Posted by: rql () on Sun Jun 22 20:37:52 2008

> Hi,
> My 7 year old son just finished his first year of pitching machine @42mph. He is 4' 4" and 72lbs. During his 20 Spring games he used a 28" 14.5 Dynasty and a 28" 15oz. Catalyst. Of the 65 at bats he had, he struck out his first at bat and one time during a rain game. 99.9% of everyball he swung at he hit and most of those were the first pitch. I can count the the number of swung strikes he had on one hand. I believe that bat speed and working on consistent mechanics at his age are more important than swinging a heavier bat that might send the ball a little farther because he can swing a heavier bat. Most of the balls he ripped out of the infield. His last few games he was still hitting the ball at will but he wasn't getting the ball out of the infield like he was. Atlhough he was hitting no problem, I opened up my big mouth and told him to be a little more selective at what he was swinging at thinking that the pitch location might be impacting his hit quality. Now though, he is stilling hitting at will, but he is not getting around on that ball like he was. I believe he is hesitating the start of his swing now to decide if it is a good pitch or not, and not making contact where he needs to. Basically swinging late(Short fast swing without much follow through) What can I do to get him back to the swing he was at and stop this before it becaomes a habit. I am a little torn because I think he needs to learn to be able to develop the skill of being more selective, but not at the expense of his bat speed and follow through. What can I do?


A few thoughts at 7 let him rip anything close, learn to swing,however not over the head and at the ankles.I have found that a heavier bat makes swinging rotational easier,a real light bat can let bad arm swing habits creep in,the body needs to work right to get the bigger bat moving quick,selective comes from lots of pitches seen and mental imaging ,he has not seen enough pitches yet probably,take him out day after day and throw him 50 balls some from soft toss some from reg distance let him stride but just say yes or no when he decides if he likes the pitch or not,now he is focusing on reading the pitch,then evaluate each decision,learn what his weakness is which one he does wrong alot,like high ball ex.For contact point,put a tee outside the plate but inline with where you want him to make contact for a certain pitch,make sure you put it right,and he can picture where his contact point should be for a given pitch,hope this helps