Hitting to the opposite field

There are situations in games where certain things are needed and perhaps trying for a home run there was not a good thing in that situation

Each situation for a batter stands on its own and then also each coach plays the game differently from another

maybe when the coach told him to hit the ball to right field it was a outside pitch. You never want to pull a outside pitch, you always want to hit the ball where it is pitched.

Your son will hear many things from many coaches, and he needs to just keep working on his swing and keep improving every day. At 13, there is a very good chance that what comes out of his coach's mouth is just nervous energy saying the first thing that pops into his head. There are two white lines on the field.......everything between them is a good spot to hit the ball. Relax and let your kid rip away.

quote:

There are two white lines on the field.......everything between them is a good spot to hit the ball.

I like that

When your 13 and a good strong kid with power you will have alot of success just pulling the ball and mashing. As you get older and the pitching gets better you will have to learn to hit the ball to all fields to be a successfull hitter. For instance if you get up there and we throw one inside and you turn on it with power we are not going to give you another strike on the inner half. You are going to have to prove to us that you can hit it the other way because we are going to work the outside corner and off the plate. As the pitching gets better the controll is better and the velocity is much better. Their offspeed pitches are better and they are not just trying to get the ball over the plate. Sometimes young kids that have alot of success are unwilling to change their approach as they get older. This can lead to alot of failure as they get older. Learn to hit the ball where it is pitched. You will have alot more success.

Zubin, it seems baseball is the only sport where as a hitter you can achieve the ultimate, a homerun, and then have some person make you feel you have to apologize for hitting it.

Here’s a link to an article on what you described.

http://batspeed.com/tf11.html

I always question the ability and knowledge of a coach who yells at a kid during an at-bat. In fact, the best coaches don't ever have to yell at kids.

One of my sons plays for a coach that 99% of the time is mis-directing the other team when something comes out of his mouth. All of his real communications with the batter and runners is non-verbal.

Just remember, baseball IS a situational game, and so no matter how consistent your son is at hitting via swinging away, that is not always the best situational choice. The ability to bunt is very valuable, as is the ability to go opposite field with an outside pitch.

But regardless, a 13 year old player is a work in progress, so if it were me, rather than a yelled instruction, I might have a time out with him and just tell him if the pitcher screws up and pitches one on the outside half of the plate, line drive it into the opposite field if you can.

Zubin,

One piece of non-expert advice for your son.

Wherever you hit it - hit it hard and run like the devil.

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One piece of non-expert advice for your son.

Wherever you hit it - hit it hard and run like the devil.

or, as I heard Chipper Jones once say, "Swing hard and hope you hit the ball!"

It is pretty typical for a youth coach to try to get a hitter to simply try to hit a line drive after they hit a home run simply because the hitter is likely to go up "swinging for the fences" their next at bat.

The key is that the hitter should take their normal approach to hitting on the next at bat and not try to do anything more, and also not try to do anything less.

This coach probably saw a big swing indicative of trying to do too much and tried to get your son to do too little hoping that the result would be somewhere in between. Your son listened too well.

So what's the moral of the story? Don't worry about it. Your son will figure it out and he'll learn to tune out the comments from the coaches that won't help.

Nothing is going to stop youth coaches and on up from trying to fix things from the coach's box and the kids will learn how to filter it out. 13yo's can be particularly good at not listening to coaches.

All of us mess the kids up one time or another. Last game I saw the pitcher tipping off his change. I signaled my son when a change was coming and he ripped a shot. I told the next batter that I'd tell him when a change was coming. Only problem was with my son on base the pitcher was throwing from a stretch and I couldn't see his grip anymore. I didn't realize it until there were two strikes and the next hitter took a change right down the middle because I hadn't signaled it.

I've been thinking about starting a thread about the danger of the "big" swing, this is as good a place as any to pipe up.
I've seen it for years: a young player develops a swing that starts w a y back there, comes w a y around, building up steam, and by the time it reaches the strike zone it's a monster. Early on, that swing will bring gratifying results. The ball goes a long way when you build up that much momentum before contact.
The problem is that by the time the player is seeing better pitching, he's toast. There's no way that swing can be adjusted for an off-speed pitch, and he's gonna see nothing but curveballs as soon as the opposing teams figure him out. Even a slight change in velocity and your gonna see a popup or a weak ground ball.
That's the big problem. The little problem is that the at-bat after a homerun is usually a popup, because the kid is trying to swing too hard, pulls off, dips down, and gets under the ball.
So your son's coach may have been trying to fight either or both of those problems. 13 is not too early to start.

Your son, out of necessity, will probably have to make a conserted effort to learn to hit to the opposite field. My son, was also a strong pull hitter until he entered high school. Then the opposing pitchers would avoid at all costs pitching him over the plate or even inside. He had to learn to hit the outside pitch...and obviously the best place to hit that is to the opposite field...he opened his stance and this year hit all his homeruns to right field/right center....and a lot of times he just had to have patience and because of this .... he walked at least two times a game....Your little power hitter will more than likely learn to hit to the opposite field with great success and when the opposing pitchers make a mistake...he will take them yard in the opposite direction.

