hitting problems

I had a couple of kids on my AAA level team (8 yrs to 12yrs) who had that problem, including my own daughter. She couldn't buy a hit.

She is 11 yrs, and her problem was basic mechanics. The problem is that you can teach them how to fix a problem, and then they can practice the correct way 100 times in practice, and it only takes one or two bad swings, and they're right back to square one.

I also had quite a few younger players, (one 7 yr old who just turned 8 yrs by the end of the season .. a real star). These younger kids had the biggest problem with nerves.

The solution was the same in both cases. Go back to the basics, literally by the number. Make certain in practice that they come to the batters box in exactly the same way, every single time at bat. Don't burn a single swing with them out of position. I won't go into a full lesson on batting here, but practice should involve a lot more than just wailing on the ball. Start with feet position, a wide stance, I like the right foot (assuming right hander) a half step further from the plate, but that's a personal preference. Line up the leading foot at about across from the middle of the plate.

Bent knees. Weight balanced, slightly in towards the plate. Keep the wrists and hands loose. Bat back.. compressing the chest muscles. Pull the bat forward leading with the left shoulder, then the left elbow, then the butt of the bat, to the point where the bat is across from the left knee, when the bat naturally "whipsaws" forward, as the wrists snap. Shift weight forward, pushing on the right foot, as he makes contact, and then continue to pull the bat throught.

One of our coaches said that Tony Gwynn talks about pulling the butt of the bat through the swing, and that's helped a lot.

Watch your son's swing. Is it a long swing, or a short quick swing? From the point he starts to pull the bat, to the point it meets the ball should be a very short stroke. Nine out of ten kids I worked with (including several other teams) had the same "long swing" problem. He should take his left hand (no bat), touch his right shoulder, which is about where his left hand will be when he's properly set up, and follow the arc from his shoulder to the point his hand will be when the bat impacts the ball (across from, and over his left knee). That's a short, quick arc. If his left had is traveling outside that arc, it'll result in a long swing. Some kids dangle their bat over their shoulder, to the point where the barrel almost touches their right shoulder blade. That guarantees the bat will travel in a long arc off their back, moving backwards (!) until they get enough momentum to move the bat forward. Then their hands extend way out from their body, and they frequently hit the ball late, across from their navel. Then they wonder why they can't get around on the ball. When you see it on video tape, it's almost funny, if the results weren't so sad. The should be swinging in a very short stroke from their shoulder to the impact point. From the point the bat impacts the ball, should be a long pull forward, as they turn and open their body towards the pitch. The bat hits the ball at the same time the body twists, "exploding" through the ball.

We work this out into about 4-5 steps, and the steps differ depending on what we're trying to get the batter to focus on. Every single situation where I've seen a batter who could not connect with the ball, I've eventually figured out a flaw in their mechanics, that usually causes a long, slow swing. By using a "numbering system", we get the kids thinking batting "by the numbers". They're focused on the art of batting, of setting themselves in the box, getting the bat into position, getting their wrists loss, focusing on the seams of the baseball so they can watch the rotation ... by focusing on ALL that, every time, every single swing, they don't have time to be nervious. The figure out that (1) they can hit, and (2) it's an art they can master, and (3) if the focus on the art, they won't get spooked.

I worked our pitchers the same way, especially after they got spooked. Start out "by the numbers". Learn the art. Work your game. Work the fundamentals, and you won't have time to think about "what if".. or "oh..no, I hope I don't strike out".

When he crosses that threshhold, from just moving that bat around, to focusing his mental energy on the mechanics of every single "number" of his swing, he's not only going to hit, but he's going to be swinging that bat with authority, wondering why it ever took so long.

We started out with 2-3 hitters, had six, .500+ hitters by mid-year, and by the end of the year, there wasn't a soft spot in our line-up. Everyone hit well, bunted, or contributed in some way. Our team got their rear ends kicked about a half dozen times in the season, including the playoffs, but eventually won the city championship. They did it by focusing on the art of baseball, the mechanics, on the immediate task ahead of them.

Get focused on the immediate task... that's the ticket to solving the "nerves" problem.