Posted by: Kailbo (kailbo@yahoo.com) on Mon Jul 11 06:20:17 2005

One thing that I have seen help prevent lunging with my 9-10 year old team is to widen the stance a bit. This especially helps with slower pitchers as my batters tend to be way out in front of the pitch.

With my son, who is 9, I have him take a square stance, a bit greater than shoulder width apart. When he takes his stride, there is not a lot of room to overstride. Keeps his weight back, and helps to make contact with ball in power region-- not out on front foot.

Somewhat comparable to Bagwell's stance but not near as wide.