Drills to correct a hitch?

How old is he?

He's 8 and on a 9U team in kid pitch. Which is one reason why I'd like to fix it if we can since it's so early. For the most part, he's willing to work in it.

I wouldn't bother throwing him off-speed stuff at all except that every pitcher he faces will throw different velocities anyway. A few of the ace pitchers will have a change-up though.

It's hard to tell what's going on here. It sounds like a coil issue.

Coil:
- does he coil as he strides? (he should)
- does he stride for every pitch? Not just strikes. (he should)
- do his hands end up at his shoulder at toe touch? (they should)
- is his back elbow even with his shoulder at toe touch? (it should be)

Have him practice his coil.

Do not eliminate his normal stride.

Fence drill may help, and one handed tee work.

quote:

Originally posted by SultanofSwat:
It's hard to tell what's going on here. It sounds like a coil issue.

Coil:
- does he coil as he strides? (he should)
- does he stride for every pitch? Not just strikes. (he should)
- do his hands end up at his shoulder at toe touch? (they should)
- is his back elbow even with his shoulder at toe touch? (it should be)

Have him practice his coil.

Do not eliminate his normal stride.

- does he coil as he strides?
he could do it better than he does

- does he stride for every pitch? Not just strikes.
Yes

- do his hands end up at his shoulder at toe touch? sometimes

- is his back elbow even with his shoulder at toe touch? (it should be)
I will have to look at this more. I don't recall.

We went to the cage today and got some tee work in and soft toss. I thought he did better today. The good thing is that I don't remember him doing this last year so maybe the bad habit isn't too developed yet. Not that he was perfect last year by any stretch but I don't remember this hitch.



Thanks for the advice.

He's 8? Play a lot of catch and make sure he has plenty of Nerf darts for his Nerf gun.

Then check in a couple of years and see how he's hitting.

What has helped about 50% of the guys I've worked with that have some hitch problems is to let them hitch but do it the right way. I've had luck with the guys making a real small, tight circle motion with their hands (I call it drawing circles with the knob of the bat)... then just make sure your last motion is the bat going back and up, to initiate your swing.

quote:

For example, when I throw BP, I'll try to gas one by him and he cranks it with little to no hitch or the timing is on with the hitch (again, my untrained eye might be limiting me here).

However, I can throw an off-speed pitch and he loads early -- realizes all the timing is off and then it looks like he loads it up again. As you can expect, these typically do not result in much contact.

Does he really see a lot of off-speed pitches at this age? At this stage of the game I would have him work on recognizing strikes and balls consistently. I can't imagine an 8 year old throwing an off speed for strikes. If he can jump on a good fastball (which it sounds like he can) jump on it. Learn to recognize an off-speed by taking it, then once you recognize it, you can learn to adjust. And yes, make sure the Nerf gun is loaded so you can have as much fun as possible!

quote:

Originally posted by hsballcoach:

quote:

For example, when I throw BP, I'll try to gas one by him and he cranks it with little to no hitch or the timing is on with the hitch (again, my untrained eye might be limiting me here).

However, I can throw an off-speed pitch and he loads early -- realizes all the timing is off and then it looks like he loads it up again. As you can expect, these typically do not result in much contact.

Does he really see a lot of off-speed pitches at this age? At this stage of the game I would have him work on recognizing strikes and balls consistently. I can't imagine an 8 year old throwing an off speed for strikes. If he can jump on a good fastball (which it sounds like he can) jump on it. Learn to recognize an off-speed by taking it, then once you recognize it, you can learn to adjust. And yes, make sure the Nerf gun is loaded so you can have as much fun as possible!

LOL. We must have 4 different kinds of those nerf guns!

He doesn't see a lot of off-speed but he will see it from time to time. Most of his team is 9 (a few 10)year olds and that is what most of the competition will be as well. There are a few, albeit limited, that will throw a change up.

Off-speed / change up may have been a bad choice of words. He will definitely see varying speeds from pitcher to pitcher as some have stronger arms than others. It will be much more rare to see varying speeds from pitch to pitch.

Either way, I think he may be moving his head up and down on the slower the slower pitches -- thus he drops the hands and resets which looks like a hitch.

I am trying to get him to get a good stance, get loaded and be ready.

Thanks

Playwitheffort,

My son did the same thing for a long time. We started working with the Epstein Rotational hitting stuff, and he has beginners resting the bat along the shoulder and swinging from that point. Epstein says that is point good hitters should swing from from wherever they start with their hands, so you may as well start from there.

I think TRfox has some videos with his son hitting from that position.

quote:

Originally posted by PlayWithEffort:
I am trying to get him to get a good stance, get loaded and be ready.

I'm not really sure what you are saying here.

His swing should progress as: stance, then coil back as he strides forward, then swing. The coil phase is likely when he is having trouble (as with most kids). I would not eliminate the coil/stride.

quote:

do his hands end up at his shoulder at toe touch? sometimes

This should be your focus. You don't need drills, hitting aids, lessons, or anything like that to fix this. He can practice his coil move at home.

People have said a lot of things. There are three major things that a developing child needs. Good strike technique, strong hands, and an understanding of the sweet spot. I am going to point you to a video of a guy in Corpus Christi, who has a 9U team that beat won a world series in Dallas a year ago in the 10 U division.

They train with Stacked Handle baseball bats. He talks about all of the reasons that his kids benefit from them. A young child can get a great deal out of the bats just from training with norman drills.

