Worst Coaching Cues

[songtitle]

Ideas for Worst Coaching Cues of all time? :reporter:

I'll start.

Hitting:
- hands to the ball
- dont drop your shoulder
- he got good extension (OK, that came from Joe Morgan)

Pitching
- stay balanced on the rubber during leg kick

[g-mac]

Hitting: "Get your back elbow up."

[Baseball gLove]

Hitting: "Get your back elbow up."

I'll let Pujols know...:disbelief:
http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/fantasy/03/27/zola.keeper/t1_pujols6_si.jpg

[Encinitas]

I find that I have to tell my son to get extension because his tendency is to circle off the handpath too early. Drive through the baseball... palm-up extension....

[LAball]

I like the cue for pitching staying balance during leg kick... pause at the top.

The high elbow thing is not good for most young hitters because its not the swing they use. Most youngsters have a bat drag swing and needs the elbow to be down early, Making the elbow start up high will make a bat drag swing worse. If you swing the right way the elbow will come up automatically

[Jake Patterson]

See the ball!

[Jake Patterson]

I used to have an assistant coach tell a batter to "Get the bat from A to B." I asked him what that meant... When he hesitated I asked him not to tell a
hitter that again.

[songtitle]

I asked him not to tell a hitter that again.
A brave soul you are.

[davewashere]

I've never cared for coaches telling young hitters "don't try to kill the ball". When most youngsters hear that they slow down their bat in an attempt to make contact more often. That may make for more entertaining baseball for the adults watching, but it's probably not going to develop a good hitter.

[rkbenn]

Hit the ball out in front of the plate.

[Jake Patterson]

Flatten out your swing.

Come on hit the ball hard... "Jeeze coach I was thinking about dribbling one back to the pitcher."

[Harley]

"Swing down or else you'll hit pop ups."

Yes, it's much better to ground out to the short stop.

[BleacherCreature]

Ideas for Worst Coaching Cues of all time? :reporter:

Hitting:
- dont drop your shoulder



I tell my son this all the time and it works for him... He has a tendency to start his swing by dropping his back shoulder which causes him to push the bat through the zone with lot of top hand..As soon as I see that first movement, I can vitrually guarantee he will hit a pop up to the right side. ( He's a righty )

I tell him he's dropping his back side and he needs to rotate strong to the ball and give me more bottom hand. When he makes that adjustment he can flat-out crush it.

[azmatsfan]

"Swing level."

"Squish the bug."

I understand what coaches are trying to correct, but these cues invariably lead to bad habits that have to be broken later.

"Swing level" can lead to dropping the bat head to start the swing, and "squishing the bug" leads to spinning on the back foot rather that rotating the hips around the spine.

[azmatsfan]

I tell my son this all the time and it works for him... He has a tendency to start his swing by dropping his back shoulder which causes him to push the bat through the zone with lot of top hand..As soon as I see that first movement, I can vitrually guarantee he will hit a pop up to the right side. ( He's a righty )

I tell him he's dropping his back side and he needs to rotate strong to the ball and give me more bottom hand. When he makes that adjustment he can flat-out crush it.

That may be, but I see this cue used a lot when the hitter is dropping their hands not dropping their shoulder, or when the hitter has a good swing but the coach thinks the batter's shoulders should be parallel to the ground throughout the swing.

[Jake Patterson]

Get the elbow up, IMHO, is one of the most abused cues used in youth baseball as many who use it don't understand the cue and only regergitate what they were told as kids.

They sometimes associate the rear elbow with proper swing plane suggesting the higher the better.

[dominik]

I hate "hit the ball into the ground".

[marklaker]

"Just throw strikes"

[Coach G]

Take a level swing, hear it so much at the little league field I just want to go crazy. And basically anything Joe Morgan says in a Sunday night game.

oh and hit top half of ball

[bhss89]

"Squish the bug," definitely. Hear it all the time from HS/summer league coaches. Most of the time this all but eliminates a hitter's use of their lower half, as you all know. And only once have I had a coach at that level tell me why they said such a thing that even remote sense to me: "I see Jim Thome do it, so it cannot be bad for HS hitters."
So I took a closer look at what Thome does, and I guess you could say that he is at least closer than most MLB hitters to "squishing." What I'm really seeing him doing, however, isn't "squishing," but rather rotating onto the front side of his back (left) foot instead of onto his toe (or with toe completely off the ground at PoC). So I let that conversation with that particular coach go . . . :happy:
If teenaged hitters could only pay attention to how MLB hitters really do things - Chris' site!

