Posted by: rql () on Thu Dec 14 19:06:24 2000

> I have purchased and studied the following hitting publications.
> The Mike Schmdt Study ( Mike Schmdt & Rob Ellis )
> Hitting with power and consistency ( Charlie Lau )
> Hitting Fundamentals ( Paul Prince )
> You can teach hitting ( Dusty Baker )
> Teaching the mechanics of the major league swing ( Tom Emanski)
> Professional Bunting Techniques ( Tom Emanski )
>
> I have also done frame by frame video study hitting.
>
> I have been visiting this website for over a year now and have also purchased jacks video.
> i totaly agree with jacks findings and i have tried to teach them. in doing so i have eliminated the following drills and phrases. fence drill, double tee drill, lead with the knob, stay inside the ball, keep the barell above the hands, weight transfer.
> since doing this my 13 yr old sons average has dropped from 400 to 360. i am now thinking about going back to my previous methods. my son is completely confused and has lost confidence in me as a coach.
> i still agree with Jacks theories but obviously do not know how to teach them. I used the heavy bag drills with my son but was hesitant to do so with the whole team.
> If any one can relate to my situation please feel free to respond. coachbobkw@aol.com
> thanks bob .....Coach,13 is an interesting age usually going from LL to senior or bronco to pony if this is the case then being younger than older should bring his avg. down.If its not the case then realize 400 or 360 is very good numbers,some flirt with 400 in the show once in a while then hit 320 the next season.Also remember every kid stops getting better at some point in his career.If none of these apply then remember there is more to hitting than just mechanics.As kids get older they get smarter if they are going to keep improving.maybe teach him about pitch recognition earlier using drills to improve his vision quicker out of the hand.Ex.throw balls painted half green and others painted half red or a dot on them .Swing at one color lay off the next .Use them to read spin of fb or curve ,again swing at 1 and let the other go teaches how and what to look for better.Make sure he knows his strengths and weaknesses and how to have a good plan of attack each at bat.Hit to the sotuation,learn the strike zone and not help the pitcher.Learn to pick pitchers apart strength and weaknesses and anticipate pitches and locations for different counts.Ihave spoke to Wade Boggs who said he read spin at plate instead of guess,but later said he carried alot of tendecies of each pitcher in his head and his plan would be if it was'nt the right spin he was looking for or the spin started in the wrong location than it should to be a strike then he was already laying off.Learning to make adjustments from pitch to pitch depending on what you feel about your swing you just made,,like self analization is very important to improvement.If you can learn to keep the ball away from 2nd and ss the 2 best fielders on the team and playing the deepest in the infield you will see a rise in B.A. but takes alot of understanding of contact points.Last some of the things you quit using to teach like knob to the ball,staying inside the ball,ect.are cues to get a certain action they counterbalance the reality of the swing IMO so you dont swing to far up or pull off to quickly and different cues should be used with different hitters to control the problem area of the real swing but seeing the real swing on good and bad hits and if they differ well give a better understanding to the hitter of how to make his own adjustments in the batters box.rql