Posted by: Chris (chris@amiassetmanagement.com) on Wed Apr 15 08:07:12 2009

> > > > > > I am new to this so forgive me if I am missing something. My 6 year old is just starting to hit coach pitches (mine) and he hits often and hard. He does appear to have a good swing but instead of pivoting his back foot on the swing he lifts his heel so he finishes the swing with his back foot on the toes. I would guess he is putting too much weight on the front leg but he doesn't seem to understand what I am saying to him. Do I have the diagnosis correct and should I do something about it or let it go until he is older?
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> > > > > Most good major league hitters finish the same way as your son.
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> > > > Really? When I say he finishes on his toes, I mean all the way on his toes with entore foot off ground as opposed to just the heel off the ground with ball of foot on ground.
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> > > Do a Google image search of Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Hank Aaron. Their back foot is often toe down. Now if he is doing something funny with his front foot then there may be a problem but what you described isn't unusual. Right now I'd make sure he is hitting the ball hard and seeing well. Also, make sure you understand the principles taught on this site just so you can know what you are looking for. If you see something in his swing that is different or looks like a problem and this web site confirms it then make small adjustments over time to get him where he needs to be. Kids have so many people in their ear when it comes to hitting and most have bad advice. The most important part is they are having fun, hitting hard, and slowly developing a better and more powerful swing. It sounds like he hits hard so don't get in his way too much or let anyone else get in his way too much either. They can get too mechanically minded sometimes at the expense of swing aggression and slow improvements (months and years) are better. At the end of the day, the goal is to hit hard and hit often.
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> > Thanks for all the help. I looked at Manny and A-rod and my sons toes are similar. I am his only coach and I subscirbe to this site's theories so no one will mess with hos swing but I hav to understand it or I mess him up. Also, he hits the ball hard to the opposite side of field most of the time and sometimes straight over 2nd base. He rarely pulls the ball so it sounds like from readings here his swing is good.
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> That sounds similar to my son. He hits hard to the opposite field. I do stress that I want him to pull the inside pitch though. Opposite field power is great for a right handed hitter. Especially if they can hit the right center gap because it is often a 3 bagger. I tell my son to hit where it is pitched. Sometimes he hits everything to right center and up the middle and I've seen him crush inside pitches with an inside out swing which is difficult to do. However, when he pulls the inside with a line drive the ball will come off the bat low and continue to rise and there is even more power. I have enjoyed watching him develop opposite field power because this is harder to do as a hitter but he is now 12 and I want to see left field line drives on inside pitches. If your son can take it to the opposite field with power and pull inside pitches for line drives he will be a very good hitter. What will be amazing to watch after your son gets a year to 3 years older is to watch him crush a line drive that continues to rise. We do talk about getting backspin on the ball and the hitter can get a lot of carry from this. There may be some discussion on back spin on the board and this would be worth reading. Basically it is a slow process with a kid this young that can hit. Even with all this, slumps happen and the trick is keeping them moving towards hitting hard. You really can't help if the defense makes plays on hard hit balls. After all, there are 9 guys out there trying to get you out and the odds that one of them will make a play is pretty high about 70 to 75% odds in the major leagues. Eventually (age 11 to 13), he really needs to understand how and why he generates power. They just can't get to caught up with thinking right now.

Mine tends to pull inside pitches too but they are usually hard grounders. If I could get him to pull other pitches as well, they would be huge hits. He also fouls quite a few balls back as he tends to swing underneath the pitch. I don't know if this is the 6 year wanting to hit it in the air or if it is juts his natural swing. I assume everything comes with experience since he is only 6 and just now starting to hit live pitches in games. My goal is just to teach him the right way from the start.