14YO trying out for freshman team next week

Looks good Sandman. Real good. All your hard work over the years studying/teaching swing mechanics has really paid off. Good luck to you and your son!

THop

Looks very nice!

The one thing that I see that I know there is no real agreement on here, but none the less I would encourage him to try to close off his front foot a bit more. Not overly severely, but he is wide open.

Could that help with the issue you are working on concerning the lead knee?

Thanks THop. It's been a lot of fun these past 7 years. Always a work in progress.

floridafan, you're right about the foot and knee going hand-in-hand. At home, during dry swing practice, he's much better at dropping the lead heel straight down and shifting onto his front side better. But live, he still hangs back and starts turning his hips while the lead foot is still in the air. I believe that's what causes the front foot/knee to leak open.

We'll keep at it for a few more days, but then we'll have to focus more on "hitting" and less on "swinging" once tryouts/practices start. I'm reasonably sure he'll make the freshman team, as we know most of the other kids trying out (only 24). But you never know. He's usually pretty comfortable at tryouts though.

It's exciting. Several years ago, when I was over-flooding the Coaching and Hitting forums w/ my 9 or 10YO son, the moderators graciously created the Pre-High School forum, which I've always appreciated. Now, with any luck, we're "graduating".

You would have to be trying out for a powerhouse team not to make it with that swing. He looks real good.

Maybe if he puts his front foot down on the ball of his foot and keeps his weight there, not the heel, he would have greater success at keeping his front side a bit more closed.

But he looks very very good.

His hips and hands are working very well. I think he may be just a little early with his top hand and that might be easily fixed with a very short stride to his toe. I would try to get him to time his top hand to his heel drop and it will be a perfect swing. At 14, it's one of the best I've seen. Great work!

Thanks for the input and kind words, power. We're actually trying very hard to change the way he "strides". The way he lifts his heel so high, up onto his toes, and over-c0cks his lead knee seems to cause him to collapse onto his back side too much, and counter-rotate. This would be fine, if he'd actually shift his weight forward from there; but he doesn't.

A little over a year ago is when he went to this no-stride approach and he's comfortable with it. Prior to that, he had a very high knee kick and he reached forward almost a foot w/ his stride. And as much as we tried to get him to soften up his stride (which he could easily do in dry swings, but not live), he still overstrode. So I suggested no-stride to try to simplify things. Now I find it ironic that, after watching video the past few days, I've been suggesting a small stride to simplify what he's apparently overcooking in his no-stride.

Anyway... I'm not quite following your suggestion to "time his top hand to his heel drop". WHAT action w/ his top hand do you mean?

quote:

Anyway... I'm not quite following your suggestion to "time his top hand to his heel drop". WHAT action w/ his top hand do you mean?

When he is actually starting to take the sweetspot to the ball, throw top hand at ball, extend top hand to ball, rotate bathead to ball...whatever preferred lingo you use. He gets the bat moving early which is very good, but just make sure it's moving away from the Pitcher or to the slot so it keeps his stretch until the heel is down and is committed to the swing. If he will keep the bat shaft close to his back shoulder until his heel drops, it will make his swing much shorter to the zone. I'm afraid he may have trouble with breaking stuff down at the moment. I can only see the two swings you posted, so it may just be on those swings (for some reason I can't get the extra 10 you posted on my computer). His mechanicis look very close to David Wright's and it may be helful to watch his swing.

I actually like his hip action very much and hope you don't change that. It will serve him well as he moves up the ladder. If he gets the swing timed, synced, etc., his hip momentum will jerk his hands forward instead of him jerking them forward to the ball first. It's like a 2 staged rocket, first the hips and core pull then the hands fire. I have a technique that helps with this. If you'd like, I will PM you with that.

He's really TRYING to keep the bat close to his shoulder. We're trying things like "hold the rear shoulder blade pinch" and "keep the left bicep pressed up against the left pec" to help with this. But again, very hard to take into live swings after only < a week of dry swing practice w/ these moves.

I agree that I like his hip action too... IF he would shift his whole body forward onto his lead heel instead of his upper body hanging back and just his hips shifting like he does now.

