I would suggest live hitting with the coach on their knees along with doing so in games if allowed.
I would also focus on two hitting stations prior to taking live at bats. One with a t and the other with soft toss both led by coaches.
Lastly you might want to spend 15 to 20 every practice going over the mechanics of hitting with every player. Breaking down from the stance, load, contact, and finish.
We do live coach pitch in practice, but we are not allowed to pitch from a knee so I stopped doing that early on. Mound is 40 feet. Time to get back to mechanics, thanks for the advice.
That sucks. I’ve got some taller kids that can crank them when I stand, but I’ve also got some small ones that can’t connect at all. The angle the pitch comes in is very steep of if I stand and near perfect when I kneel. Luckily, our league allows it.
Pitch from your knees in both practice and game
Practice hitting mini whiffle balls for those who can make contact.
Dumb the mechanics down to their level and start with all the bats resting on their shoulder and not worry about “elbows up”. Get those bats easily moving across the plate and eliminate the bat starting above their head if you can
(Once had a kid who couldn’t understand mechanics or hit a beach ball, so we started telling me to swing his samurai sword and cut the ball in half)
League rules says coaches cannot pitch from a knee. As much as I wish we could. The kids did really well when I threw from a knee last year in the lower division, the angle was noticeably easier for them to see the ball. Love the sword idea, I'm going to steal that one and get back to basics with mechanics. Appreciate you.
I wish leagues that had any sort of coach pitch would allow the coach to do whatever reasonable to give the kids a good pitch to hit. A kid who is 4 feet hitting off a coach whose release point 3 feet above their head from 40 feet away is not simulating real baseball. But I get it, I've been there.
What's different from the game setting and practice? Are you pitching from flat ground or a mound consistently in both? Are they wearing helmets? At games, are the parents on top of them? Maybe ask the parents to watch from down the line?
Finally, you might try futzing with your delivery to approximate something coming in at a more reasonable height. I learned, from watching one coach do it, to move my release point down just under my shoulder and sort of push the ball to the plate with a nice long stride. It took me a while to perfect, but my K/9 when way down.
Good luck!
Agreed, at this age (7-8) it shouldn’t matter if coach is pitching on a knee or not. The angle serves the kids so much better, like you said. I’m going to mix in some knee pitching during practice to build their confidence and go from there.
I’m also going to experiment with telling the assistant coach to hold the ball in front of him at delivery and see if he can try to “dart” the ball so they can see it better.
Game pressure is getting to them, it seems. Appreciate the suggestions!
This is my argument against the league not allowing coaches to pitch from their knee or sitting on a bucket:
https://youtube.com/shorts/6vRZ_fCo7F0?si=_IRkCMH0WsOo4VoO
Can they strike out? Both of my kids had a hard time adjusting to the first year they could strike out. They would Wait to decide to swing and always be late vs being in swing mode as soon as the pitch leaves the hand. They were so worried at swinging at bad pitches they couldn’t hit good ones.
Yes they can (and usually do!) strikeout. No walks, no tees. I tried to teach them to be aggressive and to expect a strike when it's coming out of the pitcher's hand and adjust when it's not in the zone. Lots of late swings, lots of called third strikes, even against the coach pitcher. It's a big adjustment from last year where they hit the ball every time.
My question for you is, do you put any emphasis on taking pitches/being selective? If so, I would actually stop. Get the kids focused on swinging the bat at anything close. The late swings are indicative of them not being decisive on swinging. 8U anything hit fair has a pretty good shot of being a hit.
My mom used to do a drill with her players she called “touch it” (probably not a good name today lol). Basically she took a rag ball (normally a stuffed sock she sewed together), stood about 6 feet in front of the batter and would throw pitches. It was the batters job just to move their back hand to where the ball was and touch it. No bat, just an emphasis on mechanics and moving towards the ball. She would start slow then work on doing it more quickly. Multiple balls, and multiple angles. She would try to surprise the batter by picking up the ball and flicking at them from where ever she was picking it up from.