One of the coolest things about them is that they allow your kid to swing a much heavier bat. The handle is tapered and utilizes a larger percentage of the hand's natural strength. Therefore, a child can swing a drop zero (0) or even heavier with the same effect of swinging a lighter bat.

His team spanked the competition, because they company is new, and very few people know about the extent of the benefits yet. If your son gets one he'll be ahead of the game.

Stacked Handle even makes bats with sweet spot emphasis that will help drive the concept of variable quality strikes. If your child can managage the sweet spot on a wooden bat that is heavy, he'll have no problems when he down up to BBC0R type bats.


here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...rBbk&feature=related

quote:

Originally posted by ToppCatt22:
People have said a lot of things. There are three major things that a developing child needs. Good strike technique, strong hands, and an understanding of the sweet spot. I am going to point you to a video of a guy in Corpus Christi, who has a 9U team that beat won a world series in Dallas a year ago in the 10 U division.

They train with Stacked Handle baseball bats. He talks about all of the reasons that his kids benefit from them. A young child can get a great deal out of the bats just from training with norman drills.

One of the coolest things about them is that they allow your kid to swing a much heavier bat. The handle is tapered and utilizes a larger percentage of the hand's natural strength. Therefore, a child can swing a drop zero (0) or even heavier with the same effect of swinging a lighter bat.

His team spanked the competition, because they company is new, and very few people know about the extent of the benefits yet. If your son gets one he'll be ahead of the game.

Stacked Handle even makes bats with sweet spot emphasis that will help drive the concept of variable quality strikes. If your child can managage the sweet spot on a wooden bat that is heavy, he'll have no problems when he down up to BBC0R type bats.


here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...rBbk&feature=related

Note to moderators:

Unless TopCatt has received permission, the post above appears to violate this site's advertising policy, as the poster, Carl Young, is apparently the inventor/owner/marketer of the device he's recommending.

At the bottom of his page is a link to HIS website: http://www.stackedhandle.com

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IMO, dropping the hands and picking them back up is not a problem unless he doesn't get them in the proper position at launch. Williams, Gehrig, and quite a few others hitched.

At this age, I wouldn't teach a stride. Maybe just a 2 - 4 inch step, enough to get the front foot to open up slightly to help start the coil.

Too long of stride with young kids can get them off balance on off speed pitches and mess up their timing. This may be where your son's hitch is coming from. IF he is striding too far, try a no stride for awhile and see if he can adjust to off speed pitches better. JMO

Just wondering....If you be the ball, would you not get hit with the bat?

Shoot those NERF darts in the strike zone for him to try to hit with the bat. No time for a hitch there!

Here is a quote from Dmac that might (I doubt) clear things up;

"You fellows have kind of lost me. For me, the bat quickness helped by the hands (arms) comes from the running start. The running start comes from tipping the bat and then letting it rip with the hands without stopping to set the bat.........just going from the time the bat reaches it's farthest point in the tip. Here are some clips starting with Ruth and working the way up to the guys of today like Bonds, Guerrero, Soriano and the young teenager Robert Stock.

"When they tip it forward, they go from there.....they don't start, and then set their hands and then have to start again. Much like the running start I have yapped about with maddux for years

"What he is doing is getting more batspeed with less effort.......a running start. It does not need to be explained to a kid at all......just tell him to get his hands away from the body a little, point the bat at the sky, tip it towards the pitcher and then let it rip. If he asks why, you respond by telling him he will hit the ball a lot farther. When he does, there won't be any need to talk about pronation or whatever. If he can't do it, then there won't be any need to talk about pronation or whatever, because it won't matter.

"About 99% of all guys in the big leaguers were not taught the swing. They just found it along the way through emulation, feel or just blind luck. The clip of Williams is great, because he was 48 years old when it was shot and he is ripping the ball and laughing. He is also tipping the bat and then letting it rip. He is also the best hitter who ever walked and had dozens of instructors telling people that he was just a freak and that you should not copy him. They say the same thing about Bonds today, and the only guy who was smart enough to copy him was Robert Stocks dad, and it is paying off. He copies Bond's running start and the kid can hit balls a long way. Everyone else does not copy it because they think it is too hard to do. Mr Oh hit 868 dingers,was 5' 10, weighed 165 and nobody paid attention to his swing in the USA either.

"Last year in September, I saw the Mariners play a 6 game home series and every day I was there early to watch BP. Outside of Richie Sexon who is 6'9", Ichiro hits the ball farther than anyone on that club. He bangs ball after ball off the restaurant in right field which is about 410 ft away. In BP he tips the bat and lets it rip. He is 5'9" and about 160 lbs. In games he does not do it, because with his 3.6 speed, he was taught at a young age to take advantage of it.

"If your kids can run like Ichiro, then they can be dead hands slap hitters, but if they can't, then they better hit like Molitor, Olerud or Brett or better yet, learn to tip it and rip it and they may hit enough home runs and doubles to make their High School coach really like them.

"If you are built like Frank Thomas, you don't need to tip it either. Ted Williams once said that if he could work with Thomas that Frank would hit 80 home runs every year. It never happened.

"Timing it for a good athlete is not hard, what has happened is that nobody has taught it to anybody. What is really hard is setting your bat behind your shoulder, go from a dead start and then expect rotation to bring the bat around and magically hit the ball. That has been taught to many kids.......good luck"
__________________
"Tip it and rip it" - In Memory of Dmac


found this in my saved clippings..this is a gem of advice..do this and the kid wont hitch..PROMISE