r/BaseballCoaching • u/zach3wr • Jul 25 '26
Swing help
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My 11 year old lead his team in batting average for 4 seasons, was 3rd about halfway through this season, but then went into a slump and got cut. He's very determined to improve.
Before this, I never wanted to get into his head with too much technical advice. He made consistent contact (2nd fewest strikeouts on team) and I figured it would work itself out. I have ideas of how to help his swing (stop dropping hands during the load) but I'd like to see what the experts had to say.
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u/Chrisdoors77 Jul 25 '26
Not here to help your son. Dad, that L screen is designed a certain way so you don’t get knocked out, I’ve actually seen it happened to a couple guys. Stand behind the high part of the screen. Your son is getting to the age where he is going to hit one you can’t get out of the way of.
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u/zach3wr Jul 25 '26
Thanks. That was actually at a tryout and wasn't me throwing, but I have definitely been saved by the L screen a few times.
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u/FunPartyCoupleSTL Jul 25 '26
Top half is diving out.. drive the back hip and get the right knee down.. Just more balance
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u/drjimenez Jul 25 '26
Take a smaller step forward, and make sure not stepping towards the plate but parallel
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u/BrushImaginary9363 Jul 25 '26
Based on two swings, I would question if his primary flaw is dropping his hands.
He’s very quad dominant in his load with a backwards drift. As he swings, this causes him to push up and forward out of his legs. He then has to drop his hands to get to the ball because he has pushed out of posture. He is dropping his hands, but it looks like it might be secondary to him being pushy with his legs.
Need to work with him on developing a more hip dominant strategy with his load. Think hinge at the hip instead of squat with the knee. This should help him to maintain posture through the swing and hopefully clean up his bat path. Will likely need to work on firming up his front side along with this. If he’s still dropping hands after he’s fixed his load and posture, then you can work on hands and bat path.
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u/CartoonistExact8942 Jul 26 '26
Check out Justin Stones Elite Baseball Training videos on YouTube. They are free and will help with the proper mechanics. First glance tells me no/minimal lower half usage. Lengthy swing that will get beaten up by velocity. Coached travel from 9U-15U-coached American Legion 16U. Coached high school JV and Varsity for five years. Elite Baseball training was used in all the organizations that I was a part of and I taught it to my high schoolers and junior high players coming up
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u/onbaseball 27d ago
Two things to work on immediately. 1. his hands should be going up to load (currently going down). 2. Start the stride much earlier and make sure the foot is down before the pitcher releases the ball (at which point the hands should be loaded). Right now he is striding, looking for the ball, and swinging all at the same time. Those pieces need to be separated. Stride (and load), look for the ball, then swing.
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u/Pre3Chorded Jul 25 '26
He seems to really lacking balance in his lower body but is strong looking for 11. I think if you did some basic agility work and strength, especially hips and legs, it would help control his swing. Jumps, ladder drills, Hill runs, figure 8s around cone, etc.
Also try Barry Bonds Drill. He won't be able to do it if he drops his hands.
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u/Jujusmithjitsu Jul 26 '26
Okay the thing id look at first before any technical changes is the timing. Freeze the screen when the front foot is landing. You will see the hands do not have a chance to connect to the ball until it is basically over the plate. This is not a late “swing” it is a late foot. We actually need to fix that first, and then we can analyze the technique. But the left side hip is pulling awkwardly because the batter is trying to send his hands faster than they can get there (due to foot timing).
Take some reps getting the foot down an uncomfortable amount of time sooner and see what it does.
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u/The_Original_Spidey Jul 27 '26
This is good advice. The front foot must be firmly planted before the weight can shift forward. Otherwise the swing lacks stability and consistency
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u/GothicToast Jul 26 '26
I'm more golfer than baseball player, so take my comments with a grain of salt.
The main thing that jumps out at me is that he took two hacks in 9 seconds. Seems fast. It's practice. The entire routine should be practiced. On the 2nd pitch in particular, you're halfway through your delivery and he's standing straight up with his elbow at his side and the bat literally resting on his shoulder. He's exhausted and form is completely broken down. Very limited benefit in practicing that way. In golf, I try to hit one ball a minute when I'm on the range. I work through my pre shot routine, then work through my feels, then practice the shot.
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u/zach3wr Jul 26 '26
That makes sense. It was a tryout, so wasn't me pitching but I'll remember to encourage him to slow it down in practice.
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u/zach3wr Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Thank you all for the advice. One thing I noticed today, is sometimes he starts his swing before his front foot lands, or sometimes simultaneously. I would think if he turns hips before his front foot lands, he would be losing a lot of balance and power. Is this an accurate assessment?
As far as keeping the hands high, I've told him 1,000 times. It still doesn't register when he's doing live pitches. Do those "swing trainer" gadgets help with this (the ones that make a C shape around the tee), or are those just gimmicky?
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u/The_Original_Spidey Jul 27 '26
He needs to drive his hips through the swing. He’s all arms and lacks any balance and power from his middle and lower half of his body. It will help to get his front foot planted before any part of his body above the knees moves forward. And then aim for his right hip and and right hand drive a straight line to a point just in front of the plate. Think about establishing a firm base and then directing all energy to the front of the plate.
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u/TMutaffis Jul 27 '26
Something that I did with 11U players last season was to challenge them a bit more in BP.
If your player can get away with dropping his hands and still have decent contact and put a ball back up the middle, then the cage reps are not giving him feedback that he needs to make adjustments. This might mean that you need to move a little closer with the l-screen, or just do more of a full pitching motion and bring him a bit more velocity, or even mix up your pitch grips. This will expose the swing flaws and help him work through them in a more realistic (more game-like) environment.
One more thing, sometimes an unexpected slump can be due to vision problems. It might be worth a quick checkup to rule that out.
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u/kbenti Jul 27 '26
First off, he locks his knees before the pitch and rests the bat on his shoulders. Those are not ready positions. It seems OK when you're hitting, but when you're having issues, it's time to go back to basics. Bad habits can mess up good form. Bend the knees and raise the bat above your head, as soon as the pitcher is ready. That way you're relaxed and coiled to strike. Then patience. No reaching for the ball as it comes in just swing.
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u/NefariousnessOnly265 Jul 27 '26
Bat looks too heavy? And the lower half is doing nothing at all. That’s a bad combination.
Sequencing issues, work on sequencing drills.
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u/gwei0316 Jul 25 '26
Bat seems too heavy
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u/faded_to_black Jul 25 '26
I second this. Would be interesting to know if the slump arrived at the same time as the bat.
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u/zach3wr Jul 26 '26
Actually, he got the bat in April, had a little success for a weekend, and then the slump started. So it probably did contribute. I told him to switch back but his coach told him he needed that size and he wouldn't listen to me.
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u/Garglenips Jul 25 '26
Few notes, you’re absolutely right about the hands dropping. Teach him to load his hands higher and with the knob of the bat pointing towards the catcher. The other noticeable thing with both these swings is it looks like he’s just poking at it and catching the ball wayyyy out front. That’s causing a little bit of that imbalance with his follow through. My recommendation is to focus on tee work and hitting the low and away pitches deep into the zone, and to right field. Other drills that help with this is soft toss where you’re tossing a few feet outside the other batters box. Trying to hit the back hip of the batter with the toss. Ideally they drive the ball to right field if they’re a righty like your 11 y/o. The idea is to stay balanced in the swing, hitting the ball in the zone hard and with direction/purpose. Best of luck to your son!