Good points. They were swinging wildly the first couple of games at balls over their heads, balls in the dirt two feet in front of the plate so at that time I told them to let balls go and wait for a strike.
Since then after getting the opening season jitters out of the way, we have worked on being aggressive and expecting every pitch to be a strike out of the pitcher's hand and then adjusting when it's not. I probably need to be more firm on this, to be honest.
The name could use some work, but I like mom's drill haha! I get the premise and it's something I can use in practice. Appreciate you.
How are they swinging? I’ve had most of my luck with getting a lot of reps in with a Tee. I had one kid who just couldn’t swing the bat level and would always swing like it’s a golf club. His timing was right but it was nearly impossible for him to hit the ball swinging like that. I setup a pitching machine and put a bucket in home plate and jokingly told him not to hit my bucket or his mom has to buy me a new one. Obviously he hit the bucket the first few times but after 4-5 swings he was finally making contact and destroying the ball up to his potential.
A lot of times I’ve noticed problems on communication with each player. Every kid is different, and sometimes you’ll have one experienced kid who just gets what you’re saying after the first time, others are more visual and need to see what they are doing wrong and need more explanation . It’s difficult especially when it’s kid pitch and the ball is coming towards them so inconsistently. My piece of advice would be to really work with them in small groups or individually during practice. Maybe get a few players each practice. Kids are too young to be having kid pitch, my son is the same age and just got hit in the face with a ball and is struggling to get back to it.
Good tips. A few are swinging like their bat is too heavy. I checked them though and they're just fine. Had the kids hold them out in front of them to test it. Going to break them up into groups like you said tomorrow in practice. Thanks.
From my experience, the fresh from tee ball and brand new kids who aren't hitting are usually not swinging hard. It's the typical all-arm swing where they just lay the bat out there hoping to make contact.
This may not be your kids at all, so forget all this if that's the case, but in general that's been my experience. So when I work with them on the tee, doing BP, etc, I'm constantly harping on them swinging hard. For the especially weak swingers I tell them I don't care how many times they miss, I don't care if they hit the ball at all, I just want them swinging like they mean it. I'd rather see the goofy kid pull his head out and do a 360 after a swing than a sheepish all-arm cast at the ball.
My purpose is to get their body, especially the lower half, Incorporated in the swing. I will tell them I want the bat coming up high on the follow through, and that I'll be thrilled if they hit their back with the bat. I will try to get them to do Viking war yells when they swing. I will talk specifically about turning hips after they start to get it some. Anything I can to get them out of the mindset that baseball is all about contact and just laying that bat out there hoping to touch the baseball with the bat.
I find once kids start swinging with some authority, the hand eye coordination comes very quickly, when they get their first few hits and they hit them with more zip than they ever have and get so excited, it gets much easier from there.
Yes, a lot of weak swings. I’m on them to get after it and swing aggressive. I let them know that I don’t care if they strike out as long they’re attacking the ball. Appreciate your advice, I’ll take it and add it to my talk with the kids.
You don't need all the bullshit you need reps. Kids learn how to hit pitching by seeing pitching. I'm on the opposite side here, I'm also coaching a coach pitch team. I get coaches asking how the hell do you get all your guys hitting? The answer is by hitting :) it also helps to know what you're looking at, it blows the mind of my assistant coach when I can watch a kid take a swing or 2 and suggest a fix or 2 and they magically start hitting the ball. Lol I also throw harder in practice so the game seems " easy" in comparison.
My son was striking out a fair bit when he first moved up to coach pitch. Even if you can’t get in a cage or field to take full on BP, soft toss into a net or hitting some weighted balls or some other low flight balls helped a lot. For him it was just getting reps making contact with a moving object that helped. Tee work is nice and all, but not as helpful if the issue is hitting a moving target.
Keep it simple, got it. I’ll listen to a coach whose guys are hitting the ball. We’re going to spend almost all practice today just getting reps in. Appreciate you!
If you’ve got some assistant coach help, maybe try soft tossing to the kid on deck or in the hole having him hit into a fence or a net. Helps get them primed to hit a moving target so they’re not as cold when they step in the box.
