Hitting lessons, how often?

Yikes, I would go broke on that schedule.  Lessons are $85/hour where I am at (Wisconsin).  I did once every 3 weeks from January-April when they were having practice and then as needed for tweaks during the season (late April-end of July).  We are off from August-November for practices.  

Hang an old blanket in the basement and get a T and some balls.  He can take what he learned from his lessons and work on his own, so he can own his swing.  Maybe go back every once in a while for some re-enforcement.

IMHO, too many lessons results in a swing, or delivery, that ends up being too mechanical or over-thought.

DAD of 3;

"teach your son to teach himself". The full length mirror is the best teacher. You receive visualization which is valuable to consistent hitting.

Years ago they research the best golf players. They studied the "brain activity" as the golfer "hit off" the tee. Because the golfers had practiced the swing, there was "NO" brain activity.

Bob

Twice a week during the off season.  Never during the season.  He had practice 6 days a week in season, he needed the day of rest on the 7th.  

In addition to the lessons he would setup a net in the garage and hit off a t, or have me soft toss to him the other days of the week.   During the winter he would fire up the heater about an hour before he headed out there.

I agree with the comments suggesting increases to the self-practice:instruction ratio.

Players need an opportunity practice hitting the ball HARD, a lot, on their own. Whether it's a soft toss machine, a tee, or a home-made set up in the basement or garage, a player who practices hitting the ball hard will naturally improve his swing to the point that occasional visits to a professional instructor will give him useful ideas for improving his ongoing individual practice.

In general, I'm not convinced that young players who haven't performed an action (either throwing or hitting) many, many times and who haven't yet shown the initiative to take lots and lots of reps on their own will get their parents' money's worth out of professional instruction. It's a lot to ask of an instructor to build a swing or pitching motion from scratch or to be the crutch that keeps the player from having to figure out things for himself.

So my answer to the question of how often a player should see a hitting instructor would depend on how much the player is swinging the bat on his own. 

You need to put what you learn into practice and do it over and over again until it’s a habit.  I agree with Swamp in that lots of self-practice is critical but the balance is to take reasonable measures to assure you are practicing good habits/mechanics instead of bad.  So, after regular initial sets of lessons, occasional refreshers and check-ins with instructor along with taking good notes are key.  And as Bob says, using mirror or having someone video can make for a good check system.   

All the lessons and regularity in the world will only produce very limited results if the player doesn't then put in a ton of work on his own.   Generally, frequency will also depend on the hitter and how many things he needs to work through.  Personally, I think an occasional in-season tune-up is fine as needed.  

With all of this said, there has to be a reasonable perspective.  Even MLB players have hitting instructors and work on things regularly.  It can be very easy to get carried away and reason that a kid can benefit from tons of regular instruction.  Keep the game fun.  Keep the game a game.

The adjustment to BBCOR and the first time on the big field is significant.

in my opinion, in order to become a great hitter you need to work on hitting 5-6 days a week for about 8 months a year.  Anything less than that and you are just kidding yourself about advancing to the next level.   And if you don't LOVE working on hitting like that you are kidding yourself about advancing to the next level.  And I mean really working at it, fine tuning your mechanics step by step, making adjustments, fixing your weaknesses.

Now all of this is just my opinion.  If you have a kid like that, by all means get lessons.  If you don't it is a waste of time, unless you are independently wealthy and can afford hitting lessons 5-6 days a week!!!!

For us, every other week works during the offseason.  We would continue that in season, too, but my kid's instructor isn't available that frequently in season.

To the original poster:  I would advise investing time in strength & speed training, it can make a big difference in adjusting to BBCOR & the 60/90 field.  Good luck!

My son had his first paid hitting lessons when he was fifteen. It was then I realized he had talent worth paying for instructions. I paid an instructor to teach him what I had been telling him for a year.

It was also when he had his first pitching and speed lessons. It was time to invest in the product. There were a couple of flaws I couldn’t convince him to work on eliminating. Fifteen was after he grew from 5’4” to 5’11”.

I didn't do it nearly enough for my older son.

My mature 14yo goes about 15 times a year to a GREAT hitting instructor. This guy gets right to the heart of things. The worst thing you can have, IMO, is a bunch of mediocre instruction from has beens and never wases( I include myself in the last group. I could pitch a bit, and play D...that's it). 

That way lies madness. You can practice all you want, but if you are practicing the wrong thing, the results are going to be disappointing. 

