Expert: Jack Elliott - 5/10/2009

Question

My 10 yr old son has been playing baseball for 5 years now and he has always been a very good hitter.  A year ago , he moved up to kid pitch and really struggled.  Early in the year- he struck out a few times and then was hit by a pitch  a few times….it was all over after that.  He never got a hit after that.  He has had several individual lessons and he does very well.  Even in practice - he crushes the ball.  Unfortunately - all the hard work doesn't transfer to the game and while he love baseball, he is getting discouraged.  What can I do?  I don’t know baseball that well but it does look like he is pulling his head off the ball and he is just nervous at the plate.  What are your thoughts?  

Answer
Hi Shawn,

First off, I think it is great that you are taking an active interest in your son's baseball training.  Some good parental encouragement can make all the difference for some kids to really shine.

Now, in regards to your question, it is difficult to say without actually viewing your son play, however, it could be a number of things.  I will give some suggestions in parenthesis:

1.  Afraid of being hit by a pitch? (This is mostly a mental issue that he will need to work through by minimizing his fear.  However, some players have benefited by wearing a protective face mask.  Here, is an article: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/0508dnspocarltoncol.3b01... ).
 
2.  Pressing too much at the plate rather than relaxing and just swinging?  (This will best be improved through more practice and more reps.  Try to get him to hit the way he does in practice by reducing stress by minimizing the importance of games or his at bats.  Also, have him take a few deep breaths before he steps into the batter's box and before he swings.  Anything you can do to reduce the stress of the situation will likely help him.)

3.  Having difficulty making the adjustment from machine pitch to kid pitch.  (Kid pitch comes at a slightly higher angle and has a different motion to it that a pitching machine.  One thing you can do to help with this is to get him more batting practice through an actual pitcher throwing or use batting cages that use a mechanical arm that slings the ball rather than the more common chute used by many batting cages.  Also, don't be afraid to have him start doing some drills with a batting tee and soft toss to improve his hand eye coordination.)  

4.  Ask him what he thinks the problem is and go from there?  In addition, consider videotaping him in practice and in the games and compare to see if he is doing anything different.  If you feel like you would like some baseball experts look at it, you can consider sending it to a baseball forum or baseball training site.  Here, is one source I recommend:

http://www.mikeepsteinhitting.com/Store/tabid/84/List/0/ProductID/37/Default.asp...

In the end, don't worry too much about this.  Follow some of these suggestions and have him keep practicing.  At some point, the switch will go off and he will start to hit like he does in practice.  Sometimes, it just takes a little time for everything to click.  

Best,
Jack Elliott
http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com