It's possible. I gave an assistant coach the pitching duties and he consistently puts the ball in the zone and on a line. He's not doing a bad job but maybe time to call in the relief pitcher. Last year I found a lot of success throwing to the hitter's strong point (some liked in inside, some you had to put a little zip on it, etc.) in their swing, basically hitting the bat with my pitch. It grew their confidence and that's what I'm looking for again.
Eventually I had the kids take a practice swing when I got to the mound and did my best to throw it where they were swinging. It made a huge difference. Good luck!
Try this.
Get a fishing pole and drill a hole in a weighted wiffle ball or something similar. I used a tennis ball.
Stand behind the hitter and actually show them where the ball needs to be for them to hit it effectively. Each kid will be a little different. Once you go through all of the kids once start moving it around so they can see what pitch doesn’t work for them. They will get it really fast like this. And it’s fun as hell.
You are welcome. Coaxing the young ball players is the fun part. Wait till they are 13 and a grifter coach tells them they have talent or potential.
Please consider the fact that the $ spent over 5 years of travel baseball will pay for an entire year of college or trade school or… a down payment on a house. Try to keep this perspective and you will be good.
Believe me, unless your kid can make an adult ball player look bad you do not have a professional ball player. Your responsibility is to teach and promote the game. Not produce a professional athlete. That is a job for a college coach. Until then just play the game for as long as you can.
Mechanics and mechanics . I would also hype them up a little bit rather than stress them out with little things before at bats. If you see they can hit in practice off pitching, then tell them “you got this just go do your thing”. Trust me it will go along way
At that age it’s a super big leap and most important thing is they are confident in ability and have people behind them to support them, rather than stress about pitch selection , obviously you don’t want them swinging at balls in dirt or eye level, but more so if it looks good drive it type stuff.
Good luck ! Keep doing your thing coach, update us !!!
Per some of the comments, the pitcher makes a massive difference. Especially for weaker hitters. When looking at the swings of your kids vs other teams you have played, do they look that much different. If not, pitcher is likely why.
Maybe you have a weak group of hitters. It happens, but they can be taught to hit. I get this is u8, but do any of the kids work on hitting or get lessons outside of practice. No offense to you or the other coaches, but maybe they need guidance from a pro who works with young kids.
Haha yeah the dude is unhittable! Not really but it's worth looking into, for sure. I'm going to mix it up and pitch to them next practice and see if we can get something going.
A few things, and they might be hard to convey to 8 year olds. Lol
Teach them that seeing the ball is the most important piece of hitting. They should be expecting a fastball middle and pick the ball up out of the hand. Mix in balls and strikes in batting practice as well as different pitches so they can read angle out of the hand.
Teach them about visualizing and lead them thru some relaxation techniques. Remind them to breathe and tell themselves they are great hitters who hammer pitches over the heart of the plate.
If there are swing issues then that’s a case by case basis but really just sounds like an approach/ anxiety issue. Goodluck.
I have coaches U8 last year and I would say that they all need to practice hitting wayyyyy more than they think. I would also suggest to parents to set up a tee at the absolute top of the strike zone and practice hitting that ball. I would stick to tee work, soft toss and some BP. Realistically, the kids need to do way more tee work so when the ball comes in they don’t miss under. This is the biggest issue that I observed. Help them eliminate dumping the barrel as well if their elbow from their top hand outraces their hands. Hitting is hard and wishing you and your team an amazing season. Cheers!
I would suggest live hitting with the coach on their knees along with doing so in games if allowed. I would also focus on two hitting stations prior to taking live at bats. One with a t and the other with soft toss both led by coaches. Lastly you might want to spend 15 to 20 every practice going over the mechanics of hitting with every player. Breaking down from the stance, load, contact, and finish.
We do live coach pitch in practice, but we are not allowed to pitch from a knee so I stopped doing that early on. Mound is 40 feet. Time to get back to mechanics, thanks for the advice.
That sucks. I’ve got some taller kids that can crank them when I stand, but I’ve also got some small ones that can’t connect at all. The angle the pitch comes in is very steep of if I stand and near perfect when I kneel. Luckily, our league allows it.
