My son has always been a very, very good hitter and went into a huge slump. Pop ups to 1st, week ground balls, etc. Every one was telling him he had a “mental” problem. He is pushing, too aggressive, not aggressive enough, etc.
He has done tee-work and cages to the point his hands were bleeding. He constantly told me his swing didn’t feel right but I was buying in on the theory of mental problems others have told me so I just kept working with him and trying to boost his ego.
From the perception of “mental” problems my son has inherited my wife’s attribute of she shows her emotion on her face. What others don’t realize is they both shake it off,,,,,,,,,,,I’m going to get both of them acting lessons! Funny aside: My son was about 11 or so and pitching and having a rare day where he just couldn’t throw a strike. At one point the coach screams at him throw a strike and my son looks at him with a look of what do you think I’m trying to do – yes I corrected this behavior but it is still one of the many funny stories we talk about at the dinner table.
Anyway, I finally brought him to his hitting instructor who he hasn’t seen in about three years who immediately saw what he was doing wrong. I might not describe this right but his stance and hip turn were perfect but his front shoulder was way in front of his hands. He told us this is a common problem for hitters and was compounded by my son being a bit to coiled and wrapping his bat. As you all can probably tell I’m not an expert but I do know my son. He told my son just to practice the front hand one arm swing as a first step in warm ups ….. keep it simple at first.
I asked my son about 75% though the lesson if he wanted to come back…..his answer was absolutely YES. He finally found someone who understood. I should mention my son knows hitting techniques and is a student of the game. Any other times he struggled I just worked with him until he figured out what he was doing wrong.
I write this for two purposes – I want you to pray that he gets a hit or 2 tomorrow (LOL) and to offer my advice to others if things don’t seem right ------- find a pro. There may be some high schools that have time for individual hitting instruction but I think they are probably in the minority – get a pro if you need to……..yes, the budget hurts big time but somehow we seem to make it.
I know it will take time to re-train muscle memory but hopefully I have good news after the next couple of weeks but either way you should have seen him nailing line drives again and his confidence level soar.
PS: Based on another post, I had my sons eyes checked and turns out he was wearing the wrong strength of contacts as well
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