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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| k_coach |
Posted - 02/04/2009 : 11:07:45
I am working with a kid who is a great hitter in the batting cage (coach or machine pitch). He has great mechanics, fast bat, good eye hand coordination, and power. He freezes up when he is facing a kid pitcher (10U). My plan is to get him as many ABs against kids in practice, but was wondering if anyone (parent or coach) has faced and overcome this problem. Any advice would be appreciated. |
| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| CoachDad |
Posted - 02/11/2009 : 09:47:18
Yogi says baseball is ninety percent half mental. |
| dramamama |
Posted - 02/10/2009 : 13:18:20
The kids have too many people giving them direction, the coaches, the players dads, moms, brothers, batting coach, on and on.. they get confused, let them PLAY ball, PLAY, ball |
| 25baseball |
Posted - 02/09/2009 : 21:25:49
k_coach,
Not sure - My son was having the same problem at 11U. After much debate with him, we discovered he was scared of the ball so he kept stepping out or doing nothing. Solution was to hit him with a pitch. It actually happened accidentally but he had already agreed that he needed to be hit with a pitch to get over his fear. He was excited after this happened as he immediately realized that being hit was not so bad.
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| baseball99 |
Posted - 02/05/2009 : 14:04:06
Babe Ruth had a saying - "Don't be afraid to strike out" |
| 743 |
Posted - 02/05/2009 : 10:03:18
My advice is not make a big deal about every at bat. Tell him to have good at bats and striking out does not necessarily mean it wasn't a good at bat. Tell him to just hit and not try and think too much. Tell him the good things he did in an at bat, but don't even focus on the bad things. Kids sometimes fear not pleasing a parent or coach more than getting hit by a ball or getting out. If he can hit coaches and machines, he will eventually hit kids. |
| k_coach |
Posted - 02/04/2009 : 21:49:30
Thanks for the advice, I will try some. I have been working with this kid on bunting as well and he has become very good at it. He is a big kid (but really fast) and opposing teams tend to play him deep at the corners. He bunted in a scrimmage game the other day and the defense had to rush the throw and overthrew 1B, it went down the right line and he ended up on 3rd. I like to use bunting as a slumpbuster, because it seems to give kids confidence by helping them be productive for the team.
My son went through the same thing and struggled his first year of kid pitch, it wasnt until about 70 game ABs that he started feeling confident at the plate. Once he had the confidence, he took off. I just dont want this kid to have to endure that much pain at the plate before he feels confident.
Another coach I work with recomended calling for hit and run when he is at the plate and let him know he has to swing no matter where the pitch is. Being that he has such good eye hand and knowing that he has to swing will take the guess out of whether it will be a strike or not. I feel like once he can start putting the bat on the ball (whether or not its a hit) will pull him through.
Thanks again for the ideas. |
| jscoda |
Posted - 02/04/2009 : 19:45:34
Sometimes it takes being hit a couple of times to realize it doesn't always hurt as much as you thought. I think you have the right idea about seeing as much live pitching as possible. Time and practice will cure any fears. |
| SportsDad |
Posted - 02/04/2009 : 19:25:30
"The first step is admitting you have a problem."
YIKES a 12 step program for hitting.
I'll tell you the approach I was told by some pretty darn coaches down in Lakeland Fla.
1) Asking him what he's feeling when he's in the batter's box.
2) Regardless of what he says ( nervous, scared, anxious, fear of failure, etc) Tell him, no kidding, that's the exact way you should feel in the batter's box. Hitting a baseball isn't a natural act, therefore that's the way you should feel.(Really every kid feels something abonormal in the batter's box)
3) Tell him when he starts to feel that way in the batter's box, step out, tell yourself that's how I should feel...and get back to the matter at hand...
So it's kinda like a 12 step program only instead of admitting it as a problem, reconize it for what it is...a natural feeling that everyone has...and move on.
I've seen this work better than anything else I've seen/heard.
One other thing though,and would love to hear examples and how to overcome it, but I've never seen a kid get over the fear of the baseball.Now you can teach a kid how to take a pitch that's going to hit him, but that's a different thing than the fear of the baseball. |
| 3sondad |
Posted - 02/04/2009 : 18:20:09
Video tape his swing in the cage and then video tape the at bat in a game (or kid pitch).. Get two angles in each case and make the two from the same direction. Review and then have the kid see it.
Then ask leading question for him to admit he is afraid and work on confidence. |
| bmoser |
Posted - 02/04/2009 : 18:07:18
After he gets hit a few times and realizes he'll live through it, he'll start killing it. He has fear of the unknown.
quote:
Originally posted by k_coach
I am working with a kid who is a great hitter in the batting cage (coach or machine pitch). He has great mechanics, fast bat, good eye hand coordination, and power. He freezes up when he is facing a kid pitcher (10U). My plan is to get him as many ABs against kids in practice, but was wondering if anyone (parent or coach) has faced and overcome this problem. Any advice would be appreciated.
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| ingasven |
Posted - 02/04/2009 : 16:47:24
It sounds to me like the boy has some type of fear, whether it's being hit, striking out, etc. If you can make him understand it's ok to admit he's scared and find out what exactly that fear is, you can go to work fixing it.
These kids are frigtened to death to admit they are scared of something because we harp on them so much about not being afraid that they feel we'll think less of them if they do admit it. I kind of equate it to this... "The first step is admitting you have a problem."
Get him to open up and he'll give you your answer. |
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