Looking for a baseball dad's opinion

[undguy]

A little trick I use on my kids is to have them tell me which way the ball is spinning each time I pitch to them. Helps them concentrate on ball. Works with any type of ball you pitch.

[wilbur]

Keep the info coming. My 9 y/o son is in the same position. First year in a 9 - 10 league, where the kids face a pitcher from the other team. We've been working on the soft toss drills for a few weeks. He does well in the drills, still struggling to pick up the ball coming off the pitchers hand and keeping his head down.

Also, any suggestions regarding bat selection would be welcomed.

[undguy]

Originally Posted by wilbur

Keep the info coming. My 9 y/o son is in the same position. First year in a 9 - 10 league, where the kids face a pitcher from the other team. We've been working on the soft toss drills for a few weeks. He does well in the drills, still struggling to pick up the ball coming off the pitchers hand and keeping his head down.

Also, any suggestions regarding bat selection would be welcomed.

No suggestion for brand of bat, but go as light as possible - bat speed is the key to hitting.

[gpbrown]

Boy this post brings back memories. Spent countless hours in the barn doing tee work and soft toss into the net with my two kids. Both turned into very good hitters and one is playing now in college. As others have stated I wouldn't get too crazy at their age. The important thing now is for them to enjoy the game and have some fun and if it looks like they have potential you can get more serious with the training. You could send them to hitting schools or academies which run 10 to 20 weeks if you have them in your area. You will still need to do tee work and soft toss between sessions. There were two training aids, and there are a bunch of them out there, that I thought were very beneficial for my kids. One is called a Zing Bat that teaches proper swing mechanics and bat lag. The other one is called Whip Hit bat and this teaches the proper hand path so that you hit the sweet spot of the bat every time.

It is easier to teach him the right way now as opposed to try and fix a bad swing after a few years. Teach them to lead with the knob of the bat and prevent them from casting out. Watching your kid drive in the winning run or make a spectacular play in the field is one of the coolest feelings you'll ever feel, even better than catching a ten pounder. Good luck.

[Mr.Seaguar]

My daughter has started softball this year. Physical isnt so much different from one kid to the next yet. Mental is the area I have to keep working with her. I am teaching her to have a one second memory. The last pitch is gone. Dont fret about the past. Focus on doing your best next opportunity. At my kids age the rules are that they have a huge strike zone, like from batters box to batters box. You cant even reach that far, let alone hit the ball. My kid has struck out looking a few times on the pitches way out there. I told her to accept the challenges of being 10 and learn the game the right way. We practice when she wants and dont if she doesnt. Good Luck

[scmelik]

Originally Posted by wilbur

Keep the info coming. My 9 y/o son is in the same position. First year in a 9 - 10 league, where the kids face a pitcher from the other team. We've been working on the soft toss drills for a few weeks. He does well in the drills, still struggling to pick up the ball coming off the pitchers hand and keeping his head down.

Also, any suggestions regarding bat selection would be welcomed.

the finger drill that I posted on the first page is great for just this problem. I had a huge problem with this when I was a sophomore in high school, just couldn't pick up the ball early enough. I went to a try out camp that had a bunch of D1 coaches there so I started picking all of their brains one by one and every single one of them said the samething. I worked my butt off with it, so much so that I think my dad had to ice his arm just from "throwing" fingers every night. The next year my average went from a horrible .189 to .312 and my senior year I batted .397 with more multi base base hits than ever along with a few home runs.

If that drill starts to get boring you can switch it up from fingers to colors a ball with you just holding it in different positions (ie, fastball grip, changeup grip, curve ball grip etc.). This will take a while to see any benefit from but over time he will start picking the ball up sooner and recognizing the spin.

[Pezman38]

Get an affordable bat, at this age the high priced ones make little difference. However using his own bat will bring confidence usually.

[mbrandt]

I totally agree with the golf ball size whiffle balls. When I coached little league I had a machine that threw these. My son could then practice in the back yard. It ran on batteries so I could take it to practice and the whole team benefited. The next step and the one that I think improved my son's batting the most was the purchase of the Swiftstik Baseball Training Bat. Basically a broomstick. Swinging at golf balls with a broomstick with the proper batting technique sure improved his skills.