Where do you begin?

Swingbuster, I really don't know what you want here but I had to do this with a young man this summer that had never played. His Mom was once a ballerina and so, they felt he had some athletic talent. I do have to say that they wanted miracles is a short time. Here is what we did.

1. Hand the young one a bat and see how they take their stance and how they swing. I never think it is good to start molding a hitter or pitcher until you see them before you coach them.
2. Discuss that hitting a baseball is a proposition in failure. Explain that most successful hitters are only successful in 3-4 at bats out of 10. Then, explain that there are no silly questions and begin coaching.
3. I like to start with my “cookie cutter” stance. Most would describe this as the type of stance taught by Charlie Lau.
4. Discuss and demonstrate a proper swing. Among many things you would discuss is the daisy in the hands, proper stride, the position of the fingernails on the top hand when it initiates proper contact, and finishing high.
5. I explain that they can’t concentrate on all of these things at once and so, I tell them that we will take one piece of the swing, and while I might discuss more things, that one thing will be the main emphasis of a lesson.
6. I like to start on a Tee then doing the 1-2-3 drill because I can see and slow down their swing while teaching. I know all of the various complaints on this site about using a Tee but I am discussing what I do and so…
7. Talk to the young player about what they thought about the lesson. What was good and what was hard for them to understand or do.
8. Above all, leave the parent and child with a positive experience. The parent has to know that progress will be slow. The young player has to know that it is alright to fail because it leads to success.


If I am way off base with this post, I apologize.

I begin at the goal (position at contact) and work back from there, step by step.

Swingbuster, first thing I do is pitch some wiffle balls and video his swing.......Without fail, he will lunge, roll the wrists early, and hit a few weak ground balls mixed in with complete misses..

Then, I teach him the torque position and let him hit more wifffle balls out of this position.......This provides immediate and drastic improvement..

We, then, sit down and watch the video and let him, and his Dad, see how bad his swing is.......It becomes quickly obvious why he showed such improvement after hitting out of the torque position.......

For the first time, he felt what "torque" and "staying back" could do for him........After that, I tell him I'm going to teach him how to swing efficiently.......The only question I hear is, can we start now?

I will add, learning an efficient swing should not be a long process.......3-4 lessons once a week, with drills in-between should do it.........

Also, I teach them to hit all pitches in all locations and I stress to them not to listen to any coach who tells them hitting is about failure.......Their success in hitting is limited by only how much they want to be the best.......If they want to be the best hitter ever, they can.......

I don't let students hit off a tee, at all........Picking a ball off a tee requires a level swing and I don't teach level swings..I, also, don't use a batting cage.......Can't tell enough about the hit in a cage........

Bluedog, I think that that was a shot at me. The proposition is a 12 year old that has never played. I encountered that this summer. The kid and the kid's parents wanted instant success. Thus my explaination of the failure inherent in the game. Naturally, we would all want to stress a positive mindset in an at bat. I do wonder what you mean when you tell players not to listen to their coach. Are you then saying that you know all and their coach knows nothing and that you will be the one writing their names in the lineup? I don't profess to know it all but have had some success at this. We are the Triad Knights and our stats can be found at: http://www.triad.madison.k12.il.us/ths/sports/baseball/index.htm

All of my kids listen to me or they don't play.

Blue,

Can you please explain (or better yet give a picture of) the "Torque position"? Sounds like something we need to see.

CoachB25, not a shot at anyone, actually..........I just gave an honest description of how I teach hitting.....

I'm sure I teach a much different hitting technique than you......So, how could I not tell my students to inform their Coach that they will swing in a way that is different than what he teaches?.......

Babe, put the bat on your deltoid (where the arm meets the shoulder), take your stance and rotate your hips to face the pitcher while keeping the shoulders closed facing home plate......

That is the torque position....Most hitters never experience what this feels like......

Thanks for the replies. I too follow Epstein/ BlueDog in that I teach torque. I often skip the deltoid drill and short cut a bit. I put the batter in the proper launch position of the hands/bat and then I rotate the shoulders. This closed position has the chin under the lead shoulder...the rear elbow up and around with abduction of the rear scap muscle.

THe eyes must remain fixed with two eyed contact
forward or the shoulders will keep rotating too far around in get out of position. The proper shoulder load is into tension. It is not far if done right...it can't be with the head fixed and nothing but the shoulder muscles moving around the spinal axis

I tell the player to keep the lead elbow bend and shoulders back so that I can see the lead elbow behind the belly button.

Now I tell them to go to toe touch( open lead foot 45 degrees but still stride short ONLINE with the pitcher) but focus on keeping their shoulders in this positon until the front foot gets down.

Now they are in the "torque position"with the upper body in the natural hitting position.

If you do not teach this position ;they will never find it in an average lesson or lifetime IMO. Buying a $169 bat before you buy some of Mike Epsteins tapes is not too smart.

Bluedog, I apologize. Discussing hitting on line as with pitching is difficult because we don't have the benefit of demonstrations. I do believe most of us teach the same things but use different terms. While we are on this subject, I also think that many if not most over analyze hitting and then attempt to overload the beginning hitter with "stuff" that they can't comprehend. Hitting requires a foundation of not only drill work but also a foundation of terms and what you mean when you say those terms.

a suggestion that most of you will think is stupid.... give him a plastic bat and tell him to swing. usually kids will have a pretty good swing until, bat weight etc, screws them up. ron polk once said that kids are born with good swings until we mess them up??? who knows, it may work. possibly start at that point and then build from there.