By: Steve C.,
I'll be kind of long-winded about this ‘cause I feel pretty strongly on the subject - "take ‘till you get a strike" is death to hitters!! My oldest son was a pretty good batter as a little kid, but in the first kid-pitch league he played in as a 9 year old the coaches instituted that rule (because the pitching stunk and they wanted to get walks.) His average, .600 before they put the policy in, dropped to .179. Yeah, he got lots of walks, but it sucked the aggression out of him at the plate. His next two coaches encouraged selectivity at the plate, too. For the next 2 years he lead every team he was on in walks and OBP, but he batted around .200 and the few hits he got were mostly bunts and pokes through the opposite side of the infield. Yuck! It wasn't until 2 years later when he got cut from the all star team and bumped down to the "B" tournament team that it turned around for him. On that team they put him leadoff and just told him to go out and hit. It turned out that when he steps up to the plate aggressively, he's a terrific first pitch fastball hitter - and he's batted around .450 ever since. (He has 6 doubles in his first 11 games this Spring.) There's nothing like seeing a 85 pound kid who's been a career .200 hitter getting an intentional base on balls in Little League to let you know you're doing something right. Yes, the other teams are starting to pitch around him - they try not to throw him fastballs for the first pitch. And he's still leading the team in walks. But when they do try to sneak one by early in the count, he hits it, and he hits it hard. I started coaching when my younger son came up, and I concentrated on getting the kids to get the bats off their shoulders. I honestly think kids these days are too timid at the plate. I think even at 13 it's a mistake to give a batter a take sign on the first pitch. My motto, especially on the first pitch, is: look for a strike and hit it - and hit it hard!
Date: May 03, 1998 at 23:23