Suggestions for Efficiently Coaching Hitting to New Team

[NewbieBBDad]

Time for Little League practices to begin!

Here's my thoughts on 3 simple goals:

• Aggressiveness at the plate

• Improve bat speed

• Hit inside pitches

I think aggressiveness is needed to overcome some of these kids' natural tendency to swing defensively or tentatively because of fear of striking out, etc. It's obviously a mental issue.

On improving bat speed my idea would be having them swinging at the Tee and at polyballs with an adult -3 or wood bat with the idea that the heavy bat forces them to use their lower body to get the bat moving. Then during the game they can use whatever bat they wanted too. Of course, you need to teach them how to use their lower body.

Hitting inside pitches requires a compact swing with lower body work too. It's also to address the fear most kids have of being hit by the pitch.

So what do you guys think?

[Drill]

First you need to access your team and skill levels(swing faults) of players, because if you can hit in the bottom of your line up you will win.

If it were me I would take the bottom of the line up and center in on them for batting skill and find there faults and have them work with there parents at home (drill(s) you suggest) to improve faster out side of practice and at practice. With your top hitters who have been putting more time on there skills have them do some t work and toss some L screen and have them toss all the t work mechanics out the window and have them take a full cut. Sometimes after doing t work kids get mechanical, T work is about teaching your body new muscle memory and tell them to apply what they learn with a full swing during live pitching.

Defense teach throw to cut off man from out field and everybody needs to move somewhere to back up or cut off on every play.

Warm up you CATCHERS please. stretch them out and than have each pitcher toss him about ten pitches, no need to wear your pitcher out.

Get a pitching instructor to come in and give a group lesson out side of practice for you pitchers and catchers. Have each pitchers parent divide the cost of the lesson except for the catchers of course. Get good pitching mechanics, save there arms.

Have the pitchers work with the catchers and what the pitcher and catcher need to do when a ball gets passed the catcher when there is a man on third. That will save you a lot of runs if your pitcher comes in and have the pitcher put his glove low so when the catcher throws the ball pitcher does not waste time leaning over to tag. Plus teach backing up throw down play to 2nd and 3rd base. Good catchers can save you a lot of runs, he can make up for the nights where nobody is hitting. One of the best Dvds for catching basics comes for the New England catcher http://www.catchingcamp.com/. My son fell in love with catching and this DVD really helped out with the basics.

I have watched a lot of little league games and in major league LL, it is pitcher catcher. If you got a wild pitcher you better have a good catcher. You better have more than one catcher cause you can wear them out at this age.(major league LL)

Minor league some league allow stealing as I remember about half way through the season. I think.

I don't know what age you are coaching, but look for help from parents so you can keep the kids busy learning the basics(infield and outfield). If you don't know the basics that is what is going to hurt you the most.


respectfully yours,

drill


PS there was a study done on using a heavy bats and I don't think it helped. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Thought I saw something about this somewhere on this forum.

[Jake Patterson]

Here's my thoughts on 3 simple goals:

• Aggressiveness at the plate

• Improve bat speed

• Hit inside pitches

On improving bat speed my idea would be having them swinging at the Tee and at polyballs with an adult -3 or wood bat with the idea that the heavy bat forces them to use their lower body to get the bat moving. Then during the game they can use whatever bat they wanted too. Of course, I'll have to teach them how to use their lower body.

I would offer a word of caution here... Bat speed in an of itself is not a bad goal, but not at the expense of form.

The ridiculous bats allowed in LL hide many fundamental sins.

[jbolt_2000]

I would offer a word of caution here... Bat speed in an of itself is not a bad goal, but not at the expense of form.

The ridiculous bats allowed in LL hide many fundamental sins.

What do you mean by ridiculous bats allowed in LL? In our LL we were told to use no bigger than a 2 1/4 inch barrel and (if I remember correctly) no heavier then 31in 24 oz sized bat.

Have you heard otherwise, or are you talking about something other than size and weight?

[Drill]

What do you mean by ridiculous bats allowed in LL? In our LL we were told to use no bigger than a 2 1/4 inch barrel and (if I remember correctly) no heavier then 31in 24 oz sized bat.

Have you heard otherwise, or are you talking about something other than size and weight?

I think Jake is talking about the drop - Minus factor


drill

[TG Coach]

stance, balance, stride ... If you get their footwork right, the rest will be much easier. Work you rway up from footwork.

[NewbieBBDad]

I would offer a word of caution here... Bat speed in an of itself is not a bad goal, but not at the expense of form.

The ridiculous bats allowed in LL hide many fundamental sins.

Not sure I understand your comment either Jake. No 12 yr old and under league has a limit on drop but LL limits barrel width which IMHO seems to make it more challenging for hitters.

As for bat speed, I think it takes good form to achieve better bat speed.

Drill, thanks for the comments but I think the situation is a lot less ideal to do what you suggest which why I posted this thread. This is rec ball and not many parents are all that dedicated to training their kids. Practice is likely to be the only time the kids play and that is probably most true with the lesser skilled kids.

[virg]

Drill is right: start with the bottom of the order and the bench. Top of the order are too sold on themselves in early season: your success with the bottom gets the top interested without chasing them down. It's easier.