[Jesse]

"Swing level" and "squish the bug" are the ones I hear all the time.

Most ignored cue - "Keep your eye on the ball." I'm not sure why we even say it.

[AgentX]

basically anything Joe Morgan says in a Sunday night game.

Amen.

Some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth makes me wonder how he ever managed to play the game to begin with.

[g-mac]

I'll let Pujols know...:disbelief:
http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/fantasy/03/27/zola.keeper/t1_pujols6_si.jpg
There are exceptions to every rule, but where does his elbow go when he starts his swing. :blah:

[AgentX]

The one that bugs me is "start your swing earlier."

I can't think of any worse advice to a young hitter.

[sid17]

Any swing advice given during an at bat is bad in my opinion. Hitting is hard, and it's even harder when you're thinking about your swing while trying to hit in a game. I tell all my guys that their only focus during an at bat should be seeing the ball.

There's nothing more frustrating than parents trying to give swing advice and cues during a game. Their kid swings and misses and you hear 2 or 3 different parents, "you're dropping your back shoulder", "drive through the ball", "barrel on top of the ball", "level swing". How's a kid supposed to concentrate on seeing and hitting the ball when he's got multiple (and bad) hitting thoughts going through his head?

[g-mac]

Any swing advice given during an at bat is bad in my opinion. Hitting is hard, and it's even harder when you're thinking about your swing while trying to hit in a game. I tell all my guys that their only focus during an at bat should be seeing the ball.

There's nothing more frustrating than parents trying to give swing advice and cues during a game. Their kid swings and misses and you hear 2 or 3 different parents, "you're dropping your back shoulder", "drive through the ball", "barrel on top of the ball", "level swing". How's a kid supposed to concentrate on seeing and hitting the ball when he's got multiple (and bad) hitting thoughts going through his head?
Amen!:thumbsup: I am guilty of giving the kids more advice than they can probably process during practice, but come game time, I try to keep my mouth shut with the exception of words of encouragement.

[tominct]

I coach middle school, 12U 50/70, and 8U machine pitch. Particularly with the little ones, I try to reinforce pitch selection. They often think that because it's a machine, it is appropriate to swing at almost every pitch. I try to get them to identify pitch location, and get them to eventually identify the type of pitch they hit well. At our 8U level, the game is very much instructional.

[Baseball gLove]

There are exceptions to every rule, but where does his elbow go when he starts his swing. :blah:

:blah: Down like it is supposed to.

[Baseball gLove]

Amen!:thumbsup: I am guilty of giving the kids more advice than they can probably process during practice, but come game time, I try to keep my mouth shut with the exception of words of encouragement.

Not enough coaches do this. I stopped coaching my kid during his at bats when he was 8. During one at-bat I was going to tell him to move closer to the pitcher and decided to let him bat the way he wanted to. He hit the 1st pitch off the center field fence for a 3 run triple. From that point on I would only coach during bp. I would also talk to him after the game, but the conversation is always upbeat. I laugh at him when he does the occasional tomahawk at the high pitch and I don't have a problem if he strikes out. I was a little upset with the head coach for yelling at my son during an at bat for swinging and fouling off high pitches. You teach that during practice not during the game. The umpire was calling high strikes anyway. The first 3 batters were called out on nose high strikes.

[Baseball gLove]

Darn that elbow up thing must be really bad:

http://groundup.hittingillustrated.com/hitting/Videos/BatSlotAtToeTouch_pujols19.jpg
http://groundup.hittingillustrated.com/hitting/Videos/BatSlotPrior2ToeTouch_Picture%25202.png

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/_photos/2007/05/14/gwynnx.jpg

http://images.wikia.com/openserving/sports/images/e/e9/1205619962_Evan_Longoria_Rain.JPG

[g-mac]

Darn that elbow up thing must be really bad:


The topic was Worst Coaching Cues. I interpreted this as being about kids. If so, I still don't like this cue and I will never tell one of my kids to keep their elbow up.

[g-mac]

:blah: Down like it is supposed to.

