Posted by: Torque (roscoethewestie@comcast.net) on Fri Mar 27 20:03:46 2009

> > > > I have an 11 year old who's taken weekly batting lesson for going on 2 years. I'm trying to reconcile whether this is doing any good. On one hand coaches compliment his mechanics, on the other hand he's not very productive compared to his team mates. His batting coach isn't concerned with strike-outs or his in-game performance really. So what's a good measure? How would I know this batting coach is doing the right thing?
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> > > The hitting coach may be doing fine. The problem with hitting in a cage is that most hits look like good hits when this may simply not be true. The hitter feels like they are doing a great job, parents and instructors think the same thing. You really can't tell how hard or well you hit until they get on the field to hit and see how hard and how much the ball carries. At the end of the day, it is about performance on the field and in games. Most of the time players hitting in the cage hit a lot softer than they think. Maybe you can suggest to the hitting instructor that form isn't as important to you and you want him hitting and swinging much harder.
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> > does your hitting instructor,do tee work and soft toss while sitting on a bucket or throw while sitting in a chair for so feet away in a cage,if this is the main part of the regimen fire the guy i see it all the time and no one gets better.
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> > Majority is tee work. Repetition,repetition... He's done video analysis, balancing on a platform while swinging, pitching occasionally. There is some variety. With no one to compare to I don't know what else is part of a well rounded training regimen at 11 years old.

My knock on most hitting coaches is they don't go see the kids hit in games. Hitting the heavy bag as detailed on this site is very helpful and there is one for sale on the site. I bought a real punching bag with sand in it and it is kind of heavy. You can also measure his batspeed hitting off a tee and get some idea where he is speed wise. You can also buy a small tire and let him throw it. If you are going to compare him to other hitters you probably ought to compare him to other players of the same weight. Over under training also works really well for batspeed. Use an extremely light bat, his bat, and a bat 5 to 10 ounces heavier. Practice alternating bats taking dry cuts and hitting off the tee.