A hitter should swing with the same intent and effort on every swing......This should not be messed with......Teach 'em how to hit, then let 'em do it......

I agree with BlueDog that you should swing with the same effort everytime you swing. Its when you swing that changes. This is what young kids that have had a ton of success have to learn to do. As they get older the pitchers get better as well. Alot of times the hitters do not. They get bigger and stronger but not better in some cases. What works at 13 will not work at 18. Learning how to wait back on the ball , let it get deeper and hitting the ball to all fields is crucial in the development of a hitter. Im not saying that the coach was trying to teach this in this scenario. I personally do not think you should say anything to a kid once he steps into the box. Let him hit. Do the coaching in practice not at the game. JMO

sometimes grounding out to second base could be bad but in other circumstances it is a highly important role in getting the baserunner in scoring position for a run to help the team.


And also how big is your son?- im curious

MAny good replies...including Coach May and CaDad

If you play in a league or HS division for long they will have a chart on you. If your a dead pull hitter as they say you won't get a good pitch to hit often...especially if your a good pull hitter.

Situational hitting with men on base requires a selfless approach at the plate and at times a "chop to 2B to score the runner at third" is considered great work with the bat.

Now put it all together...your a pull hitter and the man is on 3b. they pitch you away and you know its coming. Now getting the ball on the ground oppo is easy and gives the team a sure run and you an RBI.

Lastly, continually pulling the ball can ingrain a release point and swing mechanic that will eventually lessen your value going forward. Most players can pull it but few have gap to gap power.

True situation Thurs night ALL Star game 18 U Dixie Boys. Man at 2nd and 3rd and my son gets pitched low and away. He was looking for THAT pitch as he knew the guy would never leave a FB over the plate so it WOULD be in or out and he guessed out. He roped a line drive just right of 2b and scored both runs.

If you cannot hit oppo then they will NEVER give you your favorite middle/in pitch.

Over the past winter my kids hitting instructor (ex-minor leaguer) said sometimes at BP in the minors you had to hit the first 3 pitches the other way. If you didn't you never saw pitch number 4.

My son is a perfect example of what we are talking about here. Ever since he started playing he could pull anyone. It didnt matter how hard they could throw he would pull it and mash. He hit a ton of HR in AAU and just waited for a pitch down the heart or inside. Sooner or later he would get one and then boom. As he got older he started seeing a ton of pitches on the outside and offspeed offspeed offspeed almost always away. This year as a Freshman he started behind the plate for us. It seemed like every first ab he would get something inside to test the "young guy" and he would crush it either foul or for a bomb. That was the last good pitch he got the rest of the game. Everything else was away away away. He went through some struggles but it was for the best because the only way to learn that you need to change your approach is to have what your doing not work like you want it to. By the end of the season he was hitting the ball rcf and rf with power. He still pulled it of course but he became a much more complete hitter. Now when he takes bp he asks for balls on the outter half so he can work on it. He used to want everything down the middle and inside. Now he wants to use the whole field because he knows that he has to , to be sucessfull. Start them as early as possible. Teach them to use the whole field. Even if he doesnt face pitchers that are able to locate teach him to hit against ones that can. Because sooner or later he will face pitchers that will locate and change speeds effectively. No one will care who the best 13 year old hitter was when he is in HS. Be the best 18 year old hitter. Thats when it counts. I believe strongly in kids learning to use the whole field. If they challenge you inside turn on it and mash the hell out of it. And if they throw you a fb on the outter half mash it in rcf gap. Now big boy what you got for me today. Dont let sucess at an early age be fools gold. It could be that the kid is just big and strong for his age and the pitching is just right for him. The kid that is fundementally strong might just be an average hitter because physically he is not as strong. But as these two kids grow up the kid that fundementally strong will have much more success than the big strong kid relying on his physical gifts at an early age. When the pitchers are as big and strong and much smarter he will get destroyed. The other kid will be the hitter. JMO

"I personally do not think you should say anything to a kid once he steps into the box. Let him hit."

I really wish more Coaches would adopt this philosophy.......

Coach May...frame that and glue it to every LL players wall in front of the toilet so he reads it each day....your dead on.

And BlueDog...you are right..when the popcorn starts cooking you better be done teaching mechanics.

I talked to two seniors headed out for a ALL STAR SEMI a while ago. We worked on posture( spine angle), lead shoulder down and in and looking for a ball down and away. We talked about staying with the low pitch and driving it. I don't expect either to get more than one great pitch in 4 at bats each... Coach May is right on...you have to learn to hit marginal pitch locations hard

I know lots of young players who can mash the ball to their pull side. Especially the athletic kids. On my son's 14u team there are at least 5 dead pull hitters. They hit some impressive shots, and they hit lots of really impressive foul balls.

But they aren't good hitters. They miss curve balls by 8 inches. They tap off speed pitches with the end of their bat to the pitcher or to third, and they pop out a lot.