So much to work on; it's ALWAYS a work in progress!

Thank you, and yes please do PM me w/ any other drills you think might help.

quote:

Originally posted by powertoallfields:
I can only see the two swings you posted, so it may just be on those swings (for some reason I can't get the extra 10 you posted on my computer).

How recent is your QuickTime software? It's an MP4 file, which should play in QT.

Well... first day of tryouts went well. Rained, so indoors only. Kevin said he hit the ball very well. Each kid was supposed to get 8 swings each, but they gave him more like 25. Varsity coach took him aside and told him he "has a major league swing". Of course, WE all know he doesn't. I guess it's a good thing the coaches don't have slomo video? But at full speed it works. Coach also told him he "has the most impressive swing he's ever seen for such a young age".

I still wouldn't expect him to make varsity, but we know a lot of the kids on JV, and JV wouldn't be out of the question. I'm just happy for him that it went well and his confidence is up.

Two more days of tryouts.

Sandman,

I wouldn't sell his swing short. I watched a Division I College game yesterday and I only saw 5 of the 20 or so hitters that came to the plate that work their hips as well as him. Good luck with the next two days!

Quick update: There's still one more tryout day (today) for bubble players. But Kevin and 8 or 9 others have already made the freshman team. The varsity coach also told Kevin he may take him up to practice w/ varsity next week. We'll see. Despite the honor, I'm not so sure it's the best thing for him at this point.

But at least we can now breathe a sigh of relief that baseball will continue for at least another year!

Congratulations Sandman, and to your son. He looks great!
Regarding making varsity as a freshman, that is an awesome honor and a great opportunity provided that he gets his "at bats". I would rather have my son start and play every day on the freshman team than sit the bench and get a few "at bats" in each week.

I think that the argument that he will get to practice with the older kids is over rated. Go where he will play every day, which may or may not be varsity.

Rarely does the player get the choice though, you go where the coach wants you to go.

Enjoy the season, and every HS inning and game, they do fly by!

In our High School, on the rare occassion that a Freshman makes Varsity, the kids still play on the Freshman team when the games don't conflict. I like that because it keeps the Freshman team chemistry, but still gives the better players a chance to learn and sometimes compete with the best.

I wouldn't mind that too, power. But in RI, the rule is "once you play in a JV/Varsity game, you're no longer eligible for Freshman".

sandman

The young man has grown a bit from when we met a few years back

I think playing freshman as a regular beats being a sub on the varsity---at this point he needs to be getting innings

Yes he has TR. He grew about 6" since last June, but was even smaller when we met you a few years ago. He's still only 5'6" and 120 lbs. tho, but he's up to 10 - 10 1/2 in shoes, which is bigger than me (I'm only 5'7"), so hopefully he'll continue to grow. 5'9" or 5'10" would be nice.

Say... are you in RI again this summer?

I totally agree w/ him playing where he'll PLAY. He'd [rightfully] ride the pine on varsity; but maybe on JV, he'd have a good shot at meaningful playing time. He (as humbly, but honestly as possible), already says that a lot of the kids on the freshman team (they had their first practice today) are not very athletic and not very sound fundamentally. FWIW, his coach gave them a speech today in which he told them pretty much the same thing ("only 2 or 3 passionate players who seem to know what they're doing here"). Now, I'm not sure if that's good or bad motivation, but that's his business. Just saying what he told them.

Imagine our family's excitement last night when the phone rang. Caller ID showed "John Smith" (NOT the coach's name), so we let the answering machine take it. "Hi Kevin, this is Coach [Varsity]. I know it's short notice, but I'd like to know if you can come practice with the varsity team tomorrow?".

It's a small school (1200 students) and not a particularly strong program because the state powerhouse private high school is in our town too and we lose a lot of good athletes to them. At this point, we suspect that a couple other freshman might have gotten the same call, but we're not sure because we swore our son to secrecy among his friends until after the practice today.

Wherever the coaches want him is fine w/ us, tho we're admittely hoping it's JV so that he'll have a shot at earning some playing time. But if he sends him back to the freshman team, we're fine w/ that too. Just honored and happy for him right now.