If a kid steps up to the plate and doesn't associate this in his normal swing, IMO it's not going to make that much of a difference by yelling at him to do so.
I've got one kid that keeps his elbow up and one who doesn't, yet they are both consistently solid hitters. The older one keeps his elbow up, but that's because it's a side effect of his mechanics and personal preference. The youngest I actually have place the bat on his shoulder and then raise it slightly with his elbow down where it's slightly higher than it's going to end up so that he is still learning to use his body rather than trying to swing with his arms.

[Baseball gLove]

I used to believe in relaxed elbows down. A linear coach I know taught this as well. Both of my kids have moved to elbow up independently of each other. A dad was trying to change my 9 year old son's swing and was telling him to bring the elbow down and was also telling him to swing down on the ball. I wish he wouldn't do that until my son catches up with his son in strike outs. My 16 year old has worked with a lot of good batting coaches, including coaches that have played in the MLB. His most recent coach played with and learned how to hit and teach how to hit from Tony Gwynn. Here is another Pro with elbow up.

[songtitle]

I dont want to stray too far off track here, but the truth is: It doesn't matter where your elbow is during the stance.

Stance - elbow your choice
During movement forward, or stride - elbow goes back, and up
After toe touch - elbow goes down

Now, back to the show.:)

[Baseball gLove]

If a kid steps up to the plate and doesn't associate this in his normal swing, IMO it's not going to make that much of a difference by yelling at him to do so.
I've got one kid that keeps his elbow up and one who doesn't, yet they are both consistently solid hitters. The older one keeps his elbow up, but that's because it's a side effect of his mechanics and personal preference. The youngest I actually have place the bat on his shoulder and then raise it slightly with his elbow down where it's going to end up so that he is still learning to use his body rather than trying to swing with his arms.

I have never had to tell a kid to bring the elbow down during the swing, it happens on its own. Sometimes that elbow tries to lead the hands. I believe keeping the elbow down contributes to that problem.

[Jake Patterson]

Darn that elbow up thing must be really bad:Only when used as a cure-all by the mis-informed.

[Jake Patterson]

I dont want to stray too far off track here, but the truth is: It doesn't matter where your elbow is during the stance.
I agree......

[cubsphill]

"Throw strikes!"

[hitnpeas]

Only when used as a cure-all by the mis-informed.


Like the coach we played against throwing 10' arc pitches to his kids and telling them to "swing down through the ball".... I could hardly stand to watch!! :ughh

[R00STER]

I can't stand to hear coaches or parents scream an obvious statement which doesn't help the player at all. Like the one someone mentioned "just throw strikes" or "get it over the plate". Well derrr, the kids trying to do that. He didn't just decide to throw into the backstop. How about telling him what he's doing wrong that explains why his pitches are not making it over the plate.

As a side note, I had a friend that I always played basketball with. I was a terrible free throw shooter and every time I'd go to the line he'd say something like "we need these" like I wasn't already aware of that. LOL

[AgentX]

I can't stand to hear coaches or parents scream an obvious statement which doesn't help the player at all. Like the one someone mentioned "just throw strikes" or "get it over the plate". Well derrr, the kids trying to do that. He didn't just decide to throw into the backstop. How about telling him what he's doing wrong that explains why his pitches are not making it over the plate.


This is actually not always the case.

I've seen a lot of LL majors pitchers get into trouble because they are trying to throw sinkers, curves, changes or paint the black without any regard for the fact that they might end up walking the #9 hitter.

They'll get frustrated if they aren't getting the calls or if their stuff isn't working and then they'll start overpitching and get wild.

"Just throw strikes" is often a request to forget all that crap and pitch to contact against someone who is very unlikely to do any damage with the bat.

[MrUmpireSir]

Not a coach, but from my perspective:

To a pitcher: "Great pitch! Throw it right there!" [after a called ball]

To a batter: "Leave that there!" [after a called strike], "Call time and step out!" [players may request time, not "call" it (http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=2939011)], and "Wear that!" [after an inside pitch]

To a catcher: "Where was that!?" [after a called ball]

[Drill]

Rub some dirt on it! When the player is laying on the ground.


IMHO,

drill

[R00STER]

This is actually not always the case.

I've seen a lot of LL majors pitchers get into trouble because they are trying to throw sinkers, curves, changes or paint the black without any regard for the fact that they might end up walking the #9 hitter.

