Hitting.

Does he have a High School hitting Coach telling him to do something different than he does in the Summer with his mechanics? Other than that, I would have to see clips to see if it is a mechanical problem.

Let me guess that he went from seeing higher velocity pitchers in the summer who were probably in the high 80's / low 90's range and now he's facing high school kids are in the high 70's / low 80's? Does he have a lot of monster foul balls pulled, pop ups on the infield or elevator shaft flyballs to the OF?

If most or all of that is true then it's not mechanical at all. He's having trouble adjusting from the high end speeds to the lower end speeds. It's more of a timing / waiting problem than anything mechanical. He needs to be more disciplined and let the ball travel deeper before he swings. Get in his head this is a great time to really work on opposite field hitting with power.

I could be wrong and there is something mechanical but I'm willing to bet it's a timing issue.

In have found that the good hitters with regard to high velocity pitchers have trouble adjusting to the low velocity arms

Why has Tim Wakefield with his knuckleball and 80 MPH fastball lasted so long?

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Sodium benzoate?




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quote:

Son, senior, seems to be able to hit better against better pitching. He always seems to struggle in HS hitting in a very average league.

I hear what you are saying cuz it could be me saying it about my son! I too have tried to intellectualize it and keep coming up with conflicting reasons. Since he was a Mustang player (age 9) he has always hit the hardest throwers but often struggles with "soft-tossers" and hasn't had the "Record Setting" seasons I expected in High School. Only to then explode in the Summer heat, against better pitching, with wood bats. Having said that, he has 8 homers (20 games) and is hitting near .400 ...... but I expected more.

I've concluded this about our situation. It's isn't mechanical. It is more mental and circumstantial. He prefers hot weather and wood bats. He's more relaxed playing Summer Travel than playing School ball. His Summer coaches are more experienced, seem to promote strengths and build confidence better than his H.S. Staff. They are better skill evaluators, expect more but are more professional and positive in their coaching techniques. They have no personal, school, parental or political agendas. He responds very well to that enviornment.

I will say" how can you not time up a 80mph BP fast ball?" And he will say "Dad, I just can't mentally get into those guys." Furthermore, the H.S. coaches are more critical and far more regimented in their coaching techniques. They don't allow for any personal deviation from what they believe should occur mechanically or fundamentally. The Pro Coach approach is often entirely different.

He can hit a 95mph fastball and respond to their off-speed without being off-balance and that you can't teach. He did get recruited for his bat and I can tell you baseball_fever Dad that the College coaches didn't see or care what he did during the H.S. Season. Perhaps your son, like mine, will just heat up with the weather and unconciously raise his level of play against better competition?

This is very common from my experience. The best hitters I coached in HS always had the bad days against the bad teams. Why? Well the bad teams are throwing guys with mid to upper 70's fastballs and even slower off speed stuff. In these same games the guys that K on a regular basis against the quality arms have great days at the plate. It kind of goes like this. Your getting ready to play a team with a good hard thrower on the other team. The really good hitters are chomping at the bit to get some. The other guys are saying "Man he sure throws hard." And then on then flip side your getting ready to play a team with a weak arm on the hill and the better hitters are saying "Oh s*it I am going to have to wait all day." And the other guys are chomping at the bit.

It is simply a timing issue where good hitters with a nice swing and good bat speed struggle "playing down." My approach has been "dont look to pull this guy because you will way out in front. Look to take everything backside off this guy." I would not be too concerned about this. I would be concerned if he was blown away by the good pitchers. But I certainly wouldnt be too concerned with his struggles against far inferior pitchers. I have had several hitters hit for a higher average in college than hs. And I knew they would.

He did better today. Waited back and got some oppo field hits. His dad took some video too to show him his swing. Thanks for the advice!

After hitting against mostly college prospect pitchers last summer my son said a majority of high school pitchers look like batting practice this year. Just like BP he waits and drives the ball. He goes with the pitch instead of getting caught up trying to jerk pitches because the pitcher is easy to hit. The one time he tried to hit a homer he flied (skied) out trying to pull an outside pitch.

My son is going through the same thing! He is a freshman this year and played with 18 year olds all summer long and did great. He is hitting in the 4 slot on the freshman team(no one moves up)and never k'd during the first half of the season and hit triples and doubles w/a few homeruns.They were undefeated,but are now seeing these teams the second and third time around and not getting anything close to middle.And yes,these pitchers are throwing in the 70's low 80's and son is struggling to not hit high fly's to center(they just play back now) ,and shots fouled to left field.He is an aggressive hitter and he seemes to want to pull his head more(we have confirmed why now) and has more k's(4). He was begining to question himself.But I had him read these blogs...Whew--Thanks guys!!!This came just in time.

Guys no offense and no disrespect intended but this is a problem that needs to be fixed. You can't just sit there and say "well when we face a guy throwing hard he'll be ok". You got to make an adjustment and be patient. Like Coach May said - take these guys and look the other way. Develop some plate discipline that won't lead to bad habits when you do face a real pitcher.

Here is where kids go wrong and I'm seeing more and more of it and to be honest it's a slightly selfish attitude. When good hitters see a guy throwing a lower velocity for some odd reason they start thinking it's like BP. It's going to cruise in there, they can drop the backside a little more to get more elevation and hit homeruns. Well guess what - that guy on the mound may not be very good but he's going to try his hardest to get you out. He is not going to lay it in there because he's not very good or throws it very hard. He's going to compete and he's going to try and pitch to get you out. If the good hitter doesn't make that adjustment to hit backside linedrives then that inferior pitcher just won that individual match up.

