Posted by: Scott B (baseball@integritycorp.com) on Tue Sep 24 12:56:19 2002

Hi Larry (and Major D):

MD makes good points, and I concur.

Assuming that your son has a good, rotational-theory coach, and he's doing something in between the lessons, have patience, it'll work out.

On the other hand, if his instructor is saying things like "squish the bug", swing down, etc., you may want to look for another coach. The key instruction to watch for is what I call "event timing", i.e. what happens first, or what he's being taught to focus on first in his swing. If he's being taught to open his hips first, good. If he's swinging down into the zone first, and following through with hip "pop", that'd "linear" hitting. You probably know all about this, or you wouldn't be posting to this site, but I thought I'd lay out the basics first.

Next is pratice, lots of practice, and off a tee. Maybe 100 quality strokes a day, six days a week. It takes a lot of repetition to break bad habits. If he's not hitting off a TEE daily between lessons, you're wasting your money, and he's wasting the coaches time. He needs to practice daily.

If you want to check his progress, aside from comparing his video to the "greats", and you can afford a cheap (used) radar gun, check his bat speed. You can't fudge an increase in batspeed. More is better, less is...back to the tee... swing...swing...swing..practice. I promote Mike Epstein's video's and drills. I have Jack Mankins tape, have reviewed other materials (e.g. setpro), and other resources, but Epstein's drills do a great job at teaching lower body mechanics. (Jack's are good for upper/top had torque.)

Finally, when the swing is humming, and the batspeed is up, i.e. when his mechanics are starting to get sound (maybe 2-3 weeks of intensive work), then your son has a new priority. He needs to focus on getting a good "at bat". I teach the problem hitters on my team that a good "AB" comes before a hit, and hits won't come without a good AB. I teach "zone hitting", and to know the game situation. No strikes, no outs, no one on base, and/or a pitcher with questionable control: Tighten up that strike zone to about a 6 inch by 6 inch "sweet spot" area where he can really drive a pitch. Avoid swinging at marginal pitches just because he's afraid of being at 2 strikes. His goal is to get deep in the count, try to work into a hitters count (3-1, 2-0, etc.). If he does strike out, he should make sure he's seen at least 5-7 pitches. Practice this, if you can throw him live pitches at 55-60 mph.

On the other hand, with two strikes, or maybe less than two outs with runners in scoring position, or with a pitcher with good control and getting the corner calls: Open up the strike zone, i.e. below the shins, at shoulder length, 6 inches off either side of the rubber. Look fastball and spoil anything else (foul it off). If a runner is in scoring position, almost anything hit on the ground may yield an RBI.

I teach the kids that no one is going to bat 1.000, and not everyone will hit home runs. But everyone can have a good AB. They can practice it, learn it, and do it if they really want it. And, they're going to strike out and ground out a bunch before they hit, but hitting starts with a good AB.

But then again, this is all AFTER he's gotten his mechanics down pat.

Good luck.. Scott

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My 13 year old son has been getting weekly private lessons at Grand Slam in this hitting technique. He has now has 3 lessons and practiced his swing every day. He is frustrated as he used to be a good hitter. In games he seems to almost always be swinging under the ball. He seems to drop the barrel of the bat more then he used to. It appears to me his swing is more like a golf club swing now. I don't know what to tell him. Any suggestions?
> > >
> > > Hi Larry,
> > >
> > > I have created a program specifically for the mental side of hitting. The feedback we have gotten from our program has been excellent. Please visit my website at http://www.hkrelax.com and read some of the testimonials. The reason you cannot consciously correct his problem is because the problem is subconscious. The program comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.
> > >
> > > Respectfully,
> > >
> > > Ernest Solivan
> > > Performance Consultants International
> >
> > Ernest-
> > nice advertisement. I'll check out your site. But for you to assume that barrel drop is mental is a leap that I don't understand. I can't see how you came to that conclusion.
>
> From the hkrelax website -
> "Remember that what’s motivating you to sabotage your success in the batter’s box is usually not mechanical, but mental."
> Lots of convoluted wording. Considering both the number of instructors teaching poor technique and the overwhelming number of kids not being taught anything, there are a lot of crappy swings out there. Bad mechanics is IMO the primary reason kids fail to hit.
> You can have good mechanics and fail but its really hard to have bad mechanics and succeed.
> It is doubly harmful to take a kid with a poor swing and give them 'mental' training. The implication is that they should be hitting well but are a head case. That is dboubly unfair to the player.
>
> There are players who get too nervous, who struggle mentally. These programs may very well help a player struggling with those issues.
> However "what’s motivating you to sabotage your success " is a pretty strange phrase. How many players want to (are motivated) keep themselves from succeeding (sabatoge your success). ???
> It takes a pretty confused individual to do that. And maybe in that case there are so many issues - probably life issues - involved that real help might be better than pop psychology tapes.
>
> In my experience 90%+ of all hitters have poor swings or swings that will at some point limit their success at some level. There are certainly a number of kids who are afraid of the ball. That is the one 'mental' area of the game that we have all seen. But I don't think the tapes focus on that.
> I don't know who the target audience is. But I don't think it is the kid who is working on a new swing and struggling though the transition process.
>
>