? About Baseball Hitting Practice

[HogHunter34]

My son is on a 14U team and the typical BP is tee work, slow toss & some overhand pitching from the coach at about 40 feet away. He doesn’t throw it real hard. I understand the concept is to work on mechanics on tee work & slow toss. However, I think when it comes to live game pitching with some hitting the 65-70 mph range it seems his timing struggles. I work a lot with him in our back yard on the tee & soft toss. He’s a little undersized for his age so I make him use his 32” drop 3 wood when we work on this stuff. We will go to the cages & I throw overhand but I don’t gun sling them. We don’t ever work off of a pitching machine. I’m not sure if part of his issue is he clams up & gets tight during game time just because of the crowd & nerves or his timing is challenged because he’s not use to seeing balls coming in at that speed? How many of you guys use a machine & at what velocity for 14U? Or how many throw pretty hard so they get used to seeing it at that speed so timing is better in game situation. My old HS coach always put us on a machine faster than what we would face as he always says it’s easier to slow down than to try & catch up.

[Cbb1722]

I wouldn’t use a machine. I’d let him get used to seeing the ball coming out of the pitchers hand. Get an L screen and scoot up to about 30 feet from him and throw it 30-40% of your full speed. Once he gets that down then start speeding up. Once he gets the hang of that mix it up. It teaches him to pick up the ball out of the pitchers hand and to read the pitch. Might throw in a curve ball down the road as well at that age kids are throwing curve balls. Idk how he’s taught to swing but maybe teach him to throw the barrel to the ball with his top hand. If he’s a smaller guy he shouldn’t be using that knob to the ball power swing most teach. Top hand and barrel to the ball and he should be looking down the barrel of the bat when the ball makes contact. That’s a contact line drive hard ground ball swing.

[glen]

No issue at all taking reps from a machine. I would however have it throwing harder than he is facing. I would imagine he will never face a kid throwing over low 70s. Let him know he his hitting off faster than he will face. It does build confidence because it becomes fairly easy to make good contact. Just like a tee, soft toss, L screen it has a purpose and can be effective

[tradtiger]

Used to throw mine plastic golf balls at various speeds for him to hit with a piece of 3/8" ID pvc pipe. Easy way to speed up hands, focus hand-eye, plus you don't need a baseball field to do it.

[speck1]

Does anyone have a pro batter system in your area? Video screen simulates a live pitcher throwing to you. It is a great teaching tool. I am not sure what level your son plays at but guys throwing mid 70’s with good offspeed stuff is not that uncommon in 14u. Reaction time and bat speed make a big difference. The more he swings the stronger he will get.

[HogHunter34]

Used to throw mine plastic golf balls at various speeds for him to hit with a piece of 3/8" ID pvc pipe. Easy way to speed up hands, focus hand-eye, plus you don't need a baseball field to do it.

I also have the small wiffle balls to help with small ball contact. I also like this drill to help hand eye coordination

[ByronB]

See post #2 concerning moving up an L-screen. Seeing a live ball really helps. I can only relate to what my son worked on. He was fortunate enough to have a Hitting Coach for four years that could throw just about any pitch out there. So, he faced live pitching up close almost every week for four years during his High School years. While the time was limited he was able to spot the different types of pitches quicker. That was his point of view....not mine. Besides picking up the types of pitches.....he was taught where the ball was around the plate after he hit it. The Coach would ask where was the pitch and he had to provide the answer. That taught him to use all parts of the field depending on where the pitch was. He did plenty of soft toss, machine work, etc as well. I am a believer in live pitching which is hard to come by. I will be the first to admit there is NO WAY I could have thrown consistently to my kid for all those years of Baseball. I’m not that good.

[jshouse]

I cant find it anywhere but Michael Young talked about this not too long ago (on twitter I think) and how there is no substitute for live pitching. I get tee work and working on mechanics but sometimes I think the young kids spend too much time on it, both of my boys have different swings off the tee than they do with tossed or pitched balls anyway. as they gain maturity and can slow down and really focus on what they are trying to do I think live pitching is more beneficial, from a machine or pitched.

bad thing is I suck at it too

[jshouse]

Found it, he was responding to Jason Ochart, a hitting instructor at Driveline Baseball, who had a great post...

