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17 replies

Confidence is gone

W wedge10+ posts
I started a post awhile back about the coaches trying to change my sons swing. Just to follow up;

Son has always been a solid contact hitter, travel ball he has always batted over 600 playing within his own age group. Found his power-swing last 4 months of travel ball, hitting 5 homeruns. He is a freshman. Tryouts for team went very good, was told by 4 varsity players he should have made varsity. During practice has hit ball hard. JV starts and he is starting in the infield and batting 4th. So far so good.

My sons major weakness has always been hitting slower pitching. Sure enough first 3 games, slow pitching, son struggles. Next game bats towards bottom of lineup. Nobody on the team is really hitting so he was frustrated about his "demotion". The jv never scrimmaged before the season started and each player had about 4 "live at bats" vs the varsity. So the slow start by everyone was not suprising. In the 4th game my son finally faces a pitcher with a little velocity and he hits a homerun. He finally gets the "monkey off his back" and he is feeling a little more confident. Next game he is moved from his regular position. His fielding has not been an issue. The kid that replaced him made 3 errors that game.

During his struggles he has asked the head coach what he was doing wrong at the plate. Head coach responded "I don't know anything about baseball so I can't help you". Yes, you heard that right he has made it clear that he knows nothing about baseball. He has told the kids this on a number of occasions. The assistant coach is no better, he told my son he is taking his eye off the ball. I wish it was that simple. The varsity coach actually runs this team, that is a whole other issue. So, as you can see the coaches are no help.

I know this is a minor bump in the road of life and I have told him that. But, I can't help but feel that between them trying to change his swing and the "slow pitching problem" his head must be spinning. I know he is trying too hard.

Sorry for the long post, part venting I guess. My sons confidence is in the toilet. Any suggestions on what drills to do for his lack of hitting vs slower pitching? He has already been told he will not play next game. The coach always uses my son as an example about always hustling so that is not an issue. I know he needs to work through this and be ready for the next time he gets a chance. He just wants to be ready. Thanks.
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floridafanfloridafan5,000+ posts
Since your coaches say that they do not know anything about baseball, and since your son is frustrated with his hitting and playing time but wants to improve his game, he will need to put in the extra time either on his own of preferably with a high quality hitting instructor.

Hitting slow pitching is a very important skill to master. A good pitcher at any level is not going to groove fastballs in the zone for your son to take yard. A good pitcher will mix in his fastball and offspeed. If your son is not able to adjust he will not succeed.

The problem is not slow pitching, it is how your son approaches slow pitching.

The season is young. He will need to learn to wait on the pitch, and probably many other things before his HS baseball season is through.
W wedge10+ posts
floridafan,

Thanks for your response. I was going to mention how my son approaches off speed pitches but I left it out. I guess that is what is frustrating for my son. He adjusts very well to off speed pitches when the pitcher throws hard. It is only with a slow pitcher that he has problems, if that makes any sense. It is something that baffles me too, he adjusts and hits. But I guess he has problems making a "total adjustment". I hope that makes sense.

He did not go to a hitting instructor during tryouts or pre-season workouts, because there was really no time. Between 6 day practices and school. In hindsight because they were trying to change his swing I should have kept him going to his trainer. Live and learn.
W wedge10+ posts
sultanofswat,
Thank you, have been leaning towards timing of his stride myself. His first game he was dropping his hands he corrected that part. In the past whenever he had issues it was always one thing, dropping hands, leaning, rolling over etc. He would adjust and he was good to go. Now it seems when you corrct one thing there is another problem.

I think by them messing with his swing he is totally lost. Hopefully his trainer will set him straight, his season is almost half over. Thanks for the help.
C cabbagedadHSBaseballWeb member since 2011
Many otherwise-good hitters struggle with slow pitching. Don't feel bad, do something about it.

Have a very specific approach and work on it frequently. You'll likely continue to see a fair share of it at JV.
Look at slow pitchers as great off-speed hitting practice. Most often, you'll want to let the ball travel, stay inside and drive the ball to the opposite field, thinking line drive. It's important to keep your front side closed until you fire, and even then, make sure you are not pulling off balance. The exception would be when a pitch is up and in - still stay inside, stay behind the ball and turn on it, still thinking hard line drive instead of trying to lift and still staying closed until you fire and stay balanced.
There are plenty of drills you can do to work on this. Do a lot of front toss where you are mixing firm tosses and soft tosses to the outer half of the plate and you are focused on hitting hard line drives thru the 3-4 hole. Have an occasional toss thrown inside to keep from cheating and to read and turn when appropriate. If you don't have access to a good screen, this can be done with wiffle.
This approach will mean less HR's but becoming a much better hitter.
I believe you implied that you have been to an instructor. Hopefully, you took some notes or at least have some recall of the top take-aways from those lessons. List those and work them regularly on your own.
Keep hustling and enjoying the game. Everyone goes thru confidence dips. The more quality work you put in, the shorter the dips and the longer the rises.
Last edited by cabbagedad
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
It has been my experience that hitters facing a steady diet of high velocity are the ones who suffer most when a "slow" pitcher is on the mound.

