Can you change the title from “battling” to the intended “batting”? Posted on BlackBerry and auto-complete once again threw a curve : )
Might be a psychology-thing. Fear of failure, and all that. I’d try to figure out a way to tell them that it’s better to go down swinging. Maybe set up a reward system?
They could probably still outhit the Cleveland Indians.
Parents at the games sometimes put real pressure on the Children
Have a high school kid come in and let him throw some of his good stuff.
They may be focusing on the machine, which gives them some opportunity to guess where the ball is going to be.
If a high school kid comes in and is use to messing with batters he change things up and even point out how they might have hit that thing.
He can then encourage them to swing and you might double the number of times at bat practicing in one session.
Say from 10 opportunities to 20.
Squish the bug. Look it up. Tell them the fans showed up to see them hit not walk. Swing the bat.
Not a coach, but can tell you what worked for me: Change the mindset to that of catching the ball with the bat. If you can catch you can hit. I was an 0 for season type little leaguer, but I could catch. Once I trained my mind to think of reaching out with the bat to catch the approaching ball, I was good. Or, maybe I simply concentrated better in connecting with the ball.
I also remember helpful was my coach telling us to pay attention to pitcher speed (do a 1-2 count, 2 being when the ball snaps into the catchers glove).
Thx! It wasn’t auto complete as it was “ Battiing”. We can chalk that up to 44 year old eyes using a blackberry.
Make them run laps for every strike they take.
That should get them swinging.
Teach them to look at the feet of the short stop and not the mound. This will get them to use their peripheral vision. This in tun bypasses the normal visual processes of the brain and lets the eye hand coordination take over instead of “thinking about it”.
In effect, you are teaching them to NOT watch the ball.
Teach them to feel it instead. I know it sounds crazy but it works.
I have coached my kid’s baseball teams for many years and still keep stats for my youngest son’s middle school team. I can tell you the WORST thing for kids this age is a machine unless it is to warm them up. They get used to a ball coming in the same place and get complacent. What a machine can never duplicate is a kid with no control, which is what 90% of the pitchers at that age are. Even the best pitchers usually overpower hitters with fastballs that they can’t catch up to, but if you watch them throwing, they can’t hit the strike zone more than 50% of the time. Kids have to learn how to watch the ball and be patient. They have to learn to watch the pitcher throughout the game, especially while in the on deck circle. If they do and can learn when he throws something other than a fastball (which I hope most are not throwing anything but a fastball at that age), they will spot his tendencies and learn how to “think” at the plate. THAT is 90% of the battle. Learn how to be smart and be patient and your team will be a better batting team.
Here’s what YOU will have a hard time getting them to learn about being smarter, though: They WANT to hit. They see ESPN highlights of Josh Hamilton and dream of hitting a grand slam to win the game. As a result, they strike out more. With my son, that was one of his biggest problems. When I showed him stats on guys like Pete Rose and Babe Ruth, he was shocked to learn that Rose got on base a LOT more than did Babe and that Babe struck out so much. It also helped that I showed him how important his greatest asset (speed) was when he was on base. He never once got caught stealing last season and led the league in batting average at .626 for the season. He had ONE triple, 6 doubles and a ton of singles. BUT, he struck out only 4 times all season and walked or got hit by a pitch almost as many times as he hit singles. His biggest area of improvement was with 2 strikes on him. Even with a full count, he either made contact for a foul, got a hit to the opposite side of the field or walked. When he figured out getting on base was way more important to his team winning than him belting one to the fence, his hitting greatly improved. He had plenty of hard hit balls, but he has never once put it over the fence. He has one hopped it to the fence a few times, but never over.
Here is a great site for some tips:
http://www.beabetterhitter.com/index.html
I have used a lot of this stuff before and it really helps with the “mental” part of the game. It has been my experience coaching baseball at this age that kids who can learn to be patient and smart at the plate will get on base a whole lot more. Plus, I can tell you from personal experience that this mental “grooming” right now will help them tremendously when the get older and the pitchers get better.
I hope this helps!
Practice, practice, practice and in the words of Pete Rose “see the ball hit the ball”. The problem in LL is the kids don’t get a lot of swings. Enlist the aid of a few parents and help out at practice.
It’s still early in the season, you could probably trade most of them.....
Keep Mom & Dad away from your bench when the game starts.
