Posted by: Sandman () on Tue Apr 22 15:45:30 2003

I'm going through a bit of the same w/ my 8-3/4 yr old son. He's had 2 practice games (3 innings ea.) so far, and has batted 4 times.

Our manager has him leading off, as he is a good contact hitter (in practice) and speedy. In both games, he struck out swinging the first time up, and both times by swinging WAY too early on several pitches. The second time up in the first game he belted a line drive double up the middle off a very fast pitcher. The second time up in the second game, he hit a weak dribbler back to the pitcher - again, way in front of the pitch.

IMO, he's having a timing problem and you can see the eagerness when he's up there. He has a very good swing for this age group, but is just starting his stride and swing too early. He seems to recognize quite quickly w/ the very slow pitches whether or not it's a hittable pitch, then just doesn't WAIT for it to arrive. It doesn't help that 3 of the 4 pitcher's he's faced so far very slowly lob the ball (on an arc) to the plate.

Tonight, I'm going to let him hit into a screen in the garage (raining here in RI) and concentrate on getting his hips to start moving before his hands/arms. Perhaps I'll even have him go 3/4 speed. I've posted here and on other boards before w/ video clips of his swing, and the common observation was that he appears to be mostly upper body swinging. I'm trying to show him how, though I can really throw my hands/arms at the ball as fast as possible, and it "feels" like fast batspeed, because there's no lower body involved, it's really not the fastest it can be. Better to be relaxed like Manny and just let things happen in the right order.

I'm also planning to take him into our cage this week, w/ the machine set ~35-37, and play a game in which we keep score: 3 pts for all (good) shots to the right side of the cage, 2 for up the middle and 1 for left. Maybe that will promote a later swing?

However, I really think getting his hips leading his hands a bit more will help get the timing in the right order, whereas just turning down the speed of pitches might still have him start his swing w/ the hands - just a bit later start.

We'll see.

I sure can sympathize w/ the original poster though. It's frustrating to see lack of contact from a player w/ a relatively (to his teammates) very nice swing.

Regards,
Sandman