At the bottom they're wooden indians, don't move with the pitchers at all: nobody's quick enough for that.
stance_
1. sink straight down at least till heels clear ground. Easy to do.
2. stride with pitcher: with every pitch, your foot lands with his. Easily learned.
3. in slopitch you Watch- Decide- Stride- Swing, but can't do it against tough pitching a/c no time.
4. for fast pitching you Stride & Watch/ Decide&Swing. Easy enough.

The sink-down rule puts weight on balls of feet,
gets posture right, sets up balanced stance.
The stride every pitch: stride unlocks the swing, seeks ready position, separates stride from swing, makes a brisk cut possible, saves 1/2 the time and puts it to use. Makes inroads on your aggressiveness- inside pitches- batspeed questions.
They'll be putting the ball in play without the usual beginners' strikeout epidemic.

Get a taste of this, then they'll be ready for finer things in batting they can't possibly work now.

[Ursa Major]

I think that Jake's point is that there's such a trampoline effect off of today's space-age-material bats that, combined with the big drop from length to weight, a lousy swing can still send the ball a mile if contact is made. The good side of this is that a technically proficient swing -- even with no stride and limited aggressiveness -- can still send the ball into the outfield.

So, for all kids -- but particularly the weak kids -- the best thing you can do is to get them to set up with their arms in the "box" position: bat at 90 degrees to the forearm, and the forearm 90 degrees to the upper arm (which makes the upper arm and the bat parallel to each other). Now, while maintaining this "box", snap the hips and rotate the upper body so that the front shoulder front elbow, hands and bathead all travel through the same plane in the rirection of the ball, with the hands not releasing the bathead from it's 90 degree angle from the forearm until they're virtually facing the pitcher. Think of the motion of pulling a fire hose off a spool on a wall. Make sure that the hands do not drop or move forward prematurely, and that the bathead does not droop -- the most common flaws among weak LL hitters. If you can drill this enough, you'll improve the weak kids immeasurably.

Otherwise, it sounds like you've got a good handle on what's necessary. God bless you for taking on the weak kids so zealously. That's my philosophy too -- the studs can usually take care of themselves.

[Go Cardinals]

I think that Jake's point is that there's such a trampoline effect off of today's space-age-material bats that, combined with the big drop from length to weight, a lousy swing can still send the ball a mile if contact is made. The good side of this is that a technically proficient swing -- even with no stride and limited aggressiveness -- can still send the ball into the outfield.

So, for all kids -- but particularly the weak kids -- the best thing you can do is to get them to set up with their arms in the "box" position: bat at 90 degrees to the forearm, and the forearm 90 degrees to the upper arm (which makes the upper arm and the bat parallel to each other). Now, while maintaining this "box", snap the hips and rotate the upper body so that the front shoulder front elbow, hands and bathead all travel through the same plane in the rirection of the ball, with the hands not releasing the bathead from it's 90 degree angle from the forearm until they're virtually facing the pitcher. Think of the motion of pulling a fire hose off a spool on a wall. Make sure that the hands do not drop or move forward prematurely, and that the bathead does not droop -- the most common flaws among weak LL hitters. If you can drill this enough, you'll improve the weak kids immeasurably.

Otherwise, it sounds like you've got a good handle on what's necessary. God bless you for taking on the weak kids so zealously. That's my philosophy too -- the studs can usually take care of themselves.

I challenge you to try something. Make a device that locks your arms into a box. Make it out of pvc. I have. It is very hard to actually maintain a box. The body should not be taught to swing like a robot or a machine. It should be natural. Just try it! It was fun... video it, then show me...

[Mark H]

Gotta' walk before you can run young fellow. I suggest adding some age and experience working with a lot of young hitters before assuming a high level of understanding.

[callyjr]

Bat speed is not created using a heavier bat, if one of your goals is to teach bat speed then you have to remember that muscle memory is a key factor in this. If you have them swinging a heavy bat then you practice a slower swing. If you train the quick twitch muscles to swing faster then they will be more programed to swing faster.

just food for thought on your -3 idea.

cally

[Ursa Major]

I challenge you to try something. Make a device that locks your arms into a box. Make it out of pvc. I have. It is very hard to actually maintain a box. The body should not be taught to swing like a robot or a machine. It should be natural. Just try it! It was fun... video it, then show me...

GoC, this was an exaggeration drill. Have them try something that is so extreme that they'll never use it in a game, but it will start to train their muscles and mind into a set of actions that will get them closer to the optimum. And, certainly, you want them to spend the majority of their time during hitting practice working on their actual swing. This is just a tweak.

So, did you get the first game in, or did the rain thwart you?

[Go Cardinals]

GoC, this was an exaggeration drill. Have them try something that is so extreme that they'll never use it in a game, but it will start to train their muscles and mind into a set of actions that will get them closer to the optimum. And, certainly, you want them to spend the majority of their time during hitting practice working on their actual swing. This is just a tweak.

So, did you get the first game in, or did the rain thwart you?

Rain stopped both games... And, I understand the purpose of over exaggeration.