Hitting coach, how many sessions

2 or 3 should just about do it

There is no hard and fast rule.  If the kid really likes to hit, he will be swinging the bat a lot, tee work, cages, etc.

What is his grade (age)?

9th grade. Hoping to make his school's 6A JV team. 

I'm going to tell you what my son has done since 8th grade. He works with his hitting coach once a week for an hour from mid November until the end of February. During that time he makes any swing adjustments that have to be made and they go over various pitch types, spins, location, etc.  Towards the end they start ramping things up towards live pitching and game situations.   Every off season he picks up additional knowledge for the upcoming year. 

For the remainder of the year, with the exception of maybe one time at the beginning of the summer when my son will discuss what he's learned during the spring and any adjustments that need to be made, he's on his own. Any swing adjustments that may need to be made during that time are by him according to his feel and video feedback. I always video his swing towards the end of the winter so he has something to compare it to during the remainder of the year. 

I'm not implying that this is for everyone. It's worked for him. His instructor played in the Royals system for a few years and does keep in touch (to learn the current methods) with guys like Kevin Long and others. So he's on top of what he's teaching. 

I have had all kinds of hitting clients.  I don't sell sessions but most hitting instructors do.  You might want to check up on that.  I have had hitters that want to hit every week and those that want to hit every other week.  I had one young man that hit with me for a very long time but he would call and see if there was a time we could meet.  He never had a standard routine for when he hit. 

If you don't have an instructor yet, when you hear of potential instructors, ask them if you can sit in on a lesson that they give someone else.  Often that will show you whether you agree with what they teach.  Don't assume everyone teaches the same and don't assume that because they have some impressive playing resume that they know what they are doing. 

My son's lesson "focus" is pitching, so he goes close to once a week during ramp up to spring and then into the spring season.  Maybe 20 lessons a year.  His org doesn't throw "bull pens", that's something they do on their own.  So at minimum, it's an expensive bull pen.

He's also one of the better hitters on his travel team.  With school, practice, other sports, he takes 2-3 hitting lessons a year after school ends, and before a "florida PG" type travel tournament.  He usually drives the ball pretty good, and picks up something from the 2-3 lessons, and it's usually mental, pitch recognition, aggressiveness in using the lower half, etc.

CoachB25 posted:

Often that will show you whether you agree with what they teach.  Don't assume everyone teaches the same and don't assume that because they have some impressive playing resume that they know what they are doing. 

This is very important. We didn't just sign up for lifetime lessons with my son's hitting coach from the beginning. My son tested him out for awhile in the beginning. 

And there's no doubt that a coaches credentials do not mean that they can teach or that they know what they are teaching. It's trial and error. 

Also, over the years he's worked with a different guy here and there for a one time shot. Mostly to reinforce to my son that what he's being taught is correct. 

They have to learn to become their own coach with the assistance of the guy doing the teaching. 

I'm going to refer to a current thread "Barry's Back".  MLB hitters have full time instructors.  Hitting evolves for every player.  Hitters also each tend to have a few bad habits that they fall back into, often unique to each.  New movements and habits tend to creep in.  There are so many moving parts and sequences involved with hitting.  For some, it all comes pretty naturally, even as they move up to face better and better pitching.  For most, at some point, adjustments must be made.  Also, a huge part of successful hitting is proper mental approach - this is an aspect, in itself, that requires a lot of work.

So, what I'm saying with all of this is that good hitters are constantly working at their craft and good guidance is essential, particularly coming into the HS years.   A hitter must also be aware that there are some different mechanical approaches and that each type of hitter will want instruction tailored to his skill set.  So, finding an instructor that is a good match is important. 

So, how many lessons?   Well, having said that hitting is constant work, I would never recommend breaking the bank with private instruction.  If possible, go with some regularity initially and take detailed notes immediately after each lesson.  Take some video.  Identify the two, three or four key take-aways.  This is one instance where it can be good for a dad to be around (without obstruction) to help gather and identify critical information.  Then the player can go out and work on these things on his own.  Hopefully, there is decent coaching at the HS that can help reinforce some of these things.  But, even with the best HS coaching, they are splitting their time among a large group and not focused just on hitting so expect the attention and instruction to be far less.

I work with any player from our HS program who wants additional work (at no charge, in case anyone thinks I am touting paid instructors too much) on weekends and after hours.  I have players who I have worked with regularly for several years and there is always something that can be improved, fixed, reminded, progressed.  Some of our players who have gone on to play at college have learned to identify teammates to pair up with and go to the cage and help each other.  Good free instruction. It can be done without spending the farm but it takes a good plan, a lot of effort and creativity.

