hitting fast pitching

Against fast pitching, move back in the box and start a little sooner. Throw BP at differing speeds. Have a few pitches at a moderate speed, a few at a slower speed, and then throw a few at a higher speed.

Hitting with two strikes is one of the most
difficult things in baseball. In fact, I would say it is the most difficult thing. Have them move their front foot a little closer to the plate while moving the back foot a little farther away. Stride toward the plate. Hit the inside pitch to center, down the middle to center, and hit the outside pitch to the opposite field. Do not try to pull the ball

I understand we are talking youth baseball here, however I do not agree with the idea of determining where a hitter stands in the box, based on the type of pitching faced.

I am of the mind that a hitter should find his place in the box and stay there. Once his "home" has been identified he will gain a greater understanding of pitch location and identifying which pitches he is able to drive with authority.

Further, I believe that a hitter should position himself as far back in the box as comfortable, allowing a hitter a few more fractions of a second to make a decision on a pitch.

When facing slower pitching a hitter just needs to learn to wait on the ball, not move forward in the box.

Moving around in the box gives the batter no point of reference to "read" pitches from. No consistent vantage point or approach. It is hard to develop a repeatable swing without a solid reference of where your feet are, which is a hitter's foundation.

Other than that I believe I fully agree with Low Finish...other than I prefer a high finnish.

Moving back in the box creates a much wider strike zone for the young players. They already have a wide zone due to the young pitchers ability. Moving a hitter back will now require them to have to really extend out over the plate to reach that pitch that just caught the corner. Atleast with the pitches moving away from the batter.

Imo, keep them relatively centered with the plate and throw hard BP before the games. When my son was 10 we had a couple really fast pitchers and our coach would match the speed as best he could in the cage before the game and we would do fairly well against them. If you have some that just can't catch up, you may want to give them a few they can handle. Don't destroy them before they step up to the plate.

Keep practice BP a little more about developing their swing and confidence.

quote:

but we've struggled with the guys throwing heat. I've usually tried to throw BP easy enough for the boys to work on their swing and build confidence

You've answered your own question. If you don't have them practice "at a higher game speed" then certainly they will struggle in those situations.

I wouldn't "mix" speeds during a round but would throw harder (or shorten distance and reaction time) in progressive rounds. When my son, and his teammates were that age, I always liked the last round to be from a short 20' distance, with me sitting on the bucket throwing darts. You have to over load at some point.

We do that now with my college boy by cranking up the Jugs machine to about 90mph from 45', using a 35" fungo bat and tennis balls. It's our favorite way to end a hitting session after we've done the real work earlier.

floridafan, I like your approach. However, there are certain pitchers where I think a hitter is best served to adjust his position in the box. This is advanced stuff but soft breaking ballers, knuckleballers, guys that habitually work away etc. Why not make them uncomfortable and take those pitches early in their break or take away that outer half ...??

quote:

Originally posted by danocaster:
For 10/11 year olds:

We got killed by a fast pitcher last game. We are going into the final games of the season and we will be facing more of the same. It has happened earlier in the season too, maybe not every time, but we've struggled with the guys throwing heat. I've usually tried to throw BP easy enough for the boys to work on their swing and build confidence...but maybe that's the problem. Any advice?

Also, any advice on 2 strike hitting with age group? ..I have tried to stress not trying to kill the ball and just make contact with 2 strikes, but it doesn't seem to register with them.

We are trying to hang on and make a playoff run. Gotta get the bats going.
Thanks for the help.

At this age you are facing strenght issues, where the boys have not fully developed and cannot get the bat around quickly. What you can do in BP is have an easy round but round two pick up the velocity. Also, off the tee and front toss have them swing a heavier bat.

As far as two strikes, choke up and put the ball in play.

Lefty...

Some good points here. One thing I've noticed...just in my experience? Sometimes kids (old and young) try to "muscle up" on a faster pitcher. They KNOW they have to swing a bit earlier, but they sometimes translate that as HARDER. You need to make the point to these kids that the harder a pitcher throws (Especially on the smaller field) the further it travels off the bat.