They'll get frustrated if they aren't getting the calls or if their stuff isn't working and then they'll start overpitching and get wild.

"Just throw strikes" is often a request to forget all that crap and pitch to contact against someone who is very unlikely to do any damage with the bat.

I may stand corrected but I think in the case of the coaches I've been associated with, it was from lack of knowledge about what the player was doing wrong and just stating the obvious. The pitchers at my son's age are just throwing the same pitch and hoping it makes it over the plate. It's not like they're overthinking it. LOL

[ralanprod]

Well, not a cue really but I've just this season been able to break myself of saying "good eye" when a batter lets a bad pitch go by.

I used to say it constantly - pitch in the dirt? Good eye! Pitch two feet outside? Good eye! Pitch that knocks the batter down? Good eye!

I never said "Bad eye" when they didn't swing at one down the middle, despite overwhelming temptation.

[g-mac]

Well, not a cue really but I've just this season been able to break myself of saying "good eye" when a batter lets a bad pitch go by.


Guilty as charged. I've got to break this! LOL!

[songtitle]

There's a 12 step plan in the Good Eye Anonymous Club

[R00STER]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this one, but how about "nice cut!". In other words, you completely whiffed, but the swing was pretty. :)

[HYP]

Not a coach, but from my perspective:

To a pitcher: "Great pitch! Throw it right there!" [after a called ball]

To a batter: "Leave that there!" [after a called strike], "Call time and step out!" [players may request time, not "call" it (http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=2939011)], and "Wear that!" [after an inside pitch]

To a catcher: "Where was that!?" [after a called ball]

All of those are the coaches way of complaining to the umpire without actually complaining to him. They're not truly directed at the player. They are directed at the umpire in a round about way.

[PhilliesPhan22]

There's a 12 step plan in the Good Eye Anonymous Club

where do I sign up?

[sd72667]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this one, but how about "nice cut!". In other words, you completely whiffed, but the swing was pretty. :)

I say this to our 9-10 yr old kids because they usually are frozen in the batters box and never swing. There are 5 kids on our team during the first 3-4 games that never swung. Now these kids actually are revelant in our games and hit the ball. :thumbsup:

[omg]

The one that bugs me is "start your swing earlier."

I can't think of any worse advice to a young hitter.

Why? I see it as possibly good advice. Simply, a hitter can be late, early, above, or below the ball-among other things. When facing good pitching,ie, pitching that taxes a batters talent, a batter may have to "guess" and start their swing earlier. It is sound advice.

Naturally, other possible options are to "shorten the swing","be quicker" etc. but swinging sooner is also solid.

[omg]

The topic was Worst Coaching Cues. I interpreted this as being about kids. If so, I still don't like this cue and I will never tell one of my kids to keep their elbow up.

I agree that it is a bad idea to tell a hitter to get "their elbow up" but if a hitter already does it then leave them alone. Personally, I think having the elbow up is more of a pull-power hitter technique-not for everybody-but it is no absolute. Unless that elbow up-or down-is the cause of a problem leave it alone.

[omg]

When coaches tell base runners to watch the base and only do what the coach says on the bases.

I realize this is necessary at some levels and with some kids but generally base runners should WATCH THE BALL A LITTLE when they are running. Glance at the ball. This is how instincts are developed.

IMHO the only time a good base runner needs a base coach is when the ball is behind the base runner-he can't see it-and the base coach becomes his eyes.

At least let the kids make their own decisions in practice.

[Jesse]

Darn that elbow up thing must be really bad:

http://groundup.hittingillustrated.com/hitting/Videos/BatSlotAtToeTouch_pujols19.jpg
http://groundup.hittingillustrated.com/hitting/Videos/BatSlotPrior2ToeTouch_Picture%25202.png

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/_photos/2007/05/14/gwynnx.jpg

http://images.wikia.com/openserving/sports/images/e/e9/1205619962_Evan_Longoria_Rain.JPG
I would define elbow "up" as the elbow being higher than the hands. The only one of those that has his elbow "up" is Pujols, and that shot is taken mid-swing. Elbow "up" puts the top hand wrist at an awkward angle and causes all kinds of problems for younger hitters. Obviously it works for some but most kids aren't Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols.

