My son cant hit a ball past pitchers mound?

by Jim
(camden nj us)

Jim asked: My 11 yr old son has great hand eye and can hit any pitcher. Problem is he has no power going into ball.

He hits all ground balls and real lite pop ups. He goes to batting cage and drills the ball?

Any sugestions?

Rick answered: Jim, thank you for your question.

Without seeing your son swing, it would be hard to pin point what is happening to him.

There certainly are some things you can take a look at to see if they are taking place.

If he consistently hits the ball hard, ground balls and line drives, when he is in the cages, it may be somewhat of a timing situation.

Hitting off machines provide a built in timing device for players, they have no concerns of a change of speed, or movement. Consequently, he is able to settle in, see the ball and hit it.

In a game situation, the ball changes locations, speeds and often has some additional form of movement to go with it. All of these factors create problems for hitters. Depending on how solid their hitting mechanics are, they may be big problems or minor ones.

If your son is unable to hit a ball past the pitcher's mound and is hitting weak pop ups, it may be that he is out on his front foot, with his hands committed, well before the ball gets near the hitting zone.

Here are three links to pages on my site that deal with hitting mechanics 1.rookie progressions.

2.advanced progressions.

3. hitting

Power is generated from the ground up. As you look at the pictures above, you will see they all have one thing in common, they are balanced over their knees, having created their load/stride phase straight back at the pitcher, which enables them to keep their front side closed.

Their hands are the last thing to go. Should the hands get ahead of anything else, timing and power are compromised.

A hitter's load/stride has to be timed to the pitcher's fastball. The faster a pitcher throws, the sooner a hitter needs to get his front foot down. Soon and soft. The less movement, the better.

If players aren't getting their front foot down and in line back to the pitcher, it will change their bat path. If they step "in the bucket", it opens up their front side, which causes their head and shoulders to come with the step, the bat barrel drops and their swing becomes a long and looping one.

If that is happening, they are generally hitting a lot of fly balls and pop flys.

Just a few things to look at. All mechanics can be worked on a tee. Quality, correct repetitions will make it so that he is able to step in the batter's box and just "see the ball and hit it hard somewhere". If he is thinking about mechanics when he is in a game, he is in trouble.

Yogi Berra said,"You can't think and hit at the same time!" He was right.

Good luck to both of you as you go forward. Please let me know how things are going.

Yours in baseball,

Rick