Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Wed Apr 9 12:39:14 2008

>>> My 10 year old son is very good at making contact with the ball. In fact his coaches have told me that he could be the best hitter in his league but for one problem, he will not finish his swing. What I mean by this is he stops the bat at contact when hitting live pitching. He doesnt do this during soft toss or other drills just with live pitching. Has anyone seen this before and what drills or concepts would you use to stop this? I am at my wits end. <<<

Hi Larry

Without seeing your son’s swing I can only speculate on his problem. Unless a bat is very light, it should retain much of its velocity after contact. If your son’s bat stalls at contact, it indicates he has not attained bat momentum (from bat speed) greater than the momentum of the incoming ball.

It could also be he has what I term “welded wheel” mechanics. This is where the batter locks his arms and hands in place and just rotates the body to bring the bat around. In other words, the bat rotates at the same rate the body rotates – when body rotation stops, bat rotation stops.

Jack Mankin