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[JeffJ]

I loathe pitching machines. In my opinion it does not teach kids to be hitters. NOW, once a kid has shown that he can hit live pitching well using a machine to make a swing change could be useful. Our routine for my 8u coach pitch team pregame is as follows:

5-10 on the tee depending on the kid
6 heavy balls tossed underhand
3-5 Hit Stick
20-30 pitches in the cage thrown by me.

We played Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

275 BP pitches x 3 = 825
202 pitches in three games

1027 pitches this weekend. No wonder my shoulder was tight this morning.

[jabel]

Does your son try to get his timing down while in the on deck circle or just stand there waiting his turn? I ask this because I see it all the time and the ones that just stand there are usually late getting their foot down, causing them to be late.

I disagree with the the idea of slower pitching is easier to catch up to. Most kids can't let the ball travel and get deep enough to be on time with slower pitching IMO.

[ctom87]

Best drill you could do to increase bat speed is having a bucket of balls with the coach/pitcher behind the hitter, so where the catcher would be. You'll want to be about 12-15 feet behind home plate and underhand toss (on a fairly straight line) the balls in the direction of the pitcher. The objective for the hitter (who is in the same stance and hitting in the direction as he normally would) is to catch up to the ball as it's going past him. As the coach, you're not looking for good contact. It's an awkward drill. You're looking for any contact that shows he is catching up to a ball. Trust, he is going to have to swing hard and fast to catch up to this. Plus for whatever reason, kids think this drill is fun in my experience.

[joeshooter]

I am responding only because I feel real good about getting involved here. I am a 30plus year HS coach, former college player/ hitter, and hitting instructor. I give close to a 1000 lessons per year. Including 5-6 earlier today, after coaching a HS district game.

There are so many really GREAT POINTS made by really good guys here. These guys are on it. The behind toss drill is an excellent idea. I use it as well, often. This drill also shows the hand path the hitter is taking to the baseball. Is the barrel remaining in the zone long enough? Is the hitter pulling off the ball ? He should stay thru the hitting zone.
Cbb is also very correct about the L screen usage. Throw overhand toss. Show the hitter the baseball, teach him to track it down the chute into the hitting, and see the ball contact the bat.
I NEVER USE pitching machines. Lack of timing mechanism. When does the front foot get down, what is the trigger setting ?
Hitting is timing, once all the mechanics are correct. Pitching is the art of screwing up the timing. So stay on time, make contact in the hitting zone and be aggressive.
A typical lesson for me : bucket of balls 46-50 balls. half bucket off the tee, checking mechanics, checking for hip work rotation, staying connected with the back elbow, getting on plane to create line drives, staying in a punch with the top hand, working to extension, and follow thru finish the swing in full acceleration. Remaining 20-25 balls with behind toss drill.
next: two buckets of 30-35 front toss drill, overhand with pitcher sitting down behind the L screen. Closer distance creates good opportunity to pitch with good accuracy and location so that the hitter learns to use the entire field. Pull side, gap to gap, and opposite field mechanics. Keep the hands inside the ball, knob back towards the pitcher and back hand, back hip creates barrel snap to the front and thru the zone to contact.
next: One full bucket, 40-42 feet. overhand BP, as best you can. Standing up. Full pitcher action. Read the arm slot. Track the ball to the contact point and hit the ball using location recognition. inside pitch: pull the ball heart of the plate: gap to gap
outside pitch: opposite field line drive. Stay with it, be patient.
this equals 35-40 minutes and 200plus swings in one lesson. I wish you success.

[Sleepy]

How’s his confidence? Confidence is a huge part when at the plate. If it’s not there, he’s probably going to be late to the ball. Is he naturally an aggressive hitter or passive? Also, what’s his mentality at the plate? Is he thinking “swing swing hold back” or “hold hold swing”?

I’m a righty, but always hit left handed so my strong hand led the bat. I was pretty much dead pull all the time, even one pitches I wasn’t supposed to pull. I was also fairly aggressive once I got into high school. My mentality was always swinging at the next pitch, but having the power to hold back if it wasn’t there.

I’m no pro, but I feel a lot of times it’s mentality and not physical ability when it comes to being at the plate.

[Stolle]

Try shooting ping pong balls with a sling shot. My dad made us hit them with the broom stick when we were young. Makes a pitched baseball look like a beach ball coming at you.