Update: Kevin practiced well w/ the varsity team today. Though they spent about an hour on bunt defenses, then another 45+ mins. on other D, he said they each got 10 hits batting too. And 9 of his were hard line drives to the outfield, several over the outfielders (who admittedly were playing IN a bit ). Only 1 popup.

Kevin really feels like he fit in well w/ these older kids, many of whom he played LL with over the years. But as much fun as it was practicing w/ them, they have a scrimmage tomorrow and the coach told Kevin to go to the JV/Freshman practice instead. And we're completely fine w/ that. Coach said he'll continue to invite him to some of the weekend practices though. And I've had several other parents warn me already that "if he's not going to play a lot on varsity, do all you can to keep him on freshman, because the JV games get bumped a lot and he'll play a lot more and develop better on freshman". This was from a couple guys whom I greatly respect their baseball knowledge too (former college players, longtime coaches, sons are great players, both of whom played freshman as 9th graders).

Varsity coach told him again that his swing is better than 3/4 of his varsity players. Of course, I'm sure a fair amount of that is to build his confidence, but at least he likes him and we know he's on his radar.

Thanks for letting me share the beginning of this exciting baseball journey. I know it may come across like bragging, but I'm really coming at this more from the perspective of "I've been posting on various websites for 8 years or so, and a lot of nice people have shown an interest over the years, so I'm just sharing the beginning of his story".

quote:

But in RI, the rule is "once you play in a JV/Varsity game, you're no longer eligible for Freshman".

That stinks! Oh well...it sounds like he may get the best of both worlds anyway if they let him keep practicing with the Varsity. Good luck!

Do not change the leg action. He seems to keep both eyes toward the pitcher and his shoulders have great lines. Many over-rotate their shoulders with a leg (knee turn) which actually gives less rotational force and also makes the hitter lose the back eye and spin off the pitch line.

I wouldn't work on mechanics with that swing during the season. (I love his swing). Working on mechanics is inverse to timing and rhythm. During the season he should be mainly looking to find both.

I agree with the assessment it is near a major league swing. There are a lot of advanced elements.

We will see him swing for a long time.

Sandman- It is a nice story, I hope you keep all of us updated. I have a talented freshman also and many of the things you are going thru and questions you have are relivent. I do not feel you were bragging (and if you did -so what- good you are proud of your son). Best of luck this season, hope he has a great time.

Sandman:

Please do not feel like you are bragging - sure doesn't seem like it to me.

And keep the stories coming - I love to hear the stories about the players who have "grown up" here.

Best of luck to him,

08

I agree. Sandman you worked very hard to learn swing mechanics and in my opinion, just as hard trying to pass that knowledge on to others.

It simply looks like “accurate reporting” to me and showing others what solid technique and hard work can do for a player that was not blessed with MLB genes.

THop

Thanks for the reassurance folks. It's been a lot of fun over the years I've been posting his swing to learn where we could help him improve. Through all the "guru wars" and other informative posts, we've learned a lot for sure.

Not having played past Little League myself, I took the approach of immersing myself in as much info as I could digest - dozens of books, numerous videos, and regularly frequenting a half dozen or so forums on a near-year-round daily basis. Plus, of course, thousands of hours of analyzing video clips. Being a bit on the OCD side probably helps a bit too.

As they say, "Those who can DO; those who can't TEACH!"

And I certainly don't intend to stop, as I realize his NEXT journey through this game is just beginning. He's already asking when the weather will be good enough to put up our cage. (We usually wait til the end of March to make sure no more snow. ) Though I've been his manager or coach since he was playing T-ball at age 4, he's now in the hands of the high school coaches. But I'm sure we'll continue to practice at home on the weekends.

I've always felt like, as much fun as it is coming up through Little League, travel, etc., it's always [to me] been about doing all I could to help prepare him to play high school ball. I'm just happy that unlike a lot of teens I hear about, he's still very open to including me in his game and actually is still very open to my thoughts (until I start rambling, which is too much to ask of ANYONE! ... uh, like I am now, I guess ).

Thanks again.

-Mike