Posted by: Scott (stwinton@netzero.net) on Sun Apr 3 14:45:40 2005

> My son is 12 and needs just a little help. He normaly hit just ok. The kids in his league throw alot of junk. Alot of fastballs some curve but mostly all over the place. I have worked with him with opening his hips and throwing the hands out first then swing. He now hits to the fence almost all the time in practice. I also pitch about 30 plastic golf ball to him while he use's a broom handle. He rocks about 15 to 20 of them. What can I do to get that extra jump to clear the fence. We did use weights, but it messes with his pitching. His throwing elbow has been hurting after about 20 pitches.
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> I can not lose him as a pitcher. His throws somewhat fast but he puts it all over the strike zone. He use's the fastball, slider and slurve (slide & curve). I only let him throw 0ne curve out of every 5 pitches, and it is side not over hand. Any suggestion would help out alot, our season starts this coming Saturday.


Tell him to stay, 'inside and on top' of the baseball, hit the ball squarely with back spin and let the kid grow into his body...on the hill I would teach him a change up...teach him the difference between a two seam fastball and a 4 seamer, shelve the breaking balls...remember those who are busy learning the 'tricks' of the trade never really learn the trade.