Hitting and stepping out

[AdamInNY]

Trying to get my 7yo to stop stepping out, and just take a small step forward. I know most of the time this is caused by fear of being hit, but in this case, I don't think that's it. He's never been hit hard, and does it off a tee as well. It's like he's basically trying to hit the h*ll out of the ball and trying to use all his mite to do it.

Here is a video, I know there are lots of corrections to be made, but really just looking for some place to start. I will add that he makes contact in kid pitch, but it's ugly, it's all arms/hands, and not much rotation. Right now he's strong enough to get away with that, but can't do it with faster pitching.

Thanks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FBRIayusNs

[tg643]

Without looking at the video there are two ways I help kids to stop bailing.

1) Give them an open stance that forces the stride to come back towards the pitcher.
2) Give them a wide stance with no stride other than dropping the heel. Dropping the heel makes the hips turn.

I looked at the video. There's a lot more wrong.

1) The tee is too high.
2a) The way he opens his foot towards the pitcher makes his hips open too soon .... taking away power
2b) .... probably the cause for his bat drag
2c) .... and not being well balanced
3) His front knee shouldn't be bent

I could type out a long description on what to do. But I'll leave it to someone else. I suggest getting a quality hitting video. learning it and teaching it to your son. Remember it all starts with footwork. If the footwork is wrong everything thing else all the way up the body will be off balance and out of synch.

[AdamInNY]

Funny you should mention that. My 9yo was working with the no stride approach which seems to have helped. My question about that is when the heel comes up and befoe it drops, how much should you be turning that front knee in. He seems to be doing it too much. Should probably video tape him for a different thread .

[songtitle]

Trying to get my 7yo to stop stepping out,

99% of the time this is caused by not coiling inward as he strides forward. (this is what he does in the video)

and just take a small step forward.

A common youth coach 'fix' that ruins his natural stride/swing. (I was guilty of this)

working with the no stride approach which seems to have helped.

Another common youth coach 'fix' that ruins his natural stride/swing. (I was guilty of this also)

-------------

Just have him learn to coil in as he strides forward to toe touch. He can practice this at home in the mirror.

[benz99]

Trying to get my 7yo to stop stepping out, and just take a small step forward. I know most of the time this is caused by fear of being hit, but in this case, I don't think that's it. He's never been hit hard, and does it off a tee as well. It's like he's basically trying to hit the h*ll out of the ball and trying to use all his mite to do it.

Here is a video, I know there are lots of corrections to be made, but really just looking for some place to start. I will add that he makes contact in kid pitch, but it's ugly, it's all arms/hands, and not much rotation. Right now he's strong enough to get away with that, but can't do it with faster pitching.

Thanks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FBRIayusNs

Out of curiosity does he play a ton of wiffle ball in the back yard with a 34" wiffle ball bat? Mine took more wiffle ball swings than regular baseball swings & I finally had to cut his wiffle ball bat down & fuse it back together to tame the stepping out

[CoolHandLuke]

You really need to lower the tee before you can even get a good evaluation of his mechanics. It's so high, he has to set up for an exaggerated uppercut, he's swinging uphill. His shoulders never get properly aligned. His back shoulder starts lower than his front and never gets in proper position. Hopefully this is just due to the high tee position, but he may have already ingrained this bad habit. His back shoulder needs to move higher than his front during the load. At toe touch, his back shoulder absolutely needs to be higher than his front. If he continues with the upside down shoulders even with a lower tee, you need to fix that before you do anything else. Freeze-frame at toe touch on future videos to evaluate.

[AdamInNY]

Out of curiosity does he play a ton of wiffle ball in the back yard with a 34" wiffle ball bat? Mine took more wiffle ball swings than regular baseball swings & I finally had to cut his wiffle ball bat down & fuse it back together to tame the stepping out

Never uses a wiffle ball bat. We just use wiffle balls (ball I'm using in the video) when we can't get to the cage to use actual baseballs.

[AdamInNY]

You really need to lower the tee before you can even get a good evaluation of his mechanics. It's so high, he has to set up for an exaggerated uppercut, he's swinging uphill. His shoulders never get properly aligned. His back shoulder starts lower than his front and never gets in proper position. Hopefully this is just due to the high tee position, but he may have already ingrained this bad habit. His back shoulder needs to move higher than his front during the load. At toe touch, his back shoulder absolutely needs to be higher than his front. If he continues with the upside down shoulders even with a lower tee, you need to fix that before you do anything else. Freeze-frame at toe touch on future videos to evaluate.

Yes, I know it's high. It's also looks a bit higher than it really is because of the angle the video was shot at.

[dominik]

You really need to lower the tee before you can even get a good evaluation of his mechanics. It's so high, he has to set up for an exaggerated uppercut, he's swinging uphill. His shoulders never get properly aligned. His back shoulder starts lower than his front and never gets in proper position. Hopefully this is just due to the high tee position, but he may have already ingrained this bad habit. His back shoulder needs to move higher than his front during the load. At toe touch, his back shoulder absolutely needs to be higher than his front. If he continues with the upside down shoulders even with a lower tee, you need to fix that before you do anything else. Freeze-frame at toe touch on future videos to evaluate.

yes. high tee drills can be beneficial for some things (I think epstein sometimes does them) but usually I would use middle of the strike zone (mid thigh).

[soceric]

Trying to get my 7yo to stop stepping out, and just take a small step forward. I know most of the time this is caused by fear of being hit, but in this case, I don't think that's it. He's never been hit hard, and does it off a tee as well. It's like he's basically trying to hit the h*ll out of the ball and trying to use all his mite to do it.

Here is a video, I know there are lots of corrections to be made, but really just looking for some place to start. I will add that he makes contact in kid pitch, but it's ugly, it's all arms/hands, and not much rotation. Right now he's strong enough to get away with that, but can't do it with faster pitching.

Thanks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FBRIayusNs

It's a tough challenge to coach a stride the right way. With that said, I don't think that's where his problem stems. Have him keep his front shoulder down and in as long as he can until he decides to swing. He actually doesn't step in the bucket too much. If you feel the need to tell him something about feet and his stride, just tell him to pick up his front foot, and put it down again. If he keeps his front shoulder and upper half in before he swings it's virtually impossible to step in the bucket. The body wants to put the foot down in the direction it's center of mass travels, even if its only travels a small bit. I've cured a few severe bucket steppers in a few minutes this exact way.

[jdecker]

Try having him narrow his stance, or just bring the front up and set it back down. He's starting in a stance that is about where he should be after stride, this gives him no room to go comfortably forward so he compensates by going back.