Posted by: Jim C. (jhconklinjr@comcast.net) on Thu Apr 28 06:42:35 2005

Hi Angel:

This is very common with young players. Many times it is because the players are getting ready to swing when they should be actually swinging. They need to execute their pre-swing movements earlier so they can initiate the swing when they see a pitch to hit.

Closely watch your son from the side where you can see his hands. As he sees a pitch coming in you will most likely see his hands and/or arms pull back a little and maybe his body crouch or 'gather' a little. These are his pre-swing movements ... including the stride. He's taking the 'slack' out of his body - some people call it "loading". If you watch carefully you will probably sense that if he actually started swinging the bat when he started getting ready to swing, he would have hit the ball.

Keep in mind that most young players are utterly unaware of this 'delay' in their swing and are amazed that they miss the ball. A rough guide to adjusting the timing of the pre-swing preparation is to have him stride and 'unslack' his body (however he does it) when the pitcher releases the ball rather than when he thinks he should swing. It will seem very 'early' to him at first and might actually be too early, but it is a good place to start him "being ready on time."

A good product to help train this is the "Hands-Back-Hitter" from Swingbuster.

Best of luck