  I do agree that if a kid doesn't like to hit, then you're fighting a losing battle.

cabbagedad posted:

You need to put what you learn into practice and do it over and over again until it’s a habit.  I agree with Swamp in that lots of self-practice is critical but the balance is to take reasonable measures to assure you are practicing good habits/mechanics instead of bad.  So, after regular initial sets of lessons, occasional refreshers and check-ins with instructor along with good notes are key.  And as Bob says, using mirror or having someone video can make for a good check system.   

All the lessons and regularity in the world will only produce very limited results if the player doesn't then put in a ton of work on his own.   Generally, frequency will also depend on the hitter and how many things he needs to work through.  Personally, I think an occasional in-season tune-up is fine as needed.  

With all of this said, there has to be a reasonable perspective.  Even MLB players have hitting instructors and work on things regularly.  It can be very easy to get carried away and reason that a kid can benefit from tons of regular instruction.  Keep the game fun.  Keep the game a game.

I would like to add a few things that Cabbagedad & 3and2fastball so elegantly stated.  This is a little different spin based on my observation with son and others.  I agree in taking time off from baseball to unwind and rest the body and mind.  This includes practices, games, lessons, hitting, etc.  Son took weekly lessons from 9 years old until he left for college.  Yes it got expensive, lessons were 30 minutes so that helped.  His instructor taught him how to become a student of the game, to understand it, to understand how others may think, and how to execute.  This is in addition to mechanics of hitting and live hitting.  When son was a little under the weather or sore from practice/game, the time was spent in the "classroom" (always my choice to cancel a lesson).  This is in addition to practicing in front of a mirror, on his own...his "homework".  Muscle memory is one of things needed to become a good hitter.  It is easy to slightly change your swing path, stance, distance from plate, where an untrained eye may not detect it.  Keep practicing it over and over again and that slight variation now becomes comfortable, with sometimes unfavorable results.  Equally important is if your son will accept and buy into the lesson program, takes much commitment.  Today if you watch my son in the on deck circle he goes through the same  ultra-slow motion, swing path, weight transfer, etc as he learned when he was 9.  Nothing wrong with what was stated previously, this is just another version where in my son's case it seems to have produced results.  Take home lesson is practice good habits through muscle memory and become a student of the game.  Good luck!

Thanks for the input.   I take son out hitting quite often.  He stated to me he would like to take lessons and hit year around because he wants to become more consistent (hitting hr's and hard line drives) at the plate.  I advised him that this is a big commitment and asked him if he is sure he wants to do it and he said yes. I think we will take football season off, so one or two months then get back into it.  Lessons here are only 1/2 hour so that does help.  I have gotten many compliments on how well he is doing so I am excited he is looking to get even better. He has one of the best instructors around that is truly interested in seeing son get better, which also helps with the decision making.

What a coach once told my kids ... and this has held true for all sports... "Practice does not make perfect ... Perfect practice makes perfect."   You can practice incorrect form / techniques and ingrain bad habits that will take even longer to correct and will make the player frustrated.  "I practice all the time, why am I not improving?"...  There is no magic formula.  For some it may be once a week, others once a month, still others - only when something is off.  Some learn by doing, others by listening, others by watching.  Each has to find the right balance and what works for them ... then if they are lucky find an instructor that matches their learning style, personality, availability and budget.

Consultant posted:

DAD of 3;

"teach your son to teach himself". The full length mirror is the best teacher. You receive visualization which is valuable to consistent hitting.

Years ago they research the best golf players. They studied the "brain activity" as the golfer "hit off" the tee. Because the golfers had practiced the swing, there was "NO" brain activity.

Bob

I was a golf course superintendent for almost 30 years and I can attest to the validity of this statement. Most golfers show no brain activity. 

And I agree with what was said about the competence of the instructor. "Putting in the work" if done incorrectly, is just going to make correcting those flaws all that much harder. 

How important is it to everyone that the instructor records the swing and analyzes it?

NewUmpire posted:

What a coach once told my kids ... and this has held true for all sports... "Practice does not make perfect ... Perfect practice makes perfect."   You can practice incorrect form / techniques and ingrain bad habits that will take even longer to correct and will make the player frustrated.  "I practice all the time, why am I not improving?"...  There is no magic formula.  For some it may be once a week, others once a month, still others - only when something is off.  Some learn by doing, others by listening, others by watching.  Each has to find the right balance and what works for them ... then if they are lucky find an instructor that matches their learning style, personality, availability and budget.

No one here has suggested not taking hitting lessons. The question is how often, and the answer is highly dependent on individual circumstances.

