Expert: Rick Bundy - 4/30/2009

Question
About 6 weeks ago I asked a question to get my son to track the ball.  Thanks
to good advice, he's doing much better.  But, his balls tend to be grounders
and shallow to center-left.  The coach who answered my question said, don't
worry about the long ball, it will come with practice.  My son still seems to hit
them into the ground or shallow.  Is there a technique to level out his swing
so he gets a more solid hit?  His little league coaches say his swing is
technically very good, but he's not getting long balls even after batting cages,
soft hitting, and practice, practice, practice.  I don't have a good enough eye
to see if he might be planing down on his swing a trifle bit.

Answer
Steve:  Not being able to see your son swing, it is hard to pinpoint what is happening.

Some things to look for:

1.  Check to see if he is getting his front foot down early, it should be down before the ball is halfway to the plate.  He should also be striding on line, directly back at the pitcher.

2.  It is also possible he is not keeping his hands back, causing him to lose the power generated by the lower half of his body, rolling over the ball and hitting the balls you described.  If he is starting his hands with his stride, the correction is to concentrate on getting his front foot down slow and early, keeping his hands back.  That is his load and he swings from there.

Younger players often will double load, that is stride and load their hands, then reload their hands to swing, which will cause them to develop a long, looping swing.

Depending on his age and experience,there are basic hitting progressions he can work on that will help.  On my website, www.theoleballgame.com, I have sections on hitting progressions for rookies as well as advanced, that you may locate some things that will help.

I would echo what the other coach said about the long ball.  In one regard, your son is off to a good start if he is hitting ground balls and line drives, even if they currently don't have much pop.

It would be of greater concern if he were consistently popping the ball up, or hitting fly balls.

While there are many physical steps to hitting, the separator is the mental aspect.  If he is making corrections, try to generate a drill or activity where he can achieve early success, then slowly increase the difficulty.  It is hard to make a change such as the load/stride situation in a cage, or field live.  Best to start with a Tee, soft toss, then short toss.  It is so much about building confidence, while keeping their fluidity, not being robotic.

Good luck as you move forward.


Yours in baseball,

Rick