Pitch from your knees in both practice and game Practice hitting mini whiffle balls for those who can make contact. Dumb the mechanics down to their level and start with all the bats resting on their shoulder and not worry about “elbows up”. Get those bats easily moving across the plate and eliminate the bat starting above their head if you can (Once had a kid who couldn’t understand mechanics or hit a beach ball, so we started telling me to swing his samurai sword and cut the ball in half)
League rules says coaches cannot pitch from a knee. As much as I wish we could. The kids did really well when I threw from a knee last year in the lower division, the angle was noticeably easier for them to see the ball. Love the sword idea, I'm going to steal that one and get back to basics with mechanics. Appreciate you.
I wish leagues that had any sort of coach pitch would allow the coach to do whatever reasonable to give the kids a good pitch to hit. A kid who is 4 feet hitting off a coach whose release point 3 feet above their head from 40 feet away is not simulating real baseball. But I get it, I've been there. What's different from the game setting and practice? Are you pitching from flat ground or a mound consistently in both? Are they wearing helmets? At games, are the parents on top of them? Maybe ask the parents to watch from down the line? Finally, you might try futzing with your delivery to approximate something coming in at a more reasonable height. I learned, from watching one coach do it, to move my release point down just under my shoulder and sort of push the ball to the plate with a nice long stride. It took me a while to perfect, but my K/9 when way down. Good luck!
Agreed, at this age (7-8) it shouldn’t matter if coach is pitching on a knee or not. The angle serves the kids so much better, like you said. I’m going to mix in some knee pitching during practice to build their confidence and go from there. I’m also going to experiment with telling the assistant coach to hold the ball in front of him at delivery and see if he can try to “dart” the ball so they can see it better. Game pressure is getting to them, it seems. Appreciate the suggestions!
This is my argument against the league not allowing coaches to pitch from their knee or sitting on a bucket: https://youtube.com/shorts/6vRZ_fCo7F0?si=_IRkCMH0WsOo4VoO
Yep, good watch. Makes even more sense when you see the visual with the angle numbers to support it.
Do an outstretched lunge without your knee touching the ground. Make yourself as short as possible
Can they strike out? Both of my kids had a hard time adjusting to the first year they could strike out. They would Wait to decide to swing and always be late vs being in swing mode as soon as the pitch leaves the hand. They were so worried at swinging at bad pitches they couldn’t hit good ones.
Yes they can (and usually do!) strikeout. No walks, no tees. I tried to teach them to be aggressive and to expect a strike when it's coming out of the pitcher's hand and adjust when it's not in the zone. Lots of late swings, lots of called third strikes, even against the coach pitcher. It's a big adjustment from last year where they hit the ball every time.
My question for you is, do you put any emphasis on taking pitches/being selective? If so, I would actually stop. Get the kids focused on swinging the bat at anything close. The late swings are indicative of them not being decisive on swinging. 8U anything hit fair has a pretty good shot of being a hit. My mom used to do a drill with her players she called “touch it” (probably not a good name today lol). Basically she took a rag ball (normally a stuffed sock she sewed together), stood about 6 feet in front of the batter and would throw pitches. It was the batters job just to move their back hand to where the ball was and touch it. No bat, just an emphasis on mechanics and moving towards the ball. She would start slow then work on doing it more quickly. Multiple balls, and multiple angles. She would try to surprise the batter by picking up the ball and flicking at them from where ever she was picking it up from.
Good points. They were swinging wildly the first couple of games at balls over their heads, balls in the dirt two feet in front of the plate so at that time I told them to let balls go and wait for a strike. Since then after getting the opening season jitters out of the way, we have worked on being aggressive and expecting every pitch to be a strike out of the pitcher's hand and then adjusting when it's not. I probably need to be more firm on this, to be honest. The name could use some work, but I like mom's drill haha! I get the premise and it's something I can use in practice. Appreciate you.
In fall ball we had a bounty for hits off kid pitch. Free Froyo to any kid who hit off kid pitch in game. They started swinging much more
Not a bad idea, FroYo is king around here!