The hardest thing in baseball is for a good hitter to sit back and wait on a slow fastball. Well at some point you better discipline yourself to do it or you are going to have a miserable day and hit a lot of eleveator shaft "homeruns".

You are given 21 outs in a high school game. That game will not end until all 21 outs have been made. Why in the world give the other team outs on weak pitching because you don't make an adjustment.

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:
Let me guess that he went from seeing higher velocity pitchers in the summer who were probably in the high 80's / low 90's range and now he's facing high school kids are in the high 70's / low 80's? Does he have a lot of monster foul balls pulled, pop ups on the infield or elevator shaft flyballs to the OF?

If most or all of that is true then it's not mechanical at all. He's having trouble adjusting from the high end speeds to the lower end speeds. It's more of a timing / waiting problem than anything mechanical. He needs to be more disciplined and let the ball travel deeper before he swings. Get in his head this is a great time to really work on opposite field hitting with power.

I could be wrong and there is something mechanical but I'm willing to bet it's a timing issue.

I wish I would have posted this earlier for my son, thanks for starting this thread baseball fever! Great advice on this topic thus far (and good points coach2709), as I know many kids that are in the same boat! My kid has hit a few HR's this season, but he has gone down swinging about 25% of the time and has hit probably five or six Long foul ball dingers (lack of timing?)! I'm always relieved when I see that the opposing team has someone on the bump that throws hard, because I know my son will have a much better chance of getting something to handle. With him, it seems to be a trust issue with his hands? He doesn't realize that he can afford to wait much longer for the ball to get deep, therefore the majority of his hits are to LF. I'm going to have to pull him aside and have him read some of these responses, Good Stuff! On the other hand, he's hitting well right now, so I don't want to mess with him yet!

Yep that is where Pop up got his reputation.

I've heard the same thing over the years from our son about guys throwing too slow to hit and its more than timing issue with him generally. With our son it was more like what coach said you see weak pitcher and selfishly think its a stat day. The hitter must stay inside the baseball to hit and must be more disciplined to do this when seeing slower pitching because they tend to Muscle up and Roll out. If you can stay square to the ball and weight back it makes no difference how slow the pitch is thrown.Good swings at good pitches get good results.

Question:

When you hit a easy fly ball did you let the ball
too far into the strike zone or did you hit the ball in front of the plate?

When you hit soft ground ball, did you hit in front of the plate or let the ball too far into the zone?

The batter's box is your "classroom" use it.
Sinker ball or soft thrower move up. Hard thrower
then move back [maybe to the backstop].

If you want a longer look at the ball move off the plate. If you need to go opposite field, remove the LF [right handed hitters] or RF *left handed hitters]from your mind. The foul line is then left center or right center field.

Adjust and adjust to survive.

Bob Williams

Bob why would you move up or back in Batters Box? I would want to see the pitch for as long as possible and not give the pitcher the advantage of moving him closer to hitter. If the sinker ball pitcher is throwing balls you have to be in front of box to hit they are not strikes. I agree hitters need to adjust but mentally not physically where they stand.

If you have a "sinker" ball pitcher, if you do not move up, you hit on the top of the ball [double play grounders].

A sinker ball pitcher breaking ball will usually be a slider. A rising ball pitcher's [Nolan Ryan] breaking ball is a "hard" curve.
You move back, way back.

If you need a longer look, move off the plate [Ted Williams]. Watch the pitcher for patterns and "tipping" his pitches. Study, study and learn.

Once the SF Giants [Willie Mays era] determine that Sandy Koufax was tipping his pitches, however they still could not hit Sandy. He was "one of a kind".

Bob

A professional hitter hits from the same location
in the box, and adjusts with his hands.

I wonder what history would have written
if Koufax, after going 8–13 in 1960, and quitting
baseball over the winter, moved on from the game?

And yes, Koufax dominated in 1961-1964 in his
shortened yet 12 year pitching career.
Unbelievable numbers.

Its very possible he just isnt as focused. I know a boatload of hitters who, when they face a guy whose supposed to be a major leaguer someday, they are focused and locked in. Then other days, when they are facing an average guy, they may say they are focused, but mentally are not. What I would do it tell him to try to work on something. Perhaps, hitting the ball to the middle of the field (MOF). or look to hit 3 hard line drives. or even I would say to a kid, don't stress so much, but if you are going to hit a ball hard today, do it with a runner in scoring position (RISP). I have noticed much more focus at these times, which produces a domino effect. Good luck

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Welcome to the HSBBW Blue Collar Baseball!




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I'm curious? What do you guys think about the idea, when facing a slower pitcher, about rolling your front shoulder in a bit more than usual, something like when you recognize off speed, then hammering the ball?

quote:

Originally posted by Harv:
I'm curious? What do you guys think about the idea, when facing a slower pitcher, about rolling your front shoulder in a bit more than usual, something like when you recognize off speed, then hammering the ball?

I totally understand what you mean and it makes perfect sense, I myself wouldnt have my guys do it because I don't want them having to change things. Stay consistent and good things will happen.