Posted by: Frustrated Dad (salazgi@yahoo.com) on Wed Apr 15 08:54:27 2009

All,

My son has been playing ball for 8 years now. He is a league Age 12 kid who plays exclusive travel ball on a very good team. My son seems to struggle with his batspeed at the plate in game situations. What I mean is that his swing looks like it is in slow motion and looks nothing like what we see from him in the batting cages. He often hits in the batting cage at 65 mph from 35-40 feet. He has zero problems crushing the ball from that distance, however when we get into a game situation where the pitchers are pitching from 50' at 55-60mph it appears he is tense and his muscles are tightening up. He appears late to the ball but more concerning is that he has ZERO bat speed meaning that it literally looks like he is swinging in slow motion. He has great mechanics and will probably go down in history as one of the best cage hitters on our team. The kids on the team see him ripping the ball in the cages and because he has good mechanics he often makes solid line drive contact. The big issue is in game situations. I am starting to believe that there is something mental going on where he is overly concerned about making contact of tightening his muscles too much. I am looking for some advice on how best to deal with him. His confidence is at an all-time low!!! Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts? Help!!!!!