By: Ron Bing, Puritas League, Cleveland, Ohio
How often do you see a batting practice which consists of X number of pitches, then the next kid takes over?
Date: July 02, 1998 at 14:50
Instead of that, set up a game like situation and see how he does with it. I like to use the bottom of the ninth inning of the World Series, and say that we are down by a certain amount of runs. Now you and he can judge just how well the batter hit the ball. Give just about any kid twenty or so pitches and he will hit some good ones, but in a game he won't get that many to hit. Of course you want to make this a positive thing if possible, so maybe you tell him the game is tied, or you are down one. As the boy progresses, you make sure that his hits are really hits. You can quicken things a bit if you want by having each "new at bat" start with a one and one count. I include walks, because a good batting eye deserves its proper credit. By using game situations, the boys feel some of the pressure a real game would create, and there isn't a boy alive who wouldn't want to hit the game winner!