To hit or not to hit , that is the question

Seems like an individual thing.  He should hit if he wants.  Don't hit if he doesn't want. But there's no harm to trying to keep his stroke by hitting maybe once a week while he plays other sports or works on conditioning or whatever.  Hitting's not like pitching. There is no shut down period or  recuperation needed. 

Yeah, agree.  If he wants to take a break, great.  If not, fine.  Does he have an instructor?  Is there a time of year when he will be more available than other times?  Is there anything in particular that your son is working on with his swing or needs to work on?  Is this the best time while he is fresh off his season so he remembers what those things may be or will he benefit from clearing his mind for a bit?  I see you are in Fichigan... will he have access to cages in the winter or is this a consideration? Definitely different for every kid.  Of course he wants to get back after it before the HS team gets together again.  That may be October for some, February for others, etc.

There is another thread going where some parents are stating their kids love the game so much they would be happiest if they played every day.  I've coached a whole bunch of kids at every age and my experience is that even those who really love it benefit from a break at some point.  Even if a short one, they usually come back with renewed enthusiasm and appreciation for the game.  Sort of like adults who need an occasional vacation, even when they love their job.

My son never stopped hitting once he hit high school. Otherwise, he only worked out. He didn't throw from November through January. The one exception was the year he took six weeks of pitching lessons in January and February. Tryouts started 3/1.

The weather in Michigan right now is perfect. I guess that is one of the big things for me. Before you know it there will be snow for 5 months. If next season follows the same track as this one. He will have some fall/winter practices with summer team and HS stuff starts in December. I guess a question might be what will swings in August and September do for him next season? If he doesn't see a real game pitch until April. I'm sure we will be at the cages a couple of times a week in the winter. I do want to get him to an instructor. He really didn't pull to many balls this year. A lot of long fly balls to center and right center. There was no free time during HS season to really get it corrected. He was still successful but, I could tell his swing wasn't right.   Things can get funky in the cage if your not careful. Youth baseball is a monster though. Besides work I have no doubt this is where we spend most of our time. I want to make sure he has time to sit back and smell the roses.

I used to love hitting golf balls. 

I'd get a bucket and swing, swing, swing. And it always seemed disappointing when I looked down into the bucket and could see the bottom wires. More often than not, I'd reload.

Fast forward to joemktgson. Loves to hit. Loves to hit as much as possible. Does he like to hit off the tee into a sock net? Only as a warm up. What about hitting in a cage? Only if a field isn't available. But those fields are often available, so I find the time each day to get out there and throw BP to him on a field. After a bucket of 60, we collect and he'll do more. And my arm usually gives out before he's finished.

Point: it completely and utterly depends on the player. Sometimes "should" does not equate to "want." His call. If he needs the rest, great. If not, then there may be a disconnect between goals and the requisite 10,000 hours. And that's a completely different Topic.

No fall ball?  There is no harm in taking some time off.  In fact its good for the body.  Trick is to not take so much time off that it takes too long to get back to where you are.  Playing any type of sport causes damage to the body.  It takes some time for those micro-tears to the muscle to heal.  Kinda the same theory as a pitcher needing rest.  

If it were me, I would shut down for a month or two.  Work on strength and conditioning instead.  Get back to hitting in November or so.  

What I bolded above...MANY players take the Fall/Winter to completely change their swings.  It takes time and a lot of repetition but if it were me I would get him evaluated by a really good hitting instructor and see if there is an aspect of his swing that he could spend the next few months tweaking that would give him more control at the plate. As the pitching gets faster the swing has to be more precise.

It is my experience that the best hitters never stop hitting. Off season they work on swing path and other technical issues where they have time to rebuild or fine tune their swings. But...it has to be them who drives it, particularly once they reach HS. not mommy or daddy.

At 15 he should really start to be heading to the gym a lot to build up his strength. 

The further a position player goes in baseball, the more time he spends practicing. Its not something you can "make" a kid do, if he doesn't want to work out on his own, he is likely done at the HS level due to a lack of interest.  If he wants to work out, there is no reason to discourage it, other then to make sure he's not throwing to much. 

Playing baseball is a 365 day a year profession for a position player..