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So the player, after taking a week off because he knows he's in a deep slump, will get in the box a week later and just turn off his brain?  If it were that easy just tell him to turn off his brain for his next at-bat and save the week.  I've seen my son in two of these types of hitting slumps and it took something positive to happen to break the streak- a fluke hit was one, a walk stole second base and scored the winning run the second time.  Many kids just get in their own heads.  Keep with the reps is my take.

Take a day off and clear your head.  Good move.  Take a week off and your losing ground.

Day 2 start with the extreme basics off a tee. At older ages, you should have a checklist of where your body parts should be.  Stride direction, open, closed, even.  Where is your body weight at landing? Forward, back, ...  Have you changed your load?  Hand position at start and load.  Just get back to where is feels right and the ball is doing what it should.

Next you start on timing issues.  Front toss, ....

If the basics are solid, start looking at your approach at the plate.  Are you swinging at strikes?  Are you letting good pitches go buy and getting stuck in bad counts?  Did you get "pull happy" and get beat on the outside.

The Mental Side of Baseball says "see the ball." Ignore what happened before and don't worry about what happens next.  See the ball.  Very Zen.  Ted Williams says get a good ball to hit and hit it.

Put the work in and confidence grows.  You may find an aha moment that gives you the belief that you fixed it.  It's that belief that may fix it.

I ain't in no slump, I just ain't hittin'.

If a player isn’t swinging well tee work and BP is the solution. But it has to be with a positive attitude. It can’t be with a woe is me attitude.

When my son wasn’t swinging his best he bunted his way on. It brought the corners up opening the hitting lanes. Now hard grounders were more likely to go through the infield. Of course, you have to be able to bunt and have the speed to beat it out.

Once the hitter has a couple of hits no matter how cheap he feels he’s hitting again. Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.

Last edited by RJM

Unless there is an injury, a week off may not be the best practice for a slump buster, it really depends on your hitter. Your practices at this point is with focus (tee to reonforce or improve mechanical issues, front and machine for timing). The only game time "thinking" is watching/analyzing the pitcher for timing and tells (pitch sequence patterns, anything to indicate a specific pitch, etc). In the hitting game a microsecond of doubt or paralysis by over analysis can be disastrous given the variables in hitting. I think (and hope) evaluators also place weight in the approach and the result. For my kid he has been hitting the ball hard at his games and camps but they were mostly at the defense or it kissed the stratosphere. His best hit he got at the latest tourney was a hard oppo flyner (combo fly/liner) in the gap which the LF made a great jump on and it hit the tip of his glove...so it could be an error. He is taking today off as it was a rough week with the heat and he also went to a camp in the middle of a tourney so he is shot. He will resume tomorrow with tee and timing by mixing more high 70s to 80s as he believes he is way too early on them. That is part of the grind. So far the feedback on his hitting performance in live ABs at the camps has been positive despite the poor results.

There's a huge difference between hitting the ball well and it doesn't land and not hitting.  BAPIP is supposed to be a measure of luck.  If you are hitting the ball well, it will eventually start being hits. No worries.

Batting averages -

Ground ball .225

Fly ball .250 (assuming some are home runs)

Line drive .600

Strike outs .000

Francis; is this hitter your son? Is he right handed hitter? which is the dominant eye?

Do you have a "full length" mirror? Watch your swing in the mirror.

If he is right handed hitter. "eliminate left field. move the foul line to left center, go off the plate, remember your role as a hitter "SEE THE BALL".

Choke the bat and swing with strength!!

Bob

While I think it's possible that every piece of advice that's been offered up thus far could work, to me, this is always something that is hyper specific to each individual player and case.

I do agree that slumps are mostly mental.  Well, I think they start with some bad luck (defense making good plays, etc) or whatever, but are sustained due to the mental piece.  For some, its a horrible decision to hit the pause button.  For others, it might be the perfect remedy.

My 2021 is typically apprehensive to the mental piece due to its "squishiness."  He absolutely prefers to muscle his way through just about everything in life.  Give him the option of spending 6 hours in the gym versus 15 minutes of critical thinking, self reflection, etc and he'll be in the gym before you finish saying the 2nd option.  But I've yet to see him once muscle his way out of any slump.  And its not for any lack of trying; believe me.

Honestly - to answer the original question - hitting pause and trying to go brain dead at the plate (for lack of a better way of putting it) may be just what the doctor ordered.  if he's like most players (who have parents visiting HSBBW), taking a week off won't be nearly enough to set him back at all.  One week - for kids who have played ball for what seems like 350 days a year since age 4 - is nothing.  For most, distance makes the heart grow fonder.  For all you know, "grounding" him from baseball for a week might give him a moment to miss the game in a way he hasn't in a while.  That new excitement may just be the spark that "accidentally" produces that stand up triple.  And those triples have a way of blowing some air back into sails.