Hubby used to torment our kid after every bad AB - took 2 seasons for Coach to ban him, but it worked like magic when it finally happened, not only for my kid, but on all the parents “checking on junior”.
Kids need to just play, parents need to shut up. The best will shine, but if they’re in it for the right reason, they will ALL have fun, learn about success and failure (and stay out of trouble, too)
My kiddie wound up getting 3 MVPs, two League Championships, and we’ve gotten calls and visits from scouts from two MLB organizations- and he’s only 14.
I was a terrible batter as a little kid. I had terrible timing, and I was afraid of fastballs, worried I would get beaned.
Then one time I saw Rod Carew on TV talk about how he maintained such a high batting average over his career. It was a revelation for me.
1) He never took his eye off the ball. He ignored the pitcher, the other players, and the fans - ignored everything. Even when the ball was in the pitcher’s glove, he stared only at the ball
2) when the ball was thrown, he watched the laces on the baseball. I couldn’t believe that he could see the laces, but when I tried it, I found he was right - you can see the laces on the ball - especially when its coming at you at 60 mph (little league speeds) For me, as the batter, actually focusing on the laces slows the ball down, matrix-style. It is then easier to develop judgement on balls and strikes, as well as swing-timing. Confidence then builds on itself.
I found it is also easier to quickly judge when a mis-thrown ball is speeding towards my head! Made me much less afraid of being beaned, and kept me in the box.
Its difficult for young kids to focus on anything, so after giving this lesson, I have some exercises where I, as pitcher, hold the ball up. I tell the kids to follow it with their eyes, and LOOK FOR THE LACES - as I walk around the mound, or back and forth with the ball in my hand. It is training for them to focus, and watch the ball at all times. I then move from slower pitches up to faster, always emphasizing they look for the laces.
Worked for me as a kid, and I have had kids tell me it helps them as well.
Dirll that the count is always 3-2.
In practice have them come up with count 3-2.
In a game play protect the plate.
Forget about all other batting stats, just keep:
hit, foul, strike out, walks.
Husband coached our 4 sons at baseball (daughter softball): and all five basketball and soccer (til he had a heart attack 3 years ago—now he “keeps the book.”)
For baseball, over the years I have heard (and heard, and then heard some more) “fear of the ball” and ALWAYS keep your eye on the ball. Always. Step two helps over come fear one...afraid of getting hit keeps the kids backing off the plate and makes them develop all kinda of bad batting habits. Mid they learn to NEVER lose sight of the ball, they gain the confidence that they can get out of the way.
Don’t use a pitching machine and don’t YOU (or any warm up coach) throw at the kid’s bat during practice or warm up. Lollipop pitching doesn’t do 11 year old any good. Getting a HS player (pitcher preferably) to pitch a BP would be pretty useful too!
Good luck...and remember, “there’s no crying in baseball.” (Until you look for titanium bats’ price tags. Ouch!)
I think it’s fear of striking out, which in reality is just another way to make an out but kids get all worked up about that. I’d have little guy crying on the bench after striking out and I would ask if they have rather hit into a double play.
Sometimes too umpires can incentivize not swinging if they call a really tight strike zone.
I was an assistant coach to a youth league manager who said he would rather see kids strike out swinging than walk on four straight pitches. He also never mentioned walks after the game but did talk about kids who hit the ball hard even if they made outs.
I know it goes against every FR precept where winning at all costs must be mandated at all ages, but it did get the kids to swing the bat.
And the boys did win more than they lost.
And his kid was an all-county third baseman last year.
One thing that isn’t taught much anymore is to throw your hands AT the ball. that bat will follow through. this makes it far easier to hit the ball. My son learned that...and has been the leading hitter on his teams ever since.
Also, they shouldn’t swing for the fences, they should TRY to hit ground balls, make the defense WORK.
My son’s first coach made kids that struck out looking, run a mile for each time. It ended that activity IMMEDIATELY.
You have ZERO chance of getting a hit if you don’t swing.
Another thing that cured my son’s fear of fastballs, was playing short stop. i used to take him out on the UNEVEN rough infields after practice, and hit line drives at him. You never knew where they would jump. He learned to block them with his body, and lost his fear of getting hit.
Well the beginners in our LL had the rule no walks. You had to hit to get on. Then for the regular LL, I had the on deck batter watch and swing at every pitch. Worked great for us - others ???