Jumping Out of Box

Boy, I wonder if the beaning and wild approach is going to help your son, from the impression I have of "jumping out of the box."

Has anyone worked with him with tennis balls and learning to turn away, starting with the head, to avoid being hit?

For many 10 year olds in little league, 12 year old velocity challenges them. In our area we had one veteran and successful coach who would not let a 9-10 swing the bat. They only bunted to get used to the velocity and overcome the fear.

  It can be scary. Sometimes it is okay to appreciate that. The more they feel confident about being able to stand in the box, turn away correctly for pitches inside or breaking balls at them, they sometimes can get that bit of confidence they need.

Since our son at 9 years old was the smallest in his little league major division and was hitting off guys over 6' tall (taller on the mound) I have pretty strong feelings that coaching them with tennis balls and them learning to protect themselves by properly moving the body on balls coming their direction is a better approach than beaning or feeding them more wild pitching when they have not been taught how to respond with their head/upper body and the rest of the body.

Just the views of one very old guy, though.

Thank you sir,  I agree my post might have called for some to call child services,  His coach is so good at BP that there is never a chance of getting hit, he can put it anywhere on cue. His Dad however can't seem to throw to anyone under 5'  His Mom doesn't purposely hit him but is wildly effective.  He has been coached well in terms of turning away correctly but you are right - a consistent refresher would help and I like the tennis ball idea. I couldn't agree more that it is ok to be scared; just looking at some of these kids throw is impressive and putting myself in a hitters mind at that age would have me in a fit as well.

Going to scrounge up some fuzzy little balls...thanks!

This is great advice. My kid works with  younger players and softball players who are afraid to get hit. It entails learning how to respond to getting hit, how to protect face, chest, etc. In other words how to prperly turn n into the ball.  Part of the lesson includes the player beaning him with the ball.

So the very old guy above gave you great info!  Find someone other than yourself or mom to work with him and gain his trust.

When my then 10YO moved from WP to live arm, the first day of practice we (re-)taught them how to turn and take the hit on the muscle/fat and not on the bony parts. We then had them step into the box and get plunked a few times to learn that it's not that bad. My son still laughs at that drill but he admits it was effective. I will say to a man, not one of our kids is scared of a pitcher.

One thing we do is have a couple of the soft tee balls mixed in with our bucket of balls.  Whenever I got one of those balls I would try and brush them or sometimes hit them with it.  I would always joke with them after and say I am trying to get my first hit.  They have fun with it now.  They don't know if it is a hard ball or a soft one but it teaches them what to do.  When most u9 go to live pitching I think they are all afraid of getting hit.  Then they get hit and they realize it only hurts for a short period of time.  Now, I should qualify what I am saying by admitting I am not a coach nor do I play one on TV

IMO, it can be scarier for an inexperienced kid to try to bunt a fast pitch than swinging the bat.

I won't say impossible but very hard for a kid to get over fear of the ball.  A coach friend if mine says "once you are afraid of the ball this game is over for you".  Like I said not sure I want to go that far but you do have to accept that baseball may not be his game.  Nobody wants to get hit but I don't agree with a previous poster that all kids are afraid to get hit.

A number of people always ask me if my younger son ( 3 years younger) plays baseball like his older brother. I usually reply, "no, he retired from baseball when the kids (not the coaches) were able to pitch, many of whom were wild. I didn't mind as long as he was doing something AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER. He's a chess kid involved in campus ministry who also played frosh soccer this year.  To each his own. 

I have said there are three cuts in baseball:

 

1) Afraid of ball - Age 8-10

2) Curve Ball Age - 12-13

3) Talent - Age 13+

 

I never made it past #1 after having a line drive blast my nose pitching BP in the school yard when I was 9.  Bled for three hours and had sinus problems for 25 years until getting multiple surgeries to get it fixed.  Tried to man up in Jr. High and Freshman year but man that bucket was gigantic and I kept stepping in it. 

 

Beer league softball provided many evenings of enjoyment though.