Any tips for helping kids wait on better pitches to hit?

You are right...it is a big issue. I have tried many things. I have put a card board box on a bucket to represent the strike zone to serve to give the "zone" some physical representation. Literally making them throw it in the box mentally.

We anticipate every ball being there and stride and guess this location expecting the ball to be there. If it is not it is an easier pitch to "take" Kids tend to protect a large area early in the count. They must be willing to be selective early and stay alive late. THis does mean you MUST hit the first pitches that are coming through your box.

Pitchers that pitch a certain location almost every time when they are ahead must have the box shifted to this area of expectation when you are 0-2 etc.

It takes time and coaching reassurance to develop this ability and a good solid swing to be able to hit in the happy zone. They must learn to not rush their at bat. There is certain "stage fright" that goes on up here. Some kids want off that stage too quickly. They must learn the value of a deliberate approach to working the pitcher and the value a good at bat has for the game outcome.

For me the "mind set" has a lot to do with pitch selection--- patience is key and that comes as the players mature--I do not think we can expect hitters at the JV level to have the ability and patience of a HS Senior on varsity who hits at the top of the order--It all takes time

Teach them to have a game plan before they step in the box. Teach them to understand that they will have more sucess if they hit their pitch and not the pitchers. Look in your zone and hit your pitch. It could be the first pitch you see or you may never get it that at bat and walk. If you lay off the bad pitches you will get ahead in the count and then the pitcher will have to throw you or the next guy a good pitch to hit. Know your zone where you like the ball and then be patient and disciplined enough to wait for it. I agree with TR that sometimes kids have to mature as hitters in order to be able to do this on a consistent basis. There are some kids that understand this at a younger age. But the main thing is to teach kids to have a game plan before they step in the box. Dont be a hacker be a hitter. Good hitters hit good pitches to hit.

I'd like to add that jv for us (private school) is 7th,8th, and 9th graders. We play 60-90, which I think would amplify the term "hitters league" . They get much longer to see a pitch with this set up than they would 54-80. My concern is that they need to get it these next couple of years to be effective at the next level.

Many times the inability to wait has to do with the fact that they aren't quick enough. Therefore they start early. These kinds of hitters are very good at disquising this flaw.

If you aren't willing to be late on a swing you'll never be on time. You'll always start early. And the kid who always starts early then has to monitor batspeed and will never let it fly. He can't.

In these cases its a mechanics issue. Arms aren't properly connected to torso turn.

Other kids, whose mechanics are good and can't wait are simply anxious. They get themselves out by swinging at pitchers pitches.

Best drill I know for this is bp where they are only allowed to swing at dead red. This means they will probably take 6-8 of every 10 bp pitches. They will take pitchers pitches (strikes that you don't want to swing at until you get 2 strikes, all curve balls if you're taking live bp etc) and all balls. That is really unusal for a bp session. Kids have a tendency to swing at anything close. Praise them on every pitch they take properly and scold them if they take dead red. But it is the best bp one can take when his mechanics are solid. This is also the best pregame bp. He is now working on the most important thing he can work on if his mechanics are solid. He's learning what dead red looks like. Very important. It's also quite rewarding and confidence building when he only swung 6 times out of 20 but hit 6 ropes. Lets him learn the benefits of being selective while aggressive.

Many a good hitter never knew how good he was because he'd leave bp after hitting 6 of 20 good but he swung at all the pitches. Most not worth swinging at. He wonders what he was doing wrong, not knowing that most living humans can't hit the pitches he was swinging at.

At an intermediate level the best bp can be the one where the batter never swung the bat. (if the pitching is that bad/good)

Add a hitting station prior to swinging the bat. Have them take pitches and tell you 3 feet before they get to the plate whether they are a strike or a ball. Be sure to tell them when they are right and when they are wrong.

This is getting scary because I agree with Lamber again. Lamber that was a great post. You are absolutely right on. A kid that is slow will adopt the posistion that "I have to start early or he will blow it by me". A kid that is anxious will be out in front because he is, well anxious. Learning to let the ball get deep is key.

It's ok coach. We agree on most stuff except the number of quality HS baseball coaches.

Of course, I'm sure you like beating the pants off them. Can't blame you.

These kids need to be smart baseball players. They need to have a game plan ahead of time.
1. They should swing at pitches in their wheel house. Meaning your zone should start really small and as you get strikes your zone opens up.
2. They should know that when they don't have any strikes the only pitch in reality they should swing at is a pitch they know for a fact they can drive. If a pitcher makes a pitchers pitch so be it.
3. They you open up your zone a little bigger when you get a strike and not until then. Why waist an AB on a pitchers pitch and hit a soft ground ball or pop fly.

I agree with Coach May and lamber on this one.

Ouch! It hurts to say this but I agree with Lamber on this one. Good post.

Ditto, great post Lamber!

My son falls into the anxious category. Like his Dad, he's a bit tightly wound and eager to impress. Though he has a good eye in games (led our team in walks last year and had some very long ABs), with the mgr pitching slow BP, he often takes his stride and/or drops his heel too early, causing him to spin his lower body too soon and disconnect his arms from his torso.