Get really close with a L-Screen. Throw quick pitches to them. First have them not even swing, just track the pitch to the catcher's glove. Then just have them stick the bat out, almost like a bunt. Then have them take an early, EASY swing. They will be surprised many times by how far the ball will travel.

Swing sooner. Duh.

quote:

Originally posted by Sdlefty:
At this age you are facing strenght issues, where the boys have not fully developed and cannot get the bat around quickly. What you can do in BP is have an easy round but round two pick up the velocity. Also, off the tee and front toss have them swing a heavier bat.

As far as two strikes, choke up and put the ball in play.

Lefty...

Oh my. The path to doom.

Timing has nothing to do with strength.

Using a heavy bat will screw up your timing.

Choking up will give the pitcher 2-3 more inches off the end of your bat.

JMO, but I've been wrong before.

quote:

Originally posted by SultanofSwat:

quote:

Originally posted by Sdlefty:
At this age you are facing strenght issues, where the boys have not fully developed and cannot get the bat around quickly. What you can do in BP is have an easy round but round two pick up the velocity. Also, off the tee and front toss have them swing a heavier bat.

As far as two strikes, choke up and put the ball in play.

Lefty...

Oh my. The path to doom.

Timing has nothing to do with strength.

Using a heavy bat will screw up your timing.

Choking up will give the pitcher 2-3 more inches off the end of your bat.

JMO, but I've been wrong before.

Just my opinion. If it does not work for you fine. I have found that swinging a heavy bat is good for your hands and arms. We still swing off a tee with a weighted bat, 8-10 swings. As far as choking up, this has been done for years at every level. 2-3 inches should not be a problem...

quote:

Just my opinion. If it does not work for you fine. I have found that swinging a heavy bat is good for your hands and arms. We still swing off a tee with a weighted bat, 8-10 swings. As far as choking up, this has been done for years at every level. 2-3 inches should not be a problem...

Swinging a heavier bat reinforces using the total body. I don't like choking up, except when there are two strikes (mainly because I change my placement in the box as I have described)

floridafan- the old timers finished low and had considerably better statistics than today's hitters (except Pujols). IMO, the low finish (below shoulders) allows the hitter to hit the high pitch better. I emulated Ted Williams and Stan Musial (even though I'm pretty young).

Agree with Prime9, gotta have BP with more speed. Coincidentally I was talking to the high school coach of a kid who is now a Freshman at Major D1 school. The kid is leadoff batter, knocking the cover off the ball. I asked Coach how the kid made the transition to D1 so quickly and he said that besides being an outstanding athlete, he credits bp with college pitchers throwing 95 mph fastballs.

Thank you all for your helpful advice. We dont have an L Screen, so we reserved the commercial batting cage the night before the game. It's the machines where you can see the ball drop, so that helped a bit for timing it. We started them off in the slower cages, and moved them to the faster ones later.

The result: Good. The team hit the ball well. I didn't see too many problems catching up to it....well maybe a bit from the less experienced kids. I think it also gave them an overall impression of being more aggressive with the swing (having a quick bat) and gave them some confidence going into the game.

BTW- Another piece of advice that I received was to tell the hitter to make sure he gets his front heel down quicker. (I used to say make sure to get the heel down in time) I think the word quicker made more sense to them. My son hit the ball hard all 3 times- line drive out to RF, hard grounder up the middle, and a double down the left field line that rolled all the way back. We scored 3 runs in the last inning for a come from behind win.

Now....another challenge is that we had 5 strike outs looking last night. I agree with, and teach the approach of "if you can reach it, hit it", but we still have guys taking the 3rd strike. Any suggestions or new ideas?

Thanks again for the great advice.

You could use whiffle balls in the cages before the games as well if no cage is available. There also may be a comfort level developed with them as well and get those bats going on the 3rd strike.