Son is a 5 oclock hitter!

[Matthewsdad]

If you do not know what that term means? He is great at batting practice but lacks in game situation. He has slowly been doing this and it is driving me crazy. He looks like he is going for contact and not swinging away and crushing the ball. He still hits the ball and gets on base a lot but his BP is different from his game at bats. What or is there anything to stop this from happening? He also has a routine when getting into the batters box everytime but in the game he just spaces out and does not do it ,maybe once in a while he remembers.

[Go Cardinals]

If you do not know what that term means? He is great at batting practice but lacks in game situation. He has slowly been doing this and it is driving me crazy. He looks like he is going for contact and not swinging away and crushing the ball. He still hits the ball and gets on base a lot but his BP is different from his game at bats. What or is there anything to stop this from happening? He also has a routine when getting into the batters box everytime but in the game he just spaces out and does not do it ,maybe once in a while he remembers.

Probably has son bar or drag problem...

[Baseball gLove]

He may be afraid to fail and is just looking to make contact. Ask him if that is what he feels. Also ask him to try this: Take a deep breath when you get in the box then let it out. Picture hitting the ball hard. Do it. If he misses, so what. Always look for fastball away, adjust to change/curve or inside pitch.

[LAball]

Is batting practice from a machine? Maybe he has difficult reading the pitch from the hand. I remember my minimal years of LL ( I'm a dad now so im here on the forum) I could hit the fastballs from machines, but when it came to a live pitcher, it was a whole different story. Then again nobody told me 20 years ago to look at the hand and not the pitcher. I use this drill for my son. Pitching realtivly close to, I throw tennis balls for him to bunt. Being close makes him try to read the ball right away- coming out of the hand and even watching the hand motion.

[Jake Patterson]

If you do not know what that term means? He is great at batting practice but lacks in game situation. He has slowly been doing this and it is driving me crazy. He looks like he is going for contact and not swinging away and crushing the ball. He still hits the ball and gets on base a lot but his BP is different from his game at bats. What or is there anything to stop this from happening? He also has a routine when getting into the batters box everytime but in the game he just spaces out and does not do it ,maybe once in a while he remembers.

Having this driving you crazy may be his problem. Kids have a keen sense for parental disapointment.
How old is he?

[jamesh23]

agreed he senses it gets you mad, and thinks you will get even madder if he strikes out or fails, so he just makes contact and doesnt swing hard.

[Mark H]

I'm sure you are already praising him for good swings regardless of the outcome? IOW, his standard for success needs to be internal rather than external.

[Matthewsdad]

We do both machine and real pitchers. Is there no mental terms or drills that can help fix this?

[Jake Patterson]

We do both machine and real pitchers. Is there no mental terms or drills that can help fix this?

Hmmm... tough to word this properly.. the key is to get him as concerned as you seem to be. External (You) reasons for hitting well matter not and can be detrimental to overall development. He needs internal reasons (Him). Sounds like a very standard problem we typically have with young players. The solution sometimes is dad taking a break and relaxing for awhile allowing Jr. the time to find his own answer. Without seeing the interaction and dynamics it's really difficult to say....

[Jake Patterson]

Matt's dad,
Do you have a clip of Mini Matt??
Jake

[Ursa Major]

Going through your old posts, I'm guessing that he's 12 or 13, right? It would help to know how he differs. Often, what happens at that age is that kids either step in the bucket or do some move that is their suppressed/sublimated variation on stepping in the bucket, out of fear of being hit or failing or being too slow to the ball. I may be projecting, as Ursa Minor has had an intermittent problem over the years of lifting his hands and dropping the bathead as the pitcher winds up, even though he never does that in practice.

At this age, there's no magic bullet any more that will deal with a deepseated nervousness issue; as Jake says, it really has to come from a fierce desire of the kid to excel at hitting and focus on his mechanics as he comes to the plate, even if it means going to the plate with a little anger (whether directed at the pitcher, his math teacher or all mankind).

If the issue is simply a change in mechanics, it may help him to understand the right way to do something if you break down what he does right into smaller parts by looking at videos of his swing in slow motion. Do drills to reinforce those small good things, maybe even isolating them with drills. The problem may be that, if he just is told to go up and hit however it feels "natural", that the pressure of the game sends different signals to his head and he doesn't realize that he's doing something differently. But, if he knows, for example, that his hands can't move from his shoulders until a certain point in his swing, he can adjust at the plate if he starts to feel them drift away.

Your description makes it sounds as though focus is an issue for him in preparing to go up to bat. A particular bugaboo of mine is that kids do not use their time in the on deck circle (if there is one, as I guess LL Int'l has banned them) to get his mechanics and muscle memory down. I absolutely forbid the players on the bench from pestering the on-deck batter, as that's his time. You can actually practice a series of moves in the on deck circle -- a couple lower body only drills, then some bottom arm drills, some practice swings timing the pitcher, etc. All the while, the kid should be repeating maybe one cue that will help overcome a main flaw "hide the hands", or "back shoulder to the ball", or "step on the inside of the big toe", or whatever seems to best trigger his best mechanics.

But, you can run into a psychological block if the kid senses that you want his success more than he does. That is a tremendous power exchange with your kid, as now he senses that your happiness is in his hands. And, it takes a little something away from the kid if he feels you're living vicariously through his success. This can be a real mind trip for him, and he may react unpredictably.

So, as has been noted, you can't get to caught up in the results, but rather deal with the process. Acknowledge small improvements -- even if just to commend him for doing good prep in the on-deck circle. And when he does well, don't rush the field and pound him on the back. For the experience to be his, it's better that he gets the plaudits of his teammates first. That's where his motivation to improve comes from, and it ought to -- if you're using baseball as a secret teaching tool, a major benefit should be his gaining of an appreciation of the rewards that come from contributing to a team effort (especially where those rewards are largely the respect earned from other team members).

[TG Coach]

It's always 5 o'clock somewhere.

[Jake Patterson]

Ursa - good post.

[Matthewsdad]

Yes he is 12. I do not have a clip of him but i am going to see if i can get one. I will do it without his knowledge. I will also try to get one while at BP and then in a game. He has a great swing for a 12 year old. I have read alot off the net and have watched many clips including this site. I also bought englishbys 3 dvd pack and worked some of his theories into his swing. He also has a great coach last year and same one this year. I did not mean for this post to run this long. Thought that maybe this was something common with kids and there was something i could do or say to help him understand to bring everything from practice into the game.

[randy]

My son has this problem sometimes. Most kids are too focused on results, and therefore forget about the process. They want so bad to get a hit, they forget what they have to do to get that hit-getting a good pitch, proper load, timing, etc. Maybe your son is the same way.
When mine focuses on having a good at-bat, rather than getting a hit, he hits a ton.