[Baseball gLove]

I would define elbow "up" as the elbow being higher than the hands. The only one of those that has his elbow "up" is Pujols, and that shot is taken mid-swing. Elbow "up" puts the top hand wrist at an awkward angle and causes all kinds of problems for younger hitters. Obviously it works for some but most kids aren't Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols.

To me elbow down usually means back elbow by the hip or just off the hip. I consider all the examples provided as elbow up. What you do with your hands and feet while waiting for the pitcher to deliver doesn't matter, but once you start the swing the elbow needs to get up to get down with the swing.

[Baseball gLove]

By the way, you need to look at the elbow in relationship to the shoulders. Pujols' elbow is in line with his shoulders.

http://groundup.hittingillustrated.com/hitting/Videos/BatSlotAtToeTouch_pujols19.jpg

[Harley]

I don't have a problem with the elbow up while the batter is standing there waiting for the pitch, but if you leave the back elbow up while you are swinging, you are going to either miss the ball or hit a ground ball, which is what the pitcher wants you to do.

The Manager of my son's team preaches "chopping the tree" and having your back elbow up. I'm only the assistant coach so I really don't want to undermine his authority even though I believe what he is teaching is wrong.

I taught my son to have the back elbow up while standing at the plate, then when he begins his swing, I have him drop the back elbow down so that he has a swing that is on the same plane as the pitch. This fools the manager into thinking he's using his training method. My son has the least amount of strike outs of any player on the team.

It's funny how the manager is so proud of his own 2 son's swings even though they have the worst batting averages on the team. Whenever I see the manager work with a batter, I see his batting average and power drop.

[gameth]

"Just throw strikes"

I love this one. As if the kid is trying to walk the other team.

How bout, "don't lose him." Like there is not already enough pressure on the pitcher with a full count.

[gameth]

The topic was Worst Coaching Cues. I interpreted this as being about kids. If so, I still don't like this cue and I will never tell one of my kids to keep their elbow up.

Okay, as far as elbow up goes. Here is what I believe, it will come up as the batter loads and then drop towards the ribs as it comes down during rotation.

Problem is that with youth ball, when the coach yells keep your elbow up, the kid will try and swing with the elbow up. This is next to impossible as far as I'm concerned. It tends to create a chopping down type swing with all arms. Level swing drives me nuts too, level to what, the kid should ask.

[Baseball gLove]

Every kid I've worked with knows the elbow is suppose to come down to the hip, it's what I teach. It's called connection. This is from 8U kid pitch.

[MrUmpireSir]

All of those are the coaches way of complaining to the umpire without actually complaining to him. They're not truly directed at the player. They are directed at the umpire in a round about way.

Um, yeah, I know. But from an umpire's perspective when we hear this "coaching" advice from the dugout, we can't help but think "you WANT your pitcher to throw balls? You WANT your batter to watch as strikes go by? Uh..OK." It won't change how we call pitches after all....

[Deemax]

Many of these "worst cues" can be best cues depending on what your working with. Cues mean something different to every player.

[azmatsfan]

To me elbow down usually means back elbow by the hip or just off the hip.

The only time I'd ever use "elbow up" as a cue would be if a young batter were starting with their elbow by their hip. Otherwise, I think this is a poor cue. I see too many young hitters taught "elbow up" and immediately they tense up their right shoulder and back, and their swing becomes long and awkward. Personally I've never taught "elbow up" and have found kids will naturally get the elbow up without trying to teach it.

[Jake Patterson]

Many of these "worst cues" can be best cues depending on what your working with. Cues mean something different to every player.
.... and every coach.

[AgentX]

Why? I see it as possibly good advice. Simply, a hitter can be late, early, above, or below the ball-among other things. When facing good pitching,ie, pitching that taxes a batters talent, a batter may have to "guess" and start their swing earlier. It is sound advice.

Naturally, other possible options are to "shorten the swing","be quicker" etc. but swinging sooner is also solid.
IMO, swinging sooner is a really bad idea for young hitters.

It leads to swinging slow, leaving the bat in the zone for as long as possible in order to make contact.

Instead of teaching them to swing sooner, they should be encouraged to swing quicker, or load earlier, as the case may be.

