9 Year Old Hitting Help

A. Miller,

I'm going to assume he's a good athlete for his age since he was asked to tryout for a U11 traveling team. If so, he probably has high expectation of himself and takes striking out pretty hard.

Seems he's either got a "swing fear" or he's worried too much about swinging at bad pitches. Whatever the reason, he's lost the most important aspect of hitting--being aggressive. You've got to get him swinging the bat hard.

Worried too much about bad pitches is usually caused by mixed messages from the coach. If they keep getting on his case for swinging at bad pitches and not swinging at strikes, he may become tentative. You'll see him watching alot of strikes go by, too. At this age, he needs to work more on aggressiveness, an ATTITUDE that everyone can learn.

Knowing his "zone" is a SKILL that may/may not develop over time with experience and practive.

Swing fear is basically fear of striking out.

This anxiety is tou>

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he fence in a game situation will help him overcome it.

Aggressiveness At the Plate ---

It's a difficult concept to grasp, but he needs to anticipate every pitch will be a strike and start his swing on every pitch (bat to launch postion, small step with lead foot--For example, see Dusty Baker's Book, a fine reference). If the pitch is in his "zone" then he just completes the swing. If it's out of the zone, he has to stop his swing.

The key here is that the hitter is attacking the ball instead of being defensive. He is stopping his swing when he recognizes a bad pitch rather than starting his swing when he recognizes a strike.

Knowing his "zone" is a skill that will develop over time. Still there are plenty of major leaguers who occasionally swing at (and hit!) pitches out of the strike zone but very few (if any) who aren't aggressive. Eventually, the hitter has to also consider recognition of the pitch, keeping the shoulder closed, short stride, timing, etc., but that will come with practice and experience.

Fear of Striking Out You need to change his swing thought. He may be thinking "please don't strike out", or "please be a ball", etc. when he should be thinking "knock the cover off the ball!". On deck, he needs to visualize good things happening. In effect, this prevents him from thinking negative thoughts. This will channel his energy into power, bat speed, etc. instead of anxiety. It works.

One word of warning: you need to keep reinforcing this aggressive attitude. In other words, stick with the program. It may take awhile for your son to start hitting during a game and he's going to probably swing at bad pitches for awhile. His coaches may get upset with him for swinging at bad pitches. But eventually he will start making solid contact again and then you can start working on those other hitting skills.

As a final thought, give advice sparingly and be positive. Let him work out most of his problem on his own. Praise him when he takes a big cut at the ball and praise him for going down swinging. Celebrate his successes and downplay his failures. Oh yeah, and tell him never to let the pitcher know he's gotten the best of him. There's always a next time....