Question:

My son consistently makes contact, however he does not hit through the ball and his bat angle at contact continues on a downward plane instead of a even plane. He always hits grounders and never/seldom line drives. Other than telling him whats happening and demonstrating the proper technique, I can’t seem to get him to adapt the proper mechanics (I think this is where I was going with the Dad thing!) Anyway, are there some drills you can recommend that might creat a muscle memory for the proper mechanics in hitting through the ball and the proper swing plane?

Answer:

Your son sounds like he has the correct idea of starting at a downward angle. In his toss drills, and off the tee, have him start finishing his swing shoulder high. As you stated the swing should level off, if you work on the finish, he should level the swing off. Make sure he is not rolling his top hand too soon, the top hand should not roll until well after contact. Do some tee work, move the tee about 5-7 inches in front of where he would normally make contact. If he continues his downward angle he will not be able to make good contact. He will have to level his swing in order to make contact. Have him try to drive the ball back up the middle, keeping his hands going through the contact plane.

My sons have a pulling off the ball problem. We think opposite field all the time but as soon as we swing hard in a game situation we pull off. The only thing that seems to help is to concentrate on starting the bat with the hands and not the upper body but to do that they both seem to push more with the top hand than what your literature calls for. We don’t roll over until after contact but we seem to generate a little more bat speed and barrell direction if we concentrate on the top hand. My guess would be that we were pulling with the lower arm and really getting nothing out of the top hand. We are confused about the role of the top hand. Without it our bats seem lazy and without direction. With it we wonder if we’re doing things incorrectly but we get better results.

Answer:
As long as the top hand is not rolling too soon, it is ok to think, be more aggressive with the top had as long as the top hand is staying in the proper position and getting through the ball. If the kids are staying inside and through the ball you are ok.

What hitters mentally say to themselves is different depending on the hitter, if your sons seem to get their hands going better when they think top hand, then this is probably getting their hands going.

As far as pulling off the ball, make sure their effort level is not too high, hitters with a high effort level tend to pull of of the ball more often. They should feel like they have something let with their body when the complete their swing, also, if they are staying on balance throughout the swing, then their effort level is ok. Their effort level in batting practice and drills should be the same as their game swings, once this starts happening they will become more consistence.

I have a 9 year old with a wild upper cut swing. Most of the time he swings under the ball. Any drills that can correct him of this habit?

Answer:

You need to start your swing in a strong position of power, with your top hand on the bat at shoulder level, and your hands over or behind your back foot, weight back on your back foot. This is critical. Hands up, weight back.

Take a short stride with your stride foot toes pointing to home plate, with your weight still back. When the hands come forward, they need to come down at about a 45 degree angle to meet the ball in the contact zone. The bat head needs to stay above the hands. Your back foot needs to rotate up to the toe, to open the hips.  The key is repetition. Muscle memory.

Question:

My son is on the young side of the playing age in Little League as his birthday is June. In all his years playing, he has never shown fear of the ball. This year we moved up into minor division – first year of kid pitch.  He is now showing fear at the plate by backing up in the box before the ball is even released from the pitcher’s hand. How do I help him? One of his coaches states, “You can’t coach fear.”

Answer:

Fear at the plate is something that many, if not all kids go through at one time or another. I disagree with your coach, this is something that he can get through with the right information.

First, teach him how to get out of the way of the ball. He should understand that he is going to be able to react to the ball better if he knows how to get out of the way of an on coming pitch. Teach him to turn away from the ball, you can do this by throwing tennis balls at him and mixing in strikes and balls, up and in.

Second, start teaching him a more aggressive attitude. That he is going to be the one that hits the ball right back at the pitcher and he is going to have the most aggressive attitude on the field, even if he is the youngest.

I know what your going through, my son’s birthday is July 31 – the Little League cut off day.

When should a player start switch-hitting? What do you consider a good age to begin? How proficient should the hitter be from his strong side before he begins learning to switch-hit? Do you consider learning to switch-hit to be a big advantage for being recruited by college/pros? Just off the top of my head, it seems that many of the top hitters in the Majors are not switch hitters.

Answer:

My son and I started to work on switch hitting when he was about 10 years old, but he didn’t start switch hitting in games until he was 13. I wanted him to get a real feel for balance through his swing and develop more strength before I put him in a game situation. When he started switch hitting in games, he hit only left handed for the entire year (he’s a natural right handed hitter). This was the year he was going to go to the big field and I thought he might struggle somewhat switch hitting, but most kids struggle when moving up to the regulation size field anyway so I didn’t worry about it. He ended up having some success and has improved to the point to where he is a better hitter from the left side.

If you want your son to switch hit, you should have a reason for having him do so. Does he have some speed? If he has some speed, or potential to have speed, then there are some advantages to hitting from the left side. If he is going to be a power hitter with little speed, than I would say let him stay on one side. Most switch hitters are natural right handed hitters, there is a different advantage for left handed hitters. Most pitchers are right handed, hitting from the left side hitters will not have to deal with the offspeed pitch breaking away from them. Another big advantage to switch hitting is that players won’t be platooned if they are proficient from both sides of the plate.

If my son would have been a natural left handed hitter, I don’t believe I would have taught him to switch hit. But don’t hold me to that because I have a 2 year old and he hits off the tee lefty, I think because he watches his brother hit from the left side so much.

Question:

My son struggled at the 16 year old JV level this season. The bottom line is he just doesn’t pick up the ball consistently. The zone he has the most problem with is that first zone, leaving the pitcher’s hand to the first 10-12 feet. He fights off a lot of pitches because they get on top of him, sees it too late. He can’t ever attack it out in front of the plate. When he sees it early and likes it, he most of the time jumps at it and gets out on his front foot, either topping the ball or getting under it. I have Harvey’s Vision Training, have used it a bit, he’s into his Legion Ball now for the summer and I want to help him NOW ! That’s where you come in, Dave. It’s not as easy as saying “See it coming out of the pitcher’s hand”. What now !!????

