Posted by: Mark (mjury@amgen.com) on Mon Dec 7 10:50:02 2009

Jeff, rql:

Thanks for the discussion. I think what I am hearing is "don't shorten up", period. Stick with your swing, and have a plan for the next pitch. I actually like the "plan" idea, as it is what we should be teaching anyway. I have been focusing on this with my son lately, and he is gaining confidence by having a plan. His week spot, especially with 2 strikes is the outside pitch, and most pitchers like throwing outside with 2 strikes.

I put your advice to the test, and threw 150 pitches to him yesterday, with 90% being fb outside - after some heavy bag work and 100 balls off the T with an outside position. He hit 70% of the outside pitches to right or right-center, and pulled the other 30% to center or left-center. The fact that he was pulling that many outside pitches speaks to the bat speed he was able to generate with his normal (not shortened) swing. The added benefit was that when I occassionally tried to trick him with an iside pitch, he yanked it to left. I'm not saying that he is anything special in that regard. It just reinforces your points that by thinking/planning fb outside with 2 strikes, he will hit inside and outside pitches with power/speed. I will next try the "pull inside curve" plan to see if that works for him better than "outside fb to opposite field" plan.

Respectfully,

Mark