Pete Rose said when he was in a slump he'd move up in the box.  If that didn't work he'd move back in the box.  If that didn't work he'd move off the plate.  If that didn't work he'd move up on the plate.  Interesting approach...

Dave Winfield said that when he was hitting really well and feeling great at the plate he would take a video camera into the cage and film his swing and then talk about what he was doing and what he was thinking/feeling at the plate.  Then when he got into a funk he would take out the tape and watch it. This seems very smart to me.

I can't see how taking a week off from hitting would be conducive to improving. Maybe couple of days but not a full week. One thing I'd do right away is check his set up/positioning fundamentals from the ground up: Feet, Knees, Hips, Shoulders, Arms, Hands......make sure this is solid fundamentally.

Then work on the dry swing in isolated pieces x50 times. Shift only....then Shift/Load only.....then full Shift/Load/Swing...then 50 swings off the tee (moving the tee around and up/down)..then 50 live swings

then Rinse & Repeat....

Last edited by fly996
@Francis7 posted:

Monster Slump.

Coach says: "Make an adjustment."

Player's decision: Not touch a bat for a week and then "Not think about anything the next time I hit in a game. Just see the ball and hit it. Don't think about anything."

Good or bad approach?

Very bad approach in season.  In the off-season, sure, take a week off.

The “don’t think” approach in game is correct.  The not touch a bat all week is at best indicative of a kid who is not mentally ready for the next level, and at worst is a kid who will get injured.

I am not a fan of taking a week off.  In fact, one of the quotes my players must memorize is, "Take one day off and you know it.  Take two days off and your opponent knows it.  Take three days off and everyone knows it." 

I had a serious golf tournament today.  I could not golf for three years due to a hip and then hip replacement.  Last year, at the end of summer, I was allowed to start again.  I didn't get many opportunities to play after being given the go-ahead to golf again.   The last two weeks, I started preparing for the tournament.  I played horribly with the exception of one round.  HORRIBLE.  Then, when I reached the height of frustration and anger, the quote, "Physician heal thyself" hit me.  I shot a 72 today or one over.  To give you an example of what I was shooting, last week's best round was a 81 and then in the high 80s.  Again, I don't believe in taking days off.  I played in the rain, ... and today, I healed thyself. 

In his book "The Way of Baseball" Shawn Green describes what turned around his career.  it was hitting off a tee so frequently that he no longer had to think about his swing.  He'd do it before games and describes getting into a zen-like state.

When my son was younger and in a slump I tried to give him a reason to believe that the next game would be different...using a different bat, a slight adjustment...anything to make it seem like a fresh start.  These days if he has a rough day he goes back to watch video of successful at bats in the past (like someone above mentioned about Winfield).

He won’t answer that.

First, he’ll wait to see if the feedback is positive, then it’s his son.  Not positive feedback?  Somebody else’s kid, most definitely

Dude.  Seriously?

Yes. It's my kid.

Positive or negative feedback...I am listening to them all, for self-education. And that only. It's interesting to hear everyone's opinion on it.

At the end of the day, my kid's decision is his decision on how to address it...as it should be in this case. He's 17, not ten. He doesn't need his father to tell him how or what he should be doing...he's the player, it's his game and not mine.

Now, I will say this...if what he decides is against popular opinion or conventional wisdom, and it's "the wrong answer" (etc.) what's going to happen? NOTHING because it can't get any worse. (Yes, the slump is that extreme.)

So, let him try it. And, if it fails, then he will have to reevaluate and come up with another plan.

For what it's worth, his travel coach recommended it. And, I'm not worried about rust. He's literally been practicing and playing almost everyday since April (between HS and travel).

Taking off 4 or 6 days in a row isn't going to make his muscle memory forget what he's been doing for the last 10 weeks. It's not like taking off a month or a year. You could sprain your ankle and have to sit for a week. This is no different.

Anyway...his problem and his right to pick a way to try and fix it. He's the player. It's his game. I was just making conversation out of curiosity here. Read nothing more into it.

For my son, who is starting to come out of a major slump, it was all in his form, thankfully a buddy of mine is an amazing coach and is helping him out of it.  Wasn’t driving his elbow to the ball, wasn’t extending… he was hitting during the slump, but 90% of the time it was a ground ball to the ss or 3b.  If not that, then pop ups.

Last edited by Dadof3

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