Posted by: tom.guerry (tom.guerry@kp.org) on Sat Mar 2 09:33:30 2002

Little League try outs this evening. You really see the poor hitting mechanics. So few can pull the ball with solid contact. Every once in a while a scrawny kid with good mechanics will come to the plate and pull a few solid balls. The coaches evaluating just scratch their heads. A bigger stronger kid will come to the plate and make contact but just flare the ball to the opposite side. A coach will announce to some of the other coaches "boy what great mechanics he really gets the hands to the ball". I cringe since I will be assistant coach to this fellow (one of the league directors) this year. The problem is these little league veterans are all htting experts and it is very difficult to turn the linear mechanics mentality around. Last year we had a former minor league player (now runs a hitting school)do a clinic for the coaches and he really showed them how to snap that bat head to the ball. Yikes.

The little kids (age 5-8) that I am working with are doing well using the "RQL" method(as interpreted from his posts here) and heavy lumber.After they learn the set up-1-Turn(back without losing sight of ball)2-step(mostly just lift foot up and put down)3-swing(as absolutely hard as they can without losing vision).Also using different loads and balls-golf/whiffle/dowel,etc.Some are also good at making contact with the sweetspot if you wrap some foam over that area.What are others doing?