When they get up to 12U LL Majors and are facing some giant kid who throws 70mph from 46', then perhaps "guessing" at a pitch might make some sense. But with the slow pitching in CP and early kid-pitch, there is no reason on earth why a hitter shouldn't be learning to adapt to the pitch without lengthening their stroke.

[rkbenn]

Every kid I've worked with knows the elbow is suppose to come down to the hip, it's what I teach. It's called connection. This is from 8U kid pitch.

i can tell that this swing is a weak ground ball to the right side. knob to the ball, another bad cue if explained improperly. not to say this kid was taught this. the bat head should be in the strike zone already.

[Baseball gLove]

i can tell that this swing is a weak ground ball to the right side. knob to the ball, another bad cue if explained improperly. not to say this kid was taught this. the bat head should be in the strike zone already.

He pulled his hands inside of the ball. It was a 2 run linedrive double to the right field gap in 2008. He is very consistent staying inside the ball. He always lets the ball get deep. No, his problem is that when he gets lazy he sometimes wraps: drops the barrel behind him and flatens his swing.

[g-mac]

The only time I'd ever use "elbow up" as a cue would be if a young batter were starting with their elbow by their hip. Otherwise, I think this is a poor cue. I see too many young hitters taught "elbow up" and immediately they tense up their right shoulder and back, and their swing becomes long and awkward. Personally I've never taught "elbow up" and have found kids will naturally get the elbow up without trying to teach it.
Absolutely. Not to beat a dead horse here, because IMO it sounds like everyone here agrees to a certain degree, but this follows what I was getting at.

[g-mac]

Every kid I've worked with knows the elbow is suppose to come down to the hip, it's what I teach. It's called connection. This is from 8U kid pitch.
Judging from just the image, the kid looks to have a pretty good swing for an eight year old. :thumbsup:
I truly wish our league offered kid pitch at eight.

[turnin2]

my son got told by one of his coaches "to keep his hands above the ball!"

[HYP]

Many of these "worst cues" can be best cues depending on what your working with. Cues mean something different to every player.

I agree. I'm reading that "elbow up" is a bad cue but for my son. when his elbow is relaxing down he hits like crap. When I see this going on, I remind him to get his back elbow up. He knows it's suppose to come down and that it will as long as he does what he is suppose to with his hands.

[HYP]

my son got told by one of his coaches "to keep his hands above the ball!"

What's wrong with that? His hands should be above the ball. The barrel is below the hands, most of the time.

[hitnpeas]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this one, but how about "nice cut!". In other words, you completely whiffed, but the swing was pretty. :)

I use it as a confidence builder.... We have a girl, yes a girl on our team who takes some nice cuts at 2 straight pitches last game! Missed em both but really had two nice swings. I tell her to step out, look at her from the 3B box and tell her nice swing, don't change a thing. Now have some fun and go hit a baseball! Next pitch is a HR down the RF line.... Sometimes just having them relax makes all the difference in the world!!

[AgentX]

I use it as a confidence builder.... We have a girl, yes a girl on our team who takes some nice cuts at 2 straight pitches last game! Missed em both but really had two nice swings. I tell her to step out, look at her from the 3B box and tell her nice swing, don't change a thing. Now have some fun and go hit a baseball! Next pitch is a HR down the RF line.... Sometimes just having them relax makes all the difference in the world!!
I agree. One of the bigger challenges I've found with young hitters is that they tend to swing timidly for fear of missing the ball. It's easier to bring contact to a powerful swing than it is to bring power to a contact swing.

[mcdaderocks]