When facing a steady diet of "slow" pitching, a good hitter should be an even better hitter. If it worked the other way around, they have been drafting the wrong pitchers.

Batting practice could be described as "slower" pitching. Usually the problem is associated with the inability to hit the curve ball. Often pitchers that lack a good fastball will throw a lot more breaking balls and other off speed pitches.

Then there is the mental aspect. This can be a serious issue for any athlete in any sport. Is the reason physical or mental that Tiger Woods went from being the greatest golfer ever to being just another Pro golfer. At some point, the mind gets in the way of physical ability. Good thing is, that old successful mentality can return.

My suggestion is to quit analizing the physical part and tell him to step up and make solid contact with that balloon they are throwing up there. Pretend it is BP!
SdleftySdlefty500+ posts
This sounds like a bump in the road, not much different then what most players go through every season. Stick to what works for you!

As a freshmen he has a long way to go. Try to get a little better everyday. Work on one specific thing each day. You will see results.

I would spend time with your hitting guru to work on this off speed isssue. I am a big fan of front toss. In this case, I would make the toss very soft and easy. As a hitter, you need to wait for the ball to get there. A lot of young hitters struggle with this. Again, stick to it and good luck!
Keep swingin it...
Lefty
P Pedropere100+ posts
Its not surprising that batters have trouble hitting pitches at different speeds. In addition to the problem of "timing the swing", the brain radar is going to need recalibration because of the change in how far the ball falls.

Simple physics: If a ball is released at 55 feet from the plate, on a plane parallel with the ground, an 80mph pitch falls almost a full foot and a half further than a 90 mph pitch. [Actually that's not going to happen exactly because I've assumed a constant speed on the way to the plate, and almost no pitches are released exactly parallel to the ground.] But the point is that slower pitches fall, and can't be hit the same way. It isn't just that you have to "wait on it". You also have to recalibrate your swing radar to make solid contact.

I suspect this is a particular problem for batters who are grooved into a high speed pitching machine. It seems to me that from a pitcher's standpoint the lesson would be "don't throw like a pitching machine..even if you can hit 90+".

For a batter, maybe it would be useful to alternate pitches from typical fastball to typical junkballer speed. Also, if the timing is right, but he's just missing it, maybe it would help to have him focus on hitting the "bottom" of the ball. I would suspect he's swinging over the pitches even when he gets the timing right.
Last edited by Pedropere
Coach_MayCoach_May10,000+ posts
And make sure his bp is thrown at different speeds. Mix in off speed pitches but also vary the speed on fastballs. Force him to work on his timing while he is hitting. Many kids grow up hitting off constant speed bp. They can rip in the cage. When you start mixing up speeds even if its all fastballs but different speeds on the fastball the timing issues come out. Just a thought. Good luck
F 3FingeredGlove1,000+ posts
Pedropere,
I think you forgot the 1/2 in 1/2at^2.
The correct difference in fall is roughly 0.74 feet. Of course the point that different velocities yield different trajectories is true, but a fast ball versus a decent curve is much bigger effect.

I think poor timing (using the wrong cues to initiate the swing) is more likely the cause when a player has trouble with slow pitching.
P Pedropere100+ posts
You are correct. I used 32 feet/sec^2 instead of 16.
F for my physics grade.

A lot of the difference in the trajectory of fb vs curve is a consequence of the incremental fall of the ball.

When you peruse the numbers, its a wonder that people can hit down-breaking curves at all, and yet I see major leaguers wait on pitches and drive them pretty well. Very impressive.
Last edited by Pedropere
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
Don't go by high school kids telling your son he should have made varsity. Kids don't see things coaches do.

Someone asked an important question, slow fastballs or offspeed stuff. If it's offspeed stuff, the pitcher throws a lot of offspeed stuff and can't throw a fastball by him .... Go up looking for stuff and hit the fastball the other way. There's nothing about the game that can't be corrected with hard work and extra work as long as the skill potential exists.

Add: And proper "can do" attitude. "Woe is me" doesn't work.
Last edited by RJM
W wedge10+ posts
Just to clarify, son has no problem adjusting to off speed pitches when a pitcher is a hard thrower. His problem is with pitchers who top out at say 60-70. He hits solid in BP, which is comparable speed as game time problems. I have told him his timing is off among other things and alot of it has to be mental.

Son made solid contact once in last game but was still on base all 4 of his at bats. I told him I did not care if he walked 4 times just take one step at a time. I think he developed bad habits (for him) since the coaches tried to change his swing. It looks like he his trying to do too much.

Again thanks for all the useful information.

Question?? With the above information about his slow speed problems, which would be better?

1 Training coach will usually throw 25 fastballs in round one, then throw 25 off speed pitches in round 2, followed by 25 fastballs in round 3. OR
2 Mix up fast and off speed throughout session OR
3 Have coach throw slow all 3 rounds

Of course I will ask his trainer his thoughts also.
Last edited by wedge

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