Then again, last night's BP was abbreviated (after a long defense practice), so each hitter was only getting 5 or 6 pitches, then running out the last one. Well, being a rather small target, he was seeing most pitches up near his eyes (I was standing near home plate). He put a bat on 'em, but w/ no authority. On his last one, he managed to rope a line drive over 3B. My point is, you're right about "wondering what he was doing wrong" in this type of situation. I have to resist the urge to "tweak" after such a session because I don't think he'll be anywhere near so early in games (w/ faster pitching). He said to me, "But Dad, they're just coming in sooooo slow!". I suggested that he might face a slow pitcher and will have to make the adjustment, so you can't just have one "speed" in the box. Oddly, even last year in the Minors, he hit faster pitching much better than slow. He'd take some ugly hacks way out in front sometimes. Time to sneak some Valium in his Cheerios? (kidding!)

Again, nice post; some great ideas in there.

Here is a good story about an up and coming hitter for the Blue Jays and his approach:

Josh Phelps

We are fortunate in that we can feed balls because of our setup at the hitter. We take a bucket with different colored balls and badmitton shuttlecocks in it. We feed the ball and each color ball has a designation. Naturally, the shuttlecock is a changeup. The ball is tossed and the hitter calls out the pitch and then hits it appropriately. You have to have your feeders understand what they are doing and the hitter MUST LET THE BALL GET TO THEM.

For most kids with "talent" it comes down to usually one thing. These kids have never been taught how and what waiting on a good pitch to hit is. They usually are swinging at pitchers pitches and not captilizing on pitches up in the zone that they can drive. I have found that coaches do not use any physcological (train the brain) techniques in there baseball training. They use the old tired cliches that the kids acknowledge but don't really have a clue. I love the dead red drill that emphasizes only swinging at pitches up and in the zone. It proves to these young men that if they wait on these pitches they 7 times out of 10 hit the ball hard. It makes them realize that swinging at pitchers pitches dramatically decreases your odds of hitting a ball hard. When the light clicks on its really amazing to watch. Kids start waiting on those type pitches they have seen in practice (dead red) and jump all over them. It makes them more patient at the plate and can frustrate a pitcher because (dang) I cant get these guys to chase nothing outta the zone. Its very rewarding as a coach to see this.

Dewill,

Not disagreeing but one should put the tee in the knee high location and work down a lot too. All players should be able to hit consistent line drives off of a tee set down. Waiting on "up " in the zone never comes some nights. Down is not necessarily a pitchers pitch if it is in the middle of the plate. GO! Biscuits!!

Swing when I say up in the zone I am meaning anything approximately 4 inches above the kneecap to just above the belt and anypitch that catches most of the plate. Too many times ive seen big strong kids that can flat out crush the ball chasing that down and away, up and in and down and in pitch with less than 2 strikes, usually ending up hitting a weak ground ball somewhere.

Lamber - GREAT POST!!!! should be printed on card stock and handed out to players - better said then Williams himself.

Here is what I am doing with my son 14U who is an anxious and extremely agressive batter. I throw BP to him and let him swing at whatever he chooses until he's good and warmed up. Then, using a video camera, I have him give me a target with his bat in his left hand (righty) holding out in his red zone. I then throw the pitch as best as I can to that spot. If I hit the spot, he swings, if miss the spot he takes. We do this in 10 pitch series and then take a rest to stay relaxed and to avoid anxiety.

Back home we review the tape. Each time he shows me dead red with his bat I put a little mark on the TV with a dry erase pen. We then grade the following swing for 2 things, selectiveness and swing timing.

We have done this three times now and he can really see a difference compared to the first time.

My son is a very agressive batter with an excellent swing. He wants to crush the first pitch and gets anxious and impatient if the pitcher is struggling thereby 'forcing' him to hit a pitch whether its good or not. He hits a lot of doubles and seems to feel that a walk is on about the same level as a stalemate. He is sometimes unhappy with a single as well unless there is someone on base. (A coach once told him something a couple of years ago that he really bought into. He told him to believe that he is in scoring position when he steps into the batter's box.)

His anxiety also makes it so he is attracted to the ball like a moth to light. He has a hard time waiting for the ball to get to him and not shifting his center of gravity forward. Over the years this has improved a great deel though. He now only shifts sometimes and when he does it's only a couple of inches but, it still robs him of his bat speed and causes him to roll over the ball rather than cut through it.

He is so close to becoming a hitter rather than a batter. I think the best clue will be an OBP much higher than his BP. For the last couple of years they are almost identical although really high.

Have you ever coached a kid like this? What did you do with him that was successful to get him to relax and let the game come to him?

Also, I realize after reading this post that I may be as much a part of the anxiety stuff as anything else. I suppose that I am trying to help him take his skills to the next level as hard as he is trying to perform them. Maybe I need to let the game come to him more than he does. (Parenting, isn't it wonderful?)

My son is also struggling with this issue. He didn't play 60/90 until he was a Freshman in HS. That is the first mistake. They need to start 60 feet at 14u. He made Varsity his freshman year and started every game. That added to his anxiety. We play 3 balls/2 strikes in our league because of the weather and the short season. That puts more pressure on a hitter, especially a kid who likes to see a lot of pitches. After a full off season of weekly work with a great hitting coach he is starting to regress to the same habits.
I worked with him with wiffle balls last night and showed him how he was pulling everything, even outside pitches, and he was long to the ball. When he thinks "hit the ball to right" he waits and gets a good look at the ball. He also won't swing at balls in the dirt and will be able to hit the change. So his approach at the plate next time will be, hit the ball to right and we'll see how it goes.