I've never cared much for the "Perfect practice makes perfect" adage because a) baseball isn't a game of perfect, b) making moves perfectly can get in the way of making them in a hard/fun/athletic manner, and c) there's no logical place to begin practice if you can only practice things you can do perfectly. 

As an umpire, I see a lot of highly coached players unwilling or unable to cut loose and swing hard at the baseball in real games. They'll foul off pitches with tentative swings, step out of the box to execute a careful video-perfect slo-mo practice swing, only to step back in and make another less-than-full-effort swing at a hittable pitch.

From their comments, I know some coaches are frustrated by the same thing. 

I suspect in many cases the problem is too low of a self-practice: instruction ratio.

So my reaction to the OP's question is that the frequency of lessons should be dependent on the frequency and intensity of the player's self-motivated individual practice. Is he swinging the bat on his own enough to teach his body to lock in his instructor's adjustments at full speed between lessons? 

Swampboy posted:

NewUmpire posted:

What a coach once told my kids ... and this has held true for all sports... "Practice does not make perfect ... Perfect practice makes perfect."   You can practice incorrect form / techniques and ingrain bad habits that will take even longer to correct and will make the player frustrated.  "I practice all the time, why am I not improving?"...  There is no magic formula.  For some it may be once a week, others once a month, still others - only when something is off.  Some learn by doing, others by listening, others by watching.  Each has to find the right balance and what works for them ... then if they are lucky find an instructor that matches their learning style, personality, availability and budget.

No one here has suggested not taking hitting lessons. The question is how often, and the answer is highly dependent on individual circumstances.

I've never cared much for the "Perfect practice makes perfect" adage because a) baseball isn't a game of perfect, b) making moves perfectly can get in the way of making them in a hard/fun/athletic manner, and c) there's no logical place to begin practice if you can only practice things you can do perfectly. 

As an umpire, I see a lot of highly coached players unwilling or unable to cut loose and swing hard at the baseball in real games. They'll foul off pitches with tentative swings, step out of the box to execute a careful video-perfect slo-mo practice swing, only to step back in and make another less-than-full-effort swing at a hittable pitch.

I see this as a perfect example of a good instructor vs bad. A good instructor isn't going to try to teach a kid a "perfect swing" because there is no such thing. The best hitting coach the kid has had was a guy coaching in the MiLB. He was teaching at a hole in the wall facility outside of a large city with much, much better to offer. When I asked him why here he said "because this is the only place I found that didn't want me to teach based on a program. There is no one right way to swing, but there are 4 or 5 things that have to happen in a swing for it to be successful". 

So, on one hand, a kid could sit there for hours trying to make a swing his that doesn't fit him. On the other you could have a kid swinging on his own for hours, not getting the "four or five" things right. Both are wasting their time. 

Somebaseball dad, we found the same instructor.  He left a well known place to go out on his own because he was tired of being told to train the cookie cutter way versus the way he saw best to suit each person.  This instructor teaches some of the top kids in the area, most importantly he loves the game and looks make each of his students better.  So much so, I often went to him for advice on how to handle certain situations.  I can't speak high enough of him.

I give hitting lessons.  For me, I need to have a schedule and so have to know when players are going to be there.  I hate sitting and waiting for those players who don't show up.  Thank goodness I don't have to do that much now or at all.  Still, it is up to the player to text me telling me that the aren't going to be there.  They all have a time slot.

I want players to come to me as much as they think that they need to come to me.  Right now, that seems to be every week.  I charge a whopping $15 per half hour but most of the time, to be honest, it goes longer as I finish one group of 2 and the other is getting started.  I have two cages available and so, one typically has a machine that I don't use much.  Players can rotate over to that cage after their lesson and hit some more.  This summer, I had 22 students and they came either on a Tuesday or Thursday.  

One key to lessons is that it is not one size fits all.  I have certain drills all do to warm up.  From there, I have certain drills I have identified to help each hitter.  We always wrap up with front toss.  

Finally, I really prefer for the parents to be there.  I want them to ask questions.  I have a running dialogue going each session with the hitters.  My goal is to coach myself out of a job.  Some of my hitters are having monster national tournaments.  One sent me a text after hitting a grand slam and about 10 minutes later, another sent me a text that they hit a 3 run home run.  One mentioned that they owe it to me.  NOPE!  Work ethic and sometimes tear, blood and heartache are what makes players good.  

2022NYC posted:

How important is it to everyone that the instructor records the swing and analyzes it?

 

IMO it should be mandatory.