This season (Dixie Youth) my 12 year old son in practice was really crushing (a relative term of course) the ball.....pitching machine, me or another coach pitching, teammates pitching, it did not matter. He was also playing on his 7th grade school team which I do not coach while our pre-season practices for Dixie Youth were going on. He started the school team's season with a few weak mis-timed hits and pop outs/slow ground outs. I figured he would come around and start hitting as he got his timing down because his swing looked pretty good to me. I had expected his timing to be off since this team NEVER faced full speed pitching in practice once.
WRONG! the opposite happened. He stopped hitting all together ....nothing but K's and W's the second half of the season.
When the Dixie Youth season started he kept it up K's and W's? I tell him if he wants to be an "all-star" at the end of this season he has to hit because the team has lots of other good pitchers ......no help.
After 5 games I sit him down for a talk about why he is looking at so many strikes and acting like the umpire surprised him when he raised his fist to signal another strike out? Well on the school team Coach A told me never to swing until I had one strike so I never swing until I have one strike. Coach B would yell and carry on so much if we swung and missed on a pitch that was a ball that I don't swing unless the pitch is perfect. I myself almost fell out of my lawn chair when I heard coach B tell my son on a 0-2 count (both called) to wait on "his" pitch.
My son is also an aspiring pitcher so I ask him what is the best and most important pitch to throw .....he says as I programmed him "STRIKE ONE". I could see that clicked by the look in his eye. It just so happened that the best hitter on our team had struck out swinging on a third strike that bounced a foot in front of the plate that day, so I ask him if I or one of my assistants yelled at that kid? We hadn't even mentioned it, no need to, the kid new he was fooled on a bad change up. Then I told him something I read on BBF "go out there with the intention of hitting every pitch just like in batting practice and only back off if the pitch is so bad that you can't make yourself swing at it". In 8 games since he has no strike outs, only a couple walks, and is batting around .500, sometimes crushing the very first pitch, so the worst cue I can think of right now is take the first pitch or even worse take the first strike ......and the worst thing for a kid trying to enjoy a game is a "loud mouth negative idiot for a coach"

[tominct]

Judging from just the image, the kid looks to have a pretty good swing for an eight year old. :thumbsup:
I truly wish our league offered kid pitch at eight.


Why? I have found kid pitch at 8 to be almost unbearable...walk walk walk....now, if you are talking AAU or Travel, well maybe that's something different, but kid pitch 8U rec...ughh. (Remember I'm in New England, not sunny Florida).

Tom

[MrUmpireSir]

After 5 games I sit him down for a talk about why he is looking at so many strikes and acting like the umpire surprised him when he raised his fist to signal another strike out? Well on the school team Coach A told me never to swing until I had one strike so I never swing until I have one strike. Coach B would yell and carry on so much if we swung and missed on a pitch that was a ball that I don't swing unless the pitch is perfect. I myself almost fell out of my lawn chair when I heard coach B tell my son on a 0-2 count (both called) to wait on "his" pitch.

BINGO! Boy, have you ever hit the nail on the head!

As an umpire, I have noticed over the last few years a drastic increase in the number of strikeouts caused by batters simply not swinging the bat. It seems as though every one of them is waiting for their perfect belt-high, middle of the plate fastball to drive and be the hero. Nobody wants to poke something ugly into a hole anymore.

Here's what two of my partners have said about it: "Man, swinging the bat is the best part of baseball; I just don't get it!" Another said "Let me get this straight - they paid $200 for a bat so they could watch an $8 baseball go by all night?!"

What I really want to do is scream "swing the &^%$^* bat already!". As the umpire, though, I have to settle for "Strike 3!"

Tell your son to swing away - and have fun!

[g-mac]

Why? I have found kid pitch at 8 to be almost unbearable...walk walk walk....now, if you are talking AAU or Travel, well maybe that's something different, but kid pitch 8U rec...ughh. (Remember I'm in New England, not sunny Florida).

Tom
We start kid pitch at nine, but we normally have enough kids at eight with a good arm that it could be started early. We could easily come up with at least three solid pitchers for each team. The only problem I see is that our eights play with the sevens so yeah, in hindsight, you could be right.

[Baseball gLove]

We start kid pitch at nine, but we normally have enough kids at eight with a good arm that it could be started early. We could easily come up with at least three solid pitchers for each team. The only problem I see is that our eights play with the sevens so yeah, in hindsight, you could be right.

One of the better pitchers in 8U last year was a big 7 year old. He threw fastball and sometimes took something off the fastball. The following Gif is from a 8U game last year.

[g-mac]

One of the better pitchers in 8U last year was a big 7 year old. He threw fastball and sometimes took something off the fastball.
We've got some seven year olds that could hold there own on the mound, but they are pretty rare. The hard part is finding enough seven year olds that are comfortable enough at the plate to keep it interesting.
Some of them still struggle with the pitching machine, but at that age I that is totally understandable. I've seen some sevens that struggled on the machine, but bounced back a year or two later to be good little ballplayers.

[Baseball gLove]

While he did well from the mound and on the field, the kid was afraid to bat.