Need Advice from any Baseball Coaches

[got4boyz]

I volunteered to coach my twin's baseball team this year since they had an extra team and no one to coach. So I have a group of 8 to 10 year olds on a minor league Little League team.

I have a big problem. Hardly any of these kids can hit the ball. No matter what I try they can't seem to connect most of the time.

Does anyone have any suggestions on teaching them how to hit the ball. I sure would appreciate it.

 

[ScubaTexan]

Two things...

1) get a batting tee and go back to the basic fundamentals of hitting (getting a level swing, keeping your eye on the ball, etc.)
2) if you have a batting cage nearby, try to schedule some time there for them to hit. Live pitching (or nearly live) is the best practice.

Hope that helps...

 

[Seadiver5]

Start with the stance. Knees slightly bent, Feet apart, Elbows away from body, bat behind the ear and then get them to practice swinging.

The batter must step towards the pitcher at the same time he/she begins to swing

It is crucial that the bat be as light as possible. Remember that the thing that creates good hits is bat speed not bat weight and so the faster a bat is swung the better the ball will be hit.

for that age a bat should be between 28 - 29 inches long and as I said as light as possible.

Next remind them that hitting is like catching it in that when you catch a ball you must keep your eyes on it all the way into the glove, When batting you must keep your eyes on the ball until you actually see it hit the bat.

A batting tee is a great Idea and you don't even need a ball on it. all they have to do is get used to just brushing the top of the tee with the bat. If they hit it too low it will rock forward and if they miss it all together it wont move at all.

Good Luck and if all else fails the american little league has great instructional videos on how to teach fundamentals.

 

[Seadiver5]

Oh one other thing, Baseball is so much about shifting weight and momentum. This is true in throwing and batting.

 

[Hallmac]

I found the painting baseballs three different colors helped. They have to identify and yell out the color during the first series without swinging. Second series they yell out the color during the swing. Third series they can only swing at a certain color.
The rule is they must swing on every pitch except series one.

I found that they begin concentrating so hard on identifying the color that they focus on the ball and make contact immediately. That is where most batters fail. They watch the motion of the pitchers arm and not the ball. second they worry too much about swinging on a bad pitch. This exersize make them find the ball and forget about everything else.

10 pitches per series, per batter.
twice a week. Carefull (200 pitches a day is hell on your arm)

One thing you can expect is your kids will swing at anything during a game so you will have to do a strike zone drill on every other batting practice.

Hallmac

 

[got4boyz]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I've worked on the stance thing with them and most of them have a good, strong level swing. They just can hit the darn ball.

One drill I did to try and help them keep the eye on the ball was to kneel slightly in front and to the side of them, then I'd toss the ball up in the air so it came down almost directly on home plate. Almost all the kids hit most of the balls in this exercise, but when it came to hit a thrown ball, they just can't seem to do it when it's coming across the plate.

I also have a pitching machine that I bring because my pitching gets pretty bad after pitching for awhile, but that hasn't seemed to help.

The painted balls sounds very interesting. Can you buy balls like that or do you have to paint them?

I'll see if I can get ahold of the video too.

 

[Hallmac]

They can be bought. Walmart is one place I have seen colored balls. Myself I just used spray paint. They don't stay colored for long but they last long enough for what you want them to do.

Hallmac

 

[got4boyz]

Thanks, I'll try and find some or paint my own. Sounds like it could work!

 

[got4boyz]

I tried the painted ball approach at my last practice (don't get to practice often now because we have 2 games a week) and in our game last night the kids got almost triple the hits than their previous average!

I've also worked on stance and making sure kids are using a light enough bat for their size (some definitely were using bats to heavy for them) and I think that has helped too.

So thanks all for your suggestions!

Now, any suggestions to improve the performance of my pitchers? LOL

 

[adder70]

It sounds like your kids are already beyond this point, but with the earliest exercises, I have found that bunting helps. THen you have them bring the bat back just a few inches and bring it forward to meet the ball. Have them add a few inches to their swing with every couple of pitches until they are taking full swings and still making good contact.

For the pitchers, you can use my favorite technique, the modified knuckle ball. I never threw one with the funky grip everyone else I have seen use. I just grip the ball normally and then kind of push the ball out from my palm so I am touching the midlle of the ball instead of wrapping around it. Thus, my first two fingertips are touching the ball along with the last bone of my ring finger along the side. Then I just throw with a normal motion and let go with all fingers and thumb at the same time instead of rolling it out of my first two fingers. The best part is that the ideal speed for a knuckleball is about 50mph, so some of the fastest pitchers at that age might be in the sweet spot for that pitch. It also shouldn't put as much stress on the arm as a curve ball, but it still does funny things and makes it hard to hit. You will also have the league's best catchers next year!