backspin on the ball, so it will travel, but the goal is to place the ball low and hard to the target. Having this swing down will make you extremely hard to get out

@@LeagueNightSoftball cutting is both for the best line drive placements and also the farthest homeruns

Hey Erik! We finally found a great person to teach us some things about how to execute a good cut swing. We know you have been looking forward to this one!

For me, when I stopped trying to swing really hard and focused on technique, that when my power started showing up. I would recommend working on loose wrists so that you can maximize the "whip" at the end of the swing. We hope to do some videos about this soon!

Hi Daniel, thanks for the question. Yes, we still recommend standing up in the box. Though your strike zone might be slightly lower than someone taller than you, the ball must cross the "strike zone" in the same area of your body. That being the case, you still want to try and catch the ball above your waist and standing up in the box should help with that. You may try stepping up a few inches in batting practice and experimenting until you find the perfect place in the box. You can always adjust depending on the umpire and the pitcher's depth, but in general, standing further forward in the box has proven to be more successful! Let us know where you end up and what feels better/worse about it.

Not always but a lot of the time this is true. However, you have to balance hand speed, extra weight, and handle flexibility. They all have a role to play in hitting the ball hard. Everyone has to find the best combo for themselves.

Thank you so much for the advice I’m definitely going to try some different things in bp and keep make awesome videos

Good question. Its definitely a usable strategy as long as you have proper expectations. Likely not going to get those line drives off the wall but really great for line drives in the gap.

@@LeagueNightSoftball Awesome. I'm a lead off hitter who likes to hit lime drives so that's right up my alley. FYI I do swing a Demarini Steel.

We are in the San Francisco Bay Area and yes, we definitely offer in person lessons.

I find that the further up in the box I position myself the more success I have. Standing too far back in the box can often result in reaching for shorter pitches which almost always ends up as an easy pop out. Everyone has to figure out what works for them but I would definitely encourage you to experiment with moving forward in the batter's box.

@@LeagueNightSoftball I’m definitely going to try and move in the box tonight in my mens league!

Let us know how it works out for you!

@@LeagueNightSoftball It definitely worked a lot better than when I was back in the box!

@@jrey6186 lol. You would be shocked at how both hard it was, yet how quickly i was umping. I ended up emailing the national umpire director since i didnt know what region i was. Within hours i was on the phone with the regional Utrip director. “Training” next day, umping the very next week. I lasted 1 season. Between Utrip/ASA. Lost money.

I think everyone should know how to do it and use it as needed. I would argue the bigger and stronger you are the more important it is. Because HRs are almost always limited in softball, the cut swing allows stronger hitters to still use thier power but reduce the risk of hitting an HR when they don't want to. This is just one example but it's useful in a ton of different situations.

Very true!!! I am about to buy a new bat and saw this video for the ruckus as well as the geny. But since Genys are up to 800 bucks online, I think I will do a ruckus 😉

Check out Traylor's social media in the description of the video. That's a good place to start!

Are you saying we need to finish the swing or we are finishing the swings?

@@LeagueNightSoftball Look how Traylor completes the circle of his swing ....your cutting yours off ......like a boxer that gains power hitting thru the target not just to connection

Brandon is actually a USSSA umpire for a ton of tournaments and knows the rules inside and out. I've, personally, never read the rule, but, I trust him on this one. If you can find the rule in question, please send us a link. We are always interested in learning more and more about the game. Thanks for watching!

@@LeagueNightSoftball RULE l PLAYING FIELD Sec. 5 page 8: Further, the following batter’s box guidelines will be used: the batter must set up with his back foot no further forward than home plate. Any forward stride will be allowed. The batter will be called out, when either one or both of his feet are in contact with the ground COMPLETELY outside the lines of the batter’s box in front of home plate or when his foot is in contact with home plate while contact is made with the ball. Any batter, who runs forward through the batter’s box to hit a ball will be judged in or out of the box at the time they contact the ball. (SEE: ILLEGALLY BATTED BALL Rule 3 page 20) RULE 2. EQUIPMENT Sec. 3 B2 Ptretty simple ruling. I've also ump'd for a while.

I think what Brandon is saying is there isn't a traditional batter's box like in MLB. The parameters of the batter's box are really only the line guiding the distance you are away from the plate laterally, but there isn't a "line" in front of the plate. If your back foot was in line with the front edge of home plate, you could line your front-foot up as far forward as you please. There isn't a restricting line in front of home plate to stop you. I don't think we have played in a tournament this year where there has been a line in front of the plate between the mound and home plate.

@@pepepepert had a guy called out 2 times last week for this exact rule. Front foot wad completely out of box when contact was made. Asa league though.

FYI. Rules are made to be broken. This rule has been around for years. Most umpires won’t call it. Why?! I have no f-ing idea! If umps don’t call it, free game.

Sorry for overlooking the fact that many players may not know what it is. For those of you that don't know, the cut swing is a strategy of hitting where the batter attempts to "cut" at a slightly downward angle towards the ball. The desired result is a hit with a great amount of backspin which helps the ball carry much farther. This is similar to the way a 4 seam fastball travels. Thanks for pointing that out!

I was thinking this would get mentioned a few times in the comments.

I fully disagree. Some bats ARE a bit hotter than others but we are talking about adding 100 feet to a swing. We might be looking at adding an extra 20 feet or so. Pretty much every new bat costs ~$300 anyway. If every bat is around the same price, then how is money buying power and average. Am I missing something? Please explain.

@@LeagueNightSoftball to add distance you must add ball speed or backspin which creates flight time. What little or more the bat creates, that in turn lessons reaction time. Making a squeaker that gets by the infielder, or just enough to shoot the gap outta reach or get over the head of an outfielder. And as I a pitcher, those middle shots become uncatchable do to reaction time. So yes, you buy hits, and distance. Be it 20 feet, but usually its always more. Bats from 1990 when I started playing till now aren't even close. No one would ever pick up an old Blur-ple TPS, or even a TPS Lighthouse C405 now. I'm old enough to remember watching guys in the 70's 80's and playing in the 90s. From the late 2000s till now is a major difference. Ever since Miken Ultra and the Freak era, it's a buy to hit game. So dont give me the bats don't really matter garbage. I've been playing since 1990. Everyone has HR power now and its not the players, it's the bats. Add rolled and shaved bats to the mix, it's a joke. Disagree all you want, some of those hits from hot bats become outs with normal bats. It's a fact, nobody was swinging a cheap bat. Why, because you want that extra. Put an average Prius driver in a Ferrari, they automatically becomes faster. Not because of the person's ability, but because of the car.

Umm no the bats benefit everyone. They definitely don't even the playing field. My best hitting year easily was after using a Corndog(wood barrel softball bat) for batting practice all that off-season and year. Then when I would use my Miken in a game it was like swinging a tennis racquet. If you can hit a softball(not designed for woodbats) 300' you'll absolutely crush with a composite.

I have not seen you swing so take this with a grain of salt but if you are hitting the neck of the bat when extending, I would guess you are set up a little too close to the plate. I find that standing off the plate a bit gives me a much better position to create power as well as be able to cover the whole plate.

That's a great strategy. We absolutely agree that you should practice with purpose and know what you are trying to do. Glad you like the video!