Might want to define 'keep the front side in'. Remember kids are very literal and when you tell them that they will literally try to keep their front side in. I think what you mean is don't get anxious, step in the bucket pulling off the ball trying to cream the slow pitch. The front side (shoulders & hips) always should turn. And when you don't turn on the ball it is because you were completely fooled and that is not the swing you want. Point from everyday dad is critical. Keep same bat speed. Read a study regarding the old faster it comes in faster it goes out myth. I say myth because the speed of the pitch only adds a very minimal and insignificant amount to exit velocity. However the saying in practice is somewhat true because most 'unpolished hitters' slow their swing for the slower pitchers and dial it up for the faster pitchers. It is the swing speed that makes the ball go out faster not the pitch speed. The reason why there are no ultra tricky pitchers throwing 70mph in mlb is because those hitters are in fact polished. They won't make those mistakes. First let me say my son has the same difficulty. Team we faced last year and ten run ruled he went 0 - 4 (slow pitcher). So I am not being critical of your son. But the first step to recovery is recognizing you have a problem! If you can't hit the slow pitchers then it is the hitter who is unpolished not the pitcher. I tell my son (who also lead his team in hitting last year) that he is not a good hitter yet because the good hitter hits them all big and small! And I am very honest with him about the fact that he will be a PO when he gets a little older if he can't hit the slow stuff away. Your son was a freshman so maybe they didn't know him very well yet. Now that the conference has seen him if they have any brains they will start 'showing' him fastballs and feed him a steady diet of off speed stuff outer edge. He needs tons of reps. He has to decide how he is going to attack that pitch and build the muscle memory. Sorry for the long post but one question for you, do you have it on video? Cause we always assume kids are late on faster pitches and ahead of slow pitchers. And sometimes that is exactly the case. But just as often they are under the fast pitch and over the slow pitch. They are taking speed into consideration for their timing but not the drop or lack of drop for their bat path. Is he grounding out a lot vs. Slow pitching? That could be a clue.