9th grader prepping for the first HS season... If possible, go maybe 2-4 times a month (check for package or monthly programs) for a few months and then start weaning it down.  The important workload comes after the instruction.  This is where you make or break.

Great suggestions above from Coach B25, NYdad and Cabbage. i like the idea of sitting in on a few sessions with different instructors before committing (Coach B25), testing a coach - sampling (NYDad), and the notetaking and progression laid out by Cabbage.

Son's hitting coach was recommended by HS coach (a couple of guys went to) even though it was a distance from us.  Son started with coach in 7th or 8th grade.  (usually a 4 session package). Lessons were usually prior to season or one in season if something needed correcting. 2015's coach was invaluable at helping son master a 2-strike approach, hit to RF and quick bat.  We would watch the instruction he given to others at different ages. Each was suitable to hitter. As it turned out he would be voted top hitting coach in state by a HS association. 

Here's another suggestion- talk to some of coach's clients and better yet watch them hit.  We did. We could tell one coach had a cookie-cutter approach ...one style fits all.. (step on the "bug", flyaway swing).  He preached this approach because, as he told me"every ground ball to the infield is an out."  He truly didn't know my son. 

Be careful. Hitting coaches, like psychiatrists believe there is always room to stay and grow. 

Isn't there, RJM? 

Take cost out of the equation.  If you could get free massage, how often would you go?  If you are trying to get in shape, how often are you going to work out?  What happens if you stop?  If you like golf and you could get free lessons from a pro, how often would you?  Would you continue indefinitely?  I would.  If you are trying to be a musician and your favorite artist made themselves available to advise you and collaborate whenever you wanted, how often would you get together with them?

When I'm passionate about something and trying to master it, I'll take qualified instruction every opportunity I can.  If there is something I can do that will make me better at something I care about, I'll do it on a regular basis.

Putting cost back into the equation, yes, this usually affects our decisions on these things.  But we don't stop because there is no more room to grow.

RJM posted:

Be careful. Hitting coaches, like psychiatrists believe there is always room to stay and grow. 

The goal of any good hitting coach is to coach themselves out of a client.  As I have stated many times, I coached my daughter to never need me when she went off to college.  That means a hitting lesson is a continuing dialogue that requires the hitter know why they are doing what they do in a lesson.  In my work with my daughter, I made sure she knew what her swing should look like on video.  Then, we gave her a "fall back swing" or a swing without all the bells and whistles like tipping and ripping so that she could take her swing back to basic and rebuild.  Now, she has turned into a pretty good hitting coach and it is so fun to watch her work with hitters. 

In perpetuity. 

My son works with his from October - end of February. An hour a week. May see him for an adjustment occasionally during the season. Been doing this since 7th grade. Also spends some time every other day during the off season hitting off the tee into the net in the garage. Uses a couple space heaters to keep the garage warm in the winter

cabbagedad posted:

Isn't there, RJM? 

Take cost out of the equation.  If you could get free massage, how often would you go?  If you are trying to get in shape, how often are you going to work out?  What happens if you stop?  If you like golf and you could get free lessons from a pro, how often would you?  Would you continue indefinitely?  I would.  If you are trying to be a musician and your favorite artist made themselves available to advise you and collaborate whenever you wanted, how often would you get together with them?

When I'm passionate about something and trying to master it, I'll take qualified instruction every opportunity I can.  If there is something I can do that will make me better at something I care about, I'll do it on a regular basis.

Putting cost back into the equation, yes, this usually affects our decisions on these things.  But we don't stop because there is no more room to grow.

Money is part of the equation. I saw a lot of parents throw away a lot of money. In plenty of situations being struck by lightning wouldn't have turned the kid into a hitter.

On the talent side I've seen kids get screwed up with information overload with too much instruction. On more than one occasion I've been told the key to success in the minors is not listening to all the hitting instruction thrown at the player yet not letting the person being ignored recognize it. A friend told me his son was given three distinctly different solutions to a situation by three instructors over two weeks. He ignored it all and hacked his way out of his slump. 

At the high school level a kid could be getting it from his high school coach, an assistant, his dad and a travel coach. Once my son's high school coach found out he was getting instruction from a certain instructor he backed away. It wasn't respect. He hated the coach. I think he was looking for my son to fail so he could criticize the guy. It didn't happen.

My son still calls the instructor the best hitting coach he's ever had. Then he says, "Sorry dad." The big difference was the level of patience they had for each other. By the end of freshman year I realized my son was tuning me out. The situation was like a coach losing his team.

RJM wrote " On more than one occasion I've been told the key to success in the minors is not listening to all the hitting instruction thrown at the player yet not letting the person being ignored recognize it." -

I think most kids learn this from their dad coaching them by about 11 years old.  And on more than just hitting.