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Softball Pop-Up Basics

Why the Ball Pops Up

The contact-point story behind weak pop-ups — and why "lift the ball" is the wrong cue.

4 min
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Under the ball

Pop-ups usually mean the bat arrived under the ball with the barrel dropping too far below the pitch, so you catch the bottom of it and send it straight up.

In slow-pitch especially, hitters try to "lift" the ball and end up dropping the back shoulder and scooping — which causes the very pop-up they were trying to avoid.

Key takeaways

  • Pop-ups come from contacting the bottom of the ball.
  • Trying to lift the ball often makes pop-ups worse.
  • The fix is barrel path, not effort.

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Educational answers drawn from this lesson — not a personal diagnosis. To measure your own swing, I’ll point you to Motion Lab.

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