The Sweep

Your pleased with the contact but not how he is driving the ball. Had the exact same symptoms and problem at the end of this season when I pondered what my son needed to do to improve. We were getting very close to the fence but never over. I bet your son is making consistent contact and he is making that contact with his hands and arms fully extended leaving him no more additional power to drive the ball. I see Ken and Noah have given some great short term solutions that will lead to some good long term results. However, drills without changing thought processes may not get the desired result you need. Your son may be ready for a complete overhall. It quickly became apparent to us drills alone would not be enough, and that to get more power we would have to take the high road doing a complete rework and study of the swing through lessons. If your son is ready it will take about 6-8 1 hour lessons to rework the swing. You will see a big jump and difference and then that will level off. We are going to keep going with lessons until next season starts, keep it tweeked hear and there during the season, and rework again after next season. If you are not currently doing lessons the gains can be huge for athletic kids with a good instructor and then it levels off till they reach the next plateau which happens when they get stronger, get more control, or reach a higher mental state of awareness. For now we are sticking with the lessons to enforce and practice what we have learned to do letting nothing slip.

One of the experiences I like about seeking baseball knowledge is the renewal, appreciation, and uplifting you get when your knowlege about the game is refined, hightened, and enhanced by revisiting various aspects of the game through books, a great instructor, coach, or speaker. It all started by us going back to a baseball school for 1 on 1 instruction, we got an ex pro teacher, we are studying walls of pictures, we do slow speed swing walk thru's, we have a variety of drills to condition muscles into correct responses, we review fundamentals and make better adjustments, we reworked the whole swing from top to bottom, everything, and we are seeing great results. A compressed more powerful swing with the bat staying back exploding into contact followed by fully extended arms at the finish. At 9-10 my son had lessons at the same place with a different but good instructor. It helped him make contact and taught the fundamentals. Yet, he could not master it all because he just had not developed enough. He did not seem to have the maturity capable of formulating a mental picture and translating that picture into action. Two years later the same son now 11 soon to be 12 yr old started lessons again at the same place in mid August with the pro instructor. The results this time include successfully learning to drive outside pitches to right after letting them come deeper into the strike zone, to drive down-the-middle pitches to center, and to drive inside pitches to left with more power getting the hands through the strike zone. When he finishes his swing now he is literally falling out of the box with a quicker start on his way to 1st like Sosa (thats why Sammy does the hop on the way to first after a homer to get his balance back). Click - somebody take his picture. Can he do it all the time? Unfortunately, not yet. The path to good hitting technique is much clearer in his mind and he comprehends understanding what he has to work on. At first you will have a slight slip in contact. As he reworks his swing the contact comes back quickly. Disciplining himself to reach more consistency in his hitting technique is now his struggle and challenge. When he fails he must exert self control, plan, and trust himself or the lesson heads downhill resulting in him stealing from his dad who pays for them.

You try to teach some of this when they are younger. At 9-10 his skills were not developed enough to get it. It is hard because younger kids really do not possess physical and mental ability to do take on this challenge even when they are the type that make contact. The lesson is a weekly event we look forward to attending and we don't plan to stop until the only additional power he can get will be from growing. The added power in his swing makes the field look much smaller now.

Time magazine had an article on Tiger Woods wanting to rework his golf swing after he won the masters. Coach asked him if he was prepared to win fewer tournaments and told him the press will wonder whats wrong with you. After several years of practicing and working with his coach it all recently clicked mentally and he has been untouchable since.