Posted by: David R (beltonyankees@gmail.com) on Wed Mar 23 18:50:00 2011

I have not only had difficulty in transitioning kids from the tee to a live ball, I've also had trouble going from a bag to the tee or live ball. I have noticed that many kids, particularly younger ones, have a different swing for a tee, a live ball, and even to warm up on deck.

But what I tried recently with my son seems to have been working well. We used the Connector a bunch in the offseason and he would look really good on the bag both with and without it, but go to a tee or live pitch and the old habits came back. As an intermediate step, I had him begin taking "super slow" dry swings. It took a few sessions to get the form down, but we got his "super slow" dry swing to match his swing with the Connector on the bag. We then would go to "50% Speed" where he would swing a little faster but still focused on the form. Over most of the offseason, we didn't hit a live ball at all, just take a few hits on the bag and some slow dry swings.

Now that the season has started back up and he is hitting live balls, the swing is immensely improved. Plus, he has the additional benefit of having learned to execute his swing in slow motion which gives him much more awareness of what each of the body parts is supposed to be doing...and he can reinforce those swing mechanics each time he stands on deck or prepares to hit.

Don't know how large numbers of dry swings (both slower and faster)might work for some as an aid in transitioning between bag/tee and live hitting, but might work for someone.