Posted by: John (Eichler4@comcast.net) on Wed Mar 12 10:31:16 2008

My son just turned 9 years old, and developed a new problem after playing only basketball in the offseason where he is late on his swing 100% of the time no matter what speed the pitcher is at. If he makes contact it's only if the pitch was slow, and the ball is hit to opposite field, usually foul. He's waiting until the ball is midway through flight to decide whether or not the pitch is worth swinging at, and by the time he realizes it's a strike, the ball has passed him while he's just starting his swing. I've tried telling him to get into his swing earlier and to try stepping right as the ball is being released with a 100% belief he's swinging at every pitch (with the option to bail on the swing later if it's a ball). My advise seemed to work in the batting cages, and is not working on the field against a real person. Does anybody know a way to prevent such a delay in the swing?