Sons hitting slump

Hello my son is a 15 year old playing on his high school team and his coach wants him to bunt all of the time because of his speed this has resulted in my sons confidence and batting average dropping together. Practice is the only thing that can get your son out of his slump and once HS is over get a batting coach to work on his game with him over the off season. Kids have a mental image of themselves as ball players and if they lose that they can lose confidence.

I've had the same problem with coaches wanting me to bunt all the time. This year my coach wants me to bunt almost every at bat. There are a few ways that have worked for me to break a slump, the most important being a change of attitude at the plate. Tell your son to go up there and just hit it. Don't think about the swing mechanics, don't think about anything else. Just hit the ball. Some batting practice with dad or a friend can do the trick as well, where the player feels more calm than in a game setting. I'm 18 and I still do it :-).

Hope that helps.

quote:

Originally posted by bballmom36:
My son is a 10th grader and playing on his high school varsity baseball team. He is in a batting slump that he just cant get out of.HE started @ the
start of the season batting 3rd. He was 2 for 14 then the coach benched him. He said if your not hitting your not playing, So since then the coach let him get up 4 times, if that a week for the past 2 weeks. Whenever he goes up I think he is so tight up there hes just not hitting the ball. mostly pop ups. He is getting frustrated , He plays babe ruth also and hit 2 home runs and a double last week, But on the high school team he has lost all confidence up @ bat. Any suggestions anyone?Thanks

Can you video tape him and post it on here? Many Freshmen and Sophomores just don't have the wrist strength to get through the ball. Have him do exercises to strengthen his top wrist and forearm. Better pitching will also cause batting slumps and pop-ups. Once a slump starts in High School, it lasts longer because there are fewer mediocre pitchers to get your confidence back on. Tension is the killer in this situation. Just before he gets in the box, have him grip the bat as hard as he can for about 5 seconds, release and take a big deep breath and let it out. Then he can get in the box ready to hit.

Thank You for your help. He is starting to get back into the swing of it . He has to just remember to relax more up @ bat. Thanks Again

It's never too late to talk about the mental game of baseball with your son. Although there may be some fine tuning that a good hitting instructor might help with, there is some research that the mental part of hitting is important. A really good book that helped my son "The Mental Keys to Hitting" by HA Dorfman gave him strategies for getting up to the plate in all kinds of situations. The book is on Amazon for about 12 bucks. My son is not the type who would read a book on baseball (he'd rather play) but he picked up a few tips from the book. We put it in the bathroom (the best place to study!!). Good luck..

While each situation is different and if we are not there it is difficult to give the proper advice.....but keep these things in mind....

Bunting can help you get out of a slump.......Practicing Sac Bunting forces you to see the ball hit the bat, if done properly

Younger kids slump due to two things in my opinion....not seeing the ball and trying to pull everything.......

Keep in mind that SAC Bunting in a game can HELP your Batting AVG.....Remember you do not get charged with an at bat......

Remember when bunting for a hit.....Keep it simple and BUNT FIRST THEN RUN.....commmon mistake will be trying to bunt while running out of the box.....Also remember that if you have reputation for bunting, the defense must honor it (play in/take bunt away) which in turn takes away their range and HELPS you as a hitter....can help your avg..

My main point is that Bunting is not a bad thing.....it can help you get out of a slump and can help your avg, so don't get discouraged when asked to SAC Bunt or Bunt for a hit (drag/push).....