Answer:

The first action that needs to take place is that when his stride foot comes down, the hands have to go back. This will get him into a good position of power and allow him to see the ball. It sounds like he usually starts too late, and gets beat on balls, or he starts too early and all his weight comes forward. I would rather him start too early then too late, if he starts too late he will get beat on balls every time.

However, he can start as early as he wants if he gets into the position of power. Once he is in the position of power, don’t have him thinkn about seeing the ball out of the pitcher’s hand, have him only think about seeing the ball. If a hitter thinks about seeing the ball out of the hand he might follow the hand instead of the ball. Have him start early, and only think about seeing the ball. Good luck with the season.

Baseball wasn’t invented by one person. The old myth was that Abner Doubleday invented it in Cooperstown. Never happened. Baseball evolved from a variety of other bat and ball and base sports including cricket and rounder’s. But it wasn’t invented at any one point.

What are the origins of baseball?

Baseball traces its roots to a variety of bat-and-ball games, including rounders and cricket. It wasn’t until the 1840′s in America that a man named Alexander Cartwright actually put the rules to paper. Even though baseball existed prior to that point, he is often considered to be the father of baseball.

When was baseball invented?

Baseball really wasn’t invented. It is considered an American game, but it evolved from games in Europe. There wasn’t a birth, and there wasn’t a grand creation to the game.

When did professional baseball start?

Professional Baseball began in the late 1800s. The National League is the oldest existing league. It began in the 1870s, followed by the American League in the early 1900s.

When did Major League Baseball start?

Major League Baseball began in 1903 when the American and National leagues agreed to begin holding the World Series.

Who were some of the original Major League Baseball clubs?

Some of the original Major League clubs were Boston, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Louisville, and many others.

Who were the 1919 ‘Chicago Black Sox’ and why are they so important in baseball history?

The Chicago Black Sox of 1919 are the most infamous team in baseball history. They threw the World Series to the Cincinnati team. As a result, many of the players on that team were banned for life from baseball. It is now one of the cardinal rules of baseball, and became so at that time, that any player caught gambling on the game would be banned from baseball. It is why Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, two tremendous ball players, are not in the Hall of Fame. The Sox scandal also led to the creation of a powerful commissioner form of government in baseball, and the first commissioner was Kennesaw Mountain Landis.

What were the ‘Negro Leagues’ in professional baseball?

Major leagues did not integrate until 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Prior to that point, and even after that point ,black players often played in segregated leagues, in the Negro Leagues. There were many leagues that bore that title “Negro Leagues”. But it was a popular form of baseball.

Question:

My son just went through the worst possible winter of his playing career. He had worked very hard this past off season to develop some serious “pop” in his bat. We measured his bat velocity while doing some heavy duty overload/underload training. His bat speed really increased and I could really see the pop.
The problem is that it is just in batting practice. In games he wasn’t making contact. When he did, it was a rocket. The first thing that I saw was that he was pulling off theball. The next thing was a loop in the swing. After that I saw the early rolling of the hands and then too much weight passing through center onto his front side. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer:

It sounds like your son has improved his bat speed and therefore his power. Now, he expects to hit the ball out of the ball park. That may be the problem – he feels he should be hitting the ball out of the park. He is probably over swinging and his effort level is too high.

He must get back to thinking “hard contact” and “line drives”. An excessive effort level leads to many break downs – head movement, front side pulling off, rolling top hand, etc. Get him back to basics so that his goal is consistent hard contact and line drives. Look for good balance, correct head position throughout the swing, and a short hand path to the ball.

When my 16 year old tried setting her hands in the Position of Power, she feels like it’s harder the pull down with the bottom hand, getting that short path to the ball. She feels “trapped” a bit and has too much top hand, her swinging loops under the ball. How can we get the hands set and still get that pull down angle with the bottom hand?

A:

The Position of Power is a position that every hitter should be in when the stride foot lands. The hands do not need to move very much, as long as the hands are just behind the back foot when the stride foot lands. The hands should not feel “trapped”. This should be a fluid movement that is not segmented.  It sounds like your daughter is not properly staying inside the ball.

The easiest way to correct this problem is to not think of cocking the wrists, just think about taking the hands back. This will allow for a free and easy swing, when she thinks about the wrists, she would probably have a tendency to be stiff.

My daughter’s batting average increased from .423 in the first 10 games of the season to .580 in the last 10 games. Everyone has taken notice of how well she is hitting the ball. She is in post season play now and continuing to work hard.  My question is that she seems to tend to rotate her hands too quickly (too close to impact) on occasion (perhaps when she’s trying too hard), hitting the top of the ball, resulting in bouncy ground balls. Does this seem to be a likely reason for bouncy ground balls? How do we correct this?

Answer:

Good job with your daughter, it sounds like she is doing great.   As you know you don’t want the hands to roll over until well after contact. That being said, be sure your daughter is staying inside the ball and she is not casting her top had too soon.

The answer may also be in a lack of strength at this time. Work on staying inside the ball and not rolling the top hand, but this habit may eliminate itself with swing strength.  I would have her do fence drills and one-handed drills if she is strong enough to do so. Concentrating on not rolling the top hand too soon. Another drill you can do is a top hand release drill. Have her swing the bat and after contact and before she rolls her top hand have her release her top hand, keeping her top hand palm up, do not allow the top hand to roll over at all. This will help her to feel the top hand palm up, have her perform this drill off of the tee or in soft toss. It will feel a little strange, and this is only a drill, have her take her regular swing in the game, not thinking about any of these drills.