What is frustrating is that we cannot seem to change their habits. It's almost as if the DNA says this guy is a lunge/front foot/cast the bat hitter and no matter how much we try to teach them to stay back and rotate, they don't do it.

Maybe we are just lousy coaches.

".....and they hit lots of really impressive foul balls."

I'm sure you agree, but, I've never seen an impressive foul ball.....Just a strike to me.....And, a missed opportunity to hit a pitch.....

"Maybe we are just lousy coaches."

Rob, I can tell you from experience strictly with teaching hitting that some kids just don't have the intent to do better.....Some are simply afraid to succeed.....They are content with hitting long, land in the stands strikes.....Or, taking a pitcher deep in the count with foul balls, then striking out....But, hey, many Coaches tell them good at-bat after these catastrophy at-bats....So, they think they're doing O.K....When you tell them they can do so much better, it's like you're the wicked witch of the West.....Good luck, anyway.....

When they have enough failure : First pitch long foul ball down the left field line strike one. Second pitch fast ball on the outside pulled it to the ss for a 6-3. ETC ETC ETC. When they have enough failure and they end up sitting on the bench or being DH for what will they do? They will either learn to hit. Or they will learn to sit the bench. Or they will learn to play another sport. Failure can do one of two things. #1 Teach you to listen and learn and work harder. #2 Teach you to find something else to do with your time.

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Originally posted by nohitter617:
sometimes grounding out to second base could be bad but in other circumstances it is a highly important role in getting the baserunner in scoring position for a run to help the team.


And also how big is your son?- im curious

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice. I have decided that the coach has the right idea, but I still don't think that in the middle of an at bat is the time to be giving advice. It happens a lot, this just sounded kinda dumb.
(He is 6'1" and weighs 155.)

BlueDog:
I sure do agree. I was using the word "impressive" with toungue in cheek.

Someof the moms and dads ooh and ahh when the kid pulls ball after ball long foul. I cringe, knowing that the other coach, if he has any sense, will be bringing an off speed pitch that will make the batter look foolish. Strike three.

As an opposing coach I like seeing a batter that pulls to long foul balls, he is a batter that is down in the count 0 and 2 and I can take advantage of this and get a quick out. I stress to my hitters they need to use the whole field.

While I agree in principle with much of what is being said here, I have to wonder if you folks see much better pitching than we see here in Illinois. No pitcher below the professional level (except for that occasional pitcher having a career day) consistently hits the outside corner at will. They all make mistakes. Frankly, I think this is true of all but the very best professional pitchers as well, and even they have off days. Mistakes will happen. To a hitter with good plate discipline, those mistakes will either be fat pitches to hit hard or walks.

You all are giving the pitchers too much credit. And don't throw out the old adage about getting a hit one out of three times is success. That's garbage from the hitting point of view. Success is a quality at bat regardless of the final result. Good hitters have quality at bats at least half the time if not more often. The fact that batting averages are low just reinforces that hitting is a nine against one situation. Hitters routinely beat pitchers; they just don't beat the other eight fielders too.

Finally, as long as I've started, I do agree with learning to hit the opposite way. The problem that I see is that very few coaches know how to teach it. Most are satisfied if a player pushes his hands at the ball and flicks a little hit to the opposite field. Once again too much concentration on a result as opposed to the process. Once those hitters get in the bad habit of pushing their hands at the ball, even the formerly good pull hitters are in a lot of trouble. If a coach would teach taking a full swing regardless of where you are hitting the ball (and some here have said that very thing) then players would be better off.

There are players in the ML that still learning how to hit to the opposite field, so if a player can start to learn how to do it, at early age the better. The problem is that coaches in LL, even in HS, lot of college coaches, don't know how to teach hitting.
To get a hitting instructor is the best way, if affordable. Some kids learn by them self or borned with the natural ability to do it, but the best teacher is time (experience). If you watch veteran players, most of them hit the ball opposite field to perfection.

Quality drill for teaching to hit to all fields:

1. get 3 cones
2. space the cones apart say 6-8 feet. These cones should simulate left, center and right fields.
3. Get a home plate and use electrical tape to mark lines from the front corner to the Middle of the plate on a diagonal line. (This is the point where the plate starts to angle back to a point.)
4. Get a protective screen and place that screen as close to the left field cone for a right handed hitter and the right field cone for a left handed hitter.
5. Speak to the batter about "letting the ball get to them. YOU DO NOT WANT THEM TO CHANGE THEIR SWING. THEY WILL CHANGE WHERE THE CONTACT POINT IS AND DRIVE THE BALL AT ONE OF THE CONES.
6. Now feed the balls along the taped line on a straight toss while avoiding an arc.
7. Now do a progression. The batter hits the ball over the cones for Left, center, right...

We have had a lot of success with this drill although it is very hard for the hitter to do at first.

My one drawback to this drill is that I typically want all of our drills to have the ball coming straight at the hitter from the perspective of a pitcher. We have to have the feeder offset for this drill. STILL IT IS A VERY GOOD DRILL. JMHO!