Such a thing as Youth hitting vs Pro Hitting?

[themaker75]

My son is an 11U player and I feel I have taken him as far as I can with hitting instruction. In his town he has always been one of the best hitters. His team relies on him to produce. Now here is the problem. I signed him up with a hitting coach who has MLB experience as a hitting instructor. Very little has changed mechanically other than him shifting his weight more to produce more power. For whatever reason his coach is totally opposed to it. He says he has taken a pro hitting style and he's too young for it. There has been no drop off in performance. So my son is told one thing during practice then yelled at during the game even though his results have been consistently positive. This has been going on for five months now since winter training and I'm getting aggravated. This guy has been his coach for 5 years and I respect the guy but I feel like he is overstepping his boundaries. My son has played for him since he has been 6 so it's hard for him to not listen. In my eyes my son is doing much more than fine, the coach should put his focus on the kids who are struggling and allow my son to experiment with different styles especially since it is not affecting the team.

[themaker75]

To make matters worse, he is my brother in law so I don't want to cause family problems. This guy lives and breathes coaching this team. Sometimes I feel this weird Hand That Rocks The Cradle thing going on though.

[Jake Patterson]

My son is an 11U player and I feel I have taken him as far as I can with hitting instruction. In his town he has always been one of the best hitters. His team relies on him to produce. Now here is the problem. I signed him up with a hitting coach who has MLB experience as a hitting instructor. Very little has changed mechanically other than him shifting his weight more to produce more power. For whatever reason his coach is totally opposed to it. He says he has taken a pro hitting style and he's too young for it. There has been no drop off in performance. So my son is told one thing during practice then yelled at during the game even though his results have been consistently positive. This has been going on for five months now since winter training and I'm getting aggravated. This guy has been his coach for 5 years and I respect the guy but I feel like he is overstepping his boundaries. My son has played for him since he has been 6 so it's hard for him to not listen. In my eyes my son is doing much more than fine, the coach should put his focus on the kids who are struggling and allow my son to experiment with different styles especially since it is not affecting the team.

On the surface it doesn't sound like a good situation... First, part of growing as an athete IMHO is experiencing different coaches and styles. Having a 11 year old that has been with the same coach for 6 years doesn't even sound right, unless it's his step-dad. Is there more information here??

If he were mine and I was not happy with what a coach is teaching him, I'd change coaches.

[Jake Patterson]

To make matters worse, he is my brother in law so I don't want to cause family problems. This guy lives and breathes coaching this team. Sometimes I feel this weird Hand That Rocks The Cradle thing going on though.

Ahh.... Now it makes sense.

[themaker75]

He also plays Little League but this is a travel team that plays against other local travel teams. My son is the top player on the team. If I pulled him and put him in another team it would be akin to murder in his eyes.

[songtitle]

He says he has taken a pro hitting style and he's too young for it.

That's silly and nonsensical. Techniques are not limited to a certain age.

So my son is told one thing during practice then yelled at during the game even though his results have been consistently positive. This has been going on for five months now since winter training and I'm getting aggravated.

Changing coaches will not fix this. You need to learn how to deal with this situation.

[tg643]

There's only one way to learn how to hit .... the correct way. Your in law may have one year of coaching experience many times over rather than years of coaching experience. Coaches with experience learn their mistakes and correct them.

[themaker75]

That's what I always felt. There's one way to do things and it's the right way. My son bats how I feel to be the right way. That's what I taught him. When he is at bat he is focused and ready to attack. No bat wiggling, no weird placement of his feet, bat in the proper place. A level swing. It amazes me how much nonsense I see in te box. Now we just added with the help of the batting coach some more stepping into the pitch for power and better timing.
I just wanted to get some advice as to whether that statement he made was true or pure bollocks. I'll just have to kindly tell him we are trying something new. Its just very annoying at this point. I am not a baseball fan but it doesn't take a genius to understand some simple physics and observe what great hitters did.

[Jake Patterson]

That's silly and nonsensical. Techniques are not limited to a certain age.

I agree with Song... There is no youth or MLB... there's only a progression toward doing it correctly. If he really beleives this then you have a problem. Have you spoken with him??

[themaker75]

I think I give people too much credit. He is taking outside lessons so I was hoping he would respect that. He knows we are and it's not like he was his hitting coach. He is just "the coach". I dropped hints but I guess I will have to be more blunt.

[Jake Patterson]

I think I give people too much credit. He is taking outside lessons so I was hoping he would respect that. He knows we are and it's not like he was his hitting coach. He is just "the coach". I dropped hints but I guess I will have to be more blunt.

"Bob, look, I'm having problems with Johnny being taught by two different people. I would like to go with Coach XXX's advice. If he's perforing during the games please leave him alone."
If he get's upset then so be it....

[songtitle]

Head Coach B, and C, and D, and... will do the same thing. Plus their assistants, and helper Dads, etc.

They all mean well. No need to get angry or let it build up. Just come up with a nice easy line to use.

[Baseball gLove]

My sons wiggle the bat. They were coached by a former MLB player that was teammates with Tony Gwynn and also received hitting advice from Ted Williams.

I was in a similar situation when the club coach tried to mess with my 12 year old's swing. Funny thing is that the coach's older boy, same age as my older boy, didn't make the high school team while my son made the team and made all league on his hitting. Needless to say but I pulled my son from the team.

My position as a coach: I don't care what the swing looks like if the kid is hitting the ball. If it ain't broke, don't mess. Otherwise, expect to get an adjustment.

[chucker66]

My position as a coach: I don't care what the swing looks like if the kid is hitting the ball. If it ain't broke, don't mess. Otherwise, expect to get an adjustment.

I am the coach of a 14U team and I have this boy who hits the ball well but does so many things wrong it's hard to try to break him down and start swinging correctly. He is also a hockey player and has very good hand-eye coordination. He's very coachable and will do whatever I ask, I just am not sure if I should mess with his swing if he is hitting the ball. Thoughts?

[CircleChange11]

I was hoping this discussion was going to more about mechanical differences between pros and youth hitting. We can say what we want but not very many kids use pro style mechanics and I would look at lack of hip/core strength as the main reasons, and throw in "body control" as a close second.

I don;t see very many youth hitter with [1] good timing mechanisms, [2] hands that go back during foot stride, and [3] hips that coil/uncoil. I see a lot of just "step and swing".

So, while we say "kids should hit just like major leaguers", I wonder how realistic that is for the kids that are outside of the top X % in coordination & strength.

I cannot imagine that there are very many 10yo that can do with their hips what Matt Kemp does in his no stride swing, all in the right sequence with good timing.

I think I started my 10yo out too early with some of the drills, terminology, etc of some of the hitting gurus on the internet. Don;t get me wrong, the guys know their stuff, I'm just questioning whether it is appropriate for 10yo players or if that is just the age group where parents will "pay anything" for their kid to be better. I see my 10yo know at the plate thinking about mechanics rather than "just hitting the ball". He's a very smart kid, but I can see him trying to "keep his hands back" and coiling/uncoiling rather than just "doing what he did last year", which was pretty good mechanically and very good performance. I see in other kids (ours and opponents) as well as their dads/coach is barking out reminders and corrections during each at bat and the kid is standing there trying to implement all of those suggestions and hit the ball well.

I was curious in others' opinions as to what mechanical information should be "taught" to the player and at what ages? I say that as one whose 5yo overhears some of the "tip and turn", "stretch and fire" type stuff and interprets it as meaning "bat like Julio Franco" (I don;t teach the 5yo the same stuff I teach to the 10yo, but he's the typical little brother that emulates everything big brother does).