Give me some baseball advice for my son - batting

Smaller bat, hand strength exercises

He isn't hitting the ball with the sweet spot of the bat. Likely extending his hands to far out creating a "long" swing and hitting on the neck. Quick hands. Straight to the ball and not in a big arc. Your arms should never feel extended when swinging through the zone. That means you got fooled on a pitch. If the ball is outside, you just step to it and use the same swing. If you can't hit it, it's not a strike. I don't know how old he is, so not sure how detailed you want to get.

Some people don't like it, but I used to put the but of the bat on my belt buckle and put the barrel against a fence. In that small of a gap, I could take that bat and have a full power swing. You've just got to keep your hands inside. I'm sure there are YouTube videos.

His coach is trying to get him to learn to take a full swing. He kind of chops at the ball now.

Get him some nice cushioned batting gloves and maybe have him stand an inch or 2 further off the plate than usual if he's typically making contact closer to his hands than he should.

It's still a full swing, but you don't want extension too early. You want the bat trailing your lower body''s rotation and that will keep your hands in as well. 8 is young. Good to start them on the right track, but hard for them to get all of the subtle things.

Also, hate to say, but you will catch a sting every now and again. Even with a good swing, you will get fooled and hit in the wrong spot. You can minimize it though.

I'm going to specifically watch to see if he needs to scoot up or back next time. Also going to get him some cushioned gloves.

Those .gifs are great, you can see the bat vibrating.

Youtube has hundreds of videos on hitting for youth done by coaches & pros.

Loosen his grip up some. Tell him to line his first row of knuckles up

Even though this is a golf club, the grip on the far right is something I teach my players. It allows for more fluidity in the swing.


Make sure he's keeping his back elbow tucked when swinging through the zone and not extending it. That's what causes the vibration and pain.

LINK

This video is a good drill to help him keep his hands inside the ball.

I'm going to do that. He never complains about it when using a tee or getting a soft pitch. It's only when he hits a faster overhand 'coach pitch'

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y KG6 online on 1/12/16 at 5:39 am to BigEdLSU
He isn't hitting the ball with the sweet spot of the bat. Likely extending his hands to far out creating a "long" swing and hitting on the neck. Quick hands. Straight to the ball and not in a big arc. Your arms should never feel extended when swinging through the zone. That means you got fooled on a pitch. If the ball is outside, you just step to it and use the same swing. If you can't hit it, it's not a strike. I don't know how old he is, so not sure how detailed you want to get.

Some people don't like it, but I used to put the but of the bat on my belt buckle and put the barrel against a fence. In that small of a gap, I could take that bat and have a full power swing. You've just got to keep your hands inside. I'm sure there are YouTube videos.

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This. Set a tee up next to a fence so that his swing is too long the top of the bat will hit it. That way he can tell if he is going short to the ball or not. Here's a video.[link=( )]LINK https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P45DA5RzxuU[/link]