Cue Tipping????

[real green]

This might be hard without video, but I am hoping to get some ideas of what to look for.

My kid is swinging the bat OK. While he is BA is over .500 for the summer, I can't remember the last time he hit a line drive. He is hitting deep fly balls, or choppers for hits.

His outs are dink fly balls off the end of the bat or cue tipped balls. It seems to me he is ahead on everything. He is swinging more aggressively than ever. He has hit many close to the fence and has the fever to hit one over.

Here are two photos, both resulted in deep flyball doubles, but more like a 5 wood high soft landing ball than a driver screaming down the fairway.

He is playing 10u but just turned 11 a few weeks ago.

Hitt2.jpgHitt.jpg

[real green]

More info, average to weak pitching he is hitting around 700, good and above pitching eats him alive. Almost always weak grounders off the end of the bat. The last three at bats against a good pitcher resulted in:

1. A spinning ball 2 ft foul of third baseline that came in fair right before third base almost heading towards second. The most spin I have ever seen on a ball. Base hit

2. Another spinner/dinker fly ball that barely cleared the jumping pitcher. Base hit

3. Check swing K

[omg]

While it could be anything one thing to look for is the plane of the swing, especially near contact. You might want to have him consider exaggerating the follow through in the direction of where he wants the ball to go and on a line drive (more or less think level). In other words he could be hitting "to", being satisfied with contact, rather than 'through". This type of thing could come about by practicing in a cage or hitting in to a net too frequently while neglecting the on field practice. Not saying this is the case but it's something to look for.

A hitter actually-consciously or instinctively- should try to hit a pitch to a particular part of the field. So to be simple, a hitter looks for a pitch down the middle and tries to follow through or chase that pitch back at the pitcher or to center field. "Short" to "long" is the hitting axiom, "long" having to do with after contact is made. There are various drills which can enhance this but certainly the hitter has to first buy in to and try to do it.

I understand I'm making it sound easy-it's far from easy- and accomplishing what I'm talking about is a career long struggle. There are a lot of factors involved. For example, if a hitter registers in his brain that the pitch is down the middle but the pitch actually breaks away at the end then the end result could be and end of the bat hit. So pitch recognition, obviously, is also a factor.

Like I said, I'm just speculating. Sometimes hitters forget that the goal is a line drive and not just contact.

[omg]

More info, average to weak pitching he is hitting around 700, good and above pitching eats him alive.

Hey, the above phenomena is true of just about all hitters. When you are facing mostly weak pitchers it is very difficult to adjust to the good pitching. It takes lots of time so patience is required. You have to see a lot of good pitching before you can hit it. Mantle, Mays, and others, I think were about 0 for 30 when they hit the bigs.

Once the good pitching comes in to play, and once a hitter's eyes have adjusted to it, i.e., they can follow it and they are not afraid, then the mental aspects of hitting really come in to play. When facing good pitching, a hitter has to realize that, basically, he might be overmatched. Fortunately, the ball still has to cross the plate. Not like having to out race Michael Phelps who will beat you every tine.

In short, there is guess work involved. In one example, if a hitter comes to the conclusion that the "wait and be quick" stuff will not cut it with this guy's fast ball
then the hitter has choices to make. Fortunately, they are simple choices. But the big thing is that the hitter "knows himself" and has to be able to evaluate the situation. So there is a lot to it. Otherwise, a hitter will just wave at the good pitching, repeating their futility. Happens all the tine.