Teaching a 9 year old how to hit

I think the main thing at 9 is to make it fun. Take him to local park and throw and hit. He may have wonderful hand eye coordination and it will come to him fast or it may not. Also, sign him up for little league if you have not already.

Good luck and have fun!

Lefty...

As Lefty said above, it's got to be fun. I have a nine year old as well who has played s****r for four years and even with all my background in baseball and hitting instruction he has never really wanted to play. This was fine with us, but this past winter he said he wanted to learn how to hit.

I'm now taking him into the back yard and we're playing whiffle ball games (made up our own rules). Now, I'll come home from work and he'll be waiting in the back yard for the next game. I'm introducing some hitting concepts while we play. He's now receptive to it because he can see the results in action, and it's fun because it helps him beat me.

So yes, make it fun and find ways of inserting some mechanics teaching into the games you play with him.

#1 - Have Fun
(everytime out)

#2 - Encourage & Motivate
(turn his frown's upside down)

#3 - Technique - Cross Line Approach
Line in sand (standing sideways to P)
Perpendicular lines for feet
(Keep in simple)

#4 - Tools
- (Wiffle) Ball on Tee
- Ball on String
- Wiffle Ball Bat
- Shortest - lightest bat possible
- Mommy pitch (or whoever can throw
to hit his swinging bat!)

Stay in touch.

Good Luck

at that age tracking the ball is so so important !! train your son to track from the release all the way to the catcher. FOCUS on the ball is so so important. Just make sure that when he goes to hit his head is on the ball hitting the bat.

Don't worry too much about his mechanics. You can introduce mechanics as he gets older.

1. Make it fun (end it with some type of game)
2. Make sure he learns mechanical basics (hips before hands and things like that).
3. Don't force him.
4. Make sure he knows that even the best fail 7 out of 10 times.
5. NO CRYING IN BASEBALL

Yes, fun is paramount but imo, it is better to learn proper basics when starting so you don't have to break bad habits later.

By the time my son was 9, he had already been playing for 4 1/2 years. I started him on epstein hitting between his 7 and 8 year old seasons.

,Imo hard to beat this system for younger hitters.


I would use small wiffle balls in the garage and my son enjoyed trying to hit me with the balls that he hit. That was much more fun for him than me.

Here he is at 9.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...youtube_gdata_player

Little drill we did when by boy was a squirt. Had "bp" with a kids tennis racket and I tossed rolled up socks when we were inside in the winter. Make sure he holds the racket the way he is supposed to hold a bat, lining up knuckles. In order for him to hit the sock, he had to have a level swing and not roll over. Worked very well.

It all starts with the grip. Make sure you teach him to line up his knocking knuckles. Learning this grip from the very start will be a big help.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach Curt:
It all starts with the grip. Make sure you teach him to line up his knocking knuckles. Learning this grip from the very start will be a big help.

hmmm... as far as I know, only 2 MLB players use a modified version of this grip. The other 748/1198 use something else. (I hate to pick on you, but this door knuckle myth must die)

If this guy does it, I'll teach it.

ironhorse, you couldn't find the other guy?

I think that starting a young hitter out with aligned knuckles is a good idea. It will help them not to roll their wrist. My son still has an issue at times of rolling his top wrist under if he gets lazy with his grip. He is 12 now.

Start with showing him the grip, stance, and keeping the bat back (in proper position), then let him swing away. Like others said, make it fun for him, and as he starts showing more interest in learning, then start showing him correct swing mechanics. I think most importantly at this age is to help them develop good hand-eye corrdination...by playing catch with them, and pitching and soft tossing to them alot. Kids need a lot of one on one time at home to help develop their skills. They throw a lot at baseball practice, but they don't get enough hitting time.

I can't get out much with my 8 and 10 yr old grandsons and practice with them, and my daughter (who is divorced) doesn't have much time, so I got them the Ulimate Hitting Machine. (Soft toss machine sold by Beebe Sports)

They can set it up and use it by themselves and they both love it. Using it almost everyday has definitely made a difference in their hitting.
They don't use it as much now that baseball has started, and they said their coach is looking into getting one to use in his practices.
This is a good machine for young kids to use to practice hitting moving balls.
If you have a place to set a net up in your yard, I would reccomend getting one of these machines.

The best price for this machine is found here.
www.shop.beebesports.com

At his age, you want to focus on keeping it simple, teaching him the fundamentals, and just having fun. One of the simplest yet most effective drills is hitting off a batting tee. Watch him while he hits and correct his swing if he is doing anything wrong. Don't be too overly critical though or he might not want to play. Take him out to the field and throw to him, play some catch, and let him enjoy the sport. Cheers!

The Doyle Academy came up in another post and I was looking over their site and came across this. The number of players that have found success at the Colligiate and MLB that the Doyles have worked with over the past 30 years, speaks for itself.

http://doylebaseball.com/Coach...TeachingHitting.aspx

quote:

Originally posted by floridafan:
The Doyle Academy came up in another post and I was looking over their site and came across this. The number of players that have found success at the Colligiate and MLB that the Doyles have worked with over the past 30 years, speaks for itself.

http://doylebaseball.com/Coach...TeachingHitting.aspx

Their teaching does not resemble the MLB pattern. Look at the ideal contact picture

Yeah, you sure would not want to be looking at the ball when you hit it, or creating extension as you swing through the ball. And no, you would not want to rotate your core so that your belt buckle was facing toward the mound. And the barrel of the bat should always be below the hands, especially on those high and tight pitches over the inner half of the plate. And pivoting, so over rated. That back leg does not need to turn at all.

Boy, I better let my guy know before anyone sees him swing a bat, no one will want him in the lineup.

I do agree though that the barrel over the hands is situational.