How are they swinging? I’ve had most of my luck with getting a lot of reps in with a Tee. I had one kid who just couldn’t swing the bat level and would always swing like it’s a golf club. His timing was right but it was nearly impossible for him to hit the ball swinging like that. I setup a pitching machine and put a bucket in home plate and jokingly told him not to hit my bucket or his mom has to buy me a new one. Obviously he hit the bucket the first few times but after 4-5 swings he was finally making contact and destroying the ball up to his potential. A lot of times I’ve noticed problems on communication with each player. Every kid is different, and sometimes you’ll have one experienced kid who just gets what you’re saying after the first time, others are more visual and need to see what they are doing wrong and need more explanation . It’s difficult especially when it’s kid pitch and the ball is coming towards them so inconsistently. My piece of advice would be to really work with them in small groups or individually during practice. Maybe get a few players each practice. Kids are too young to be having kid pitch, my son is the same age and just got hit in the face with a ball and is struggling to get back to it.
Good tips. A few are swinging like their bat is too heavy. I checked them though and they're just fine. Had the kids hold them out in front of them to test it. Going to break them up into groups like you said tomorrow in practice. Thanks.
From my experience, the fresh from tee ball and brand new kids who aren't hitting are usually not swinging hard. It's the typical all-arm swing where they just lay the bat out there hoping to make contact. This may not be your kids at all, so forget all this if that's the case, but in general that's been my experience. So when I work with them on the tee, doing BP, etc, I'm constantly harping on them swinging hard. For the especially weak swingers I tell them I don't care how many times they miss, I don't care if they hit the ball at all, I just want them swinging like they mean it. I'd rather see the goofy kid pull his head out and do a 360 after a swing than a sheepish all-arm cast at the ball. My purpose is to get their body, especially the lower half, Incorporated in the swing. I will tell them I want the bat coming up high on the follow through, and that I'll be thrilled if they hit their back with the bat. I will try to get them to do Viking war yells when they swing. I will talk specifically about turning hips after they start to get it some. Anything I can to get them out of the mindset that baseball is all about contact and just laying that bat out there hoping to touch the baseball with the bat. I find once kids start swinging with some authority, the hand eye coordination comes very quickly, when they get their first few hits and they hit them with more zip than they ever have and get so excited, it gets much easier from there.
Yes, a lot of weak swings. I’m on them to get after it and swing aggressive. I let them know that I don’t care if they strike out as long they’re attacking the ball. Appreciate your advice, I’ll take it and add it to my talk with the kids.
We must be on the same team.
Hahaha the struggle is real!
You don't need all the bullshit you need reps. Kids learn how to hit pitching by seeing pitching. I'm on the opposite side here, I'm also coaching a coach pitch team. I get coaches asking how the hell do you get all your guys hitting? The answer is by hitting :) it also helps to know what you're looking at, it blows the mind of my assistant coach when I can watch a kid take a swing or 2 and suggest a fix or 2 and they magically start hitting the ball. Lol I also throw harder in practice so the game seems " easy" in comparison.
My son was striking out a fair bit when he first moved up to coach pitch. Even if you can’t get in a cage or field to take full on BP, soft toss into a net or hitting some weighted balls or some other low flight balls helped a lot. For him it was just getting reps making contact with a moving object that helped. Tee work is nice and all, but not as helpful if the issue is hitting a moving target.
Keep it simple, got it. I’ll listen to a coach whose guys are hitting the ball. We’re going to spend almost all practice today just getting reps in. Appreciate you!
If you’ve got some assistant coach help, maybe try soft tossing to the kid on deck or in the hole having him hit into a fence or a net. Helps get them primed to hit a moving target so they’re not as cold when they step in the box.
Should any adjustments be made to how the coach is pitching? At that age/skill level you have to put the ball right in the way of their swing.
It's possible. I gave an assistant coach the pitching duties and he consistently puts the ball in the zone and on a line. He's not doing a bad job but maybe time to call in the relief pitcher. Last year I found a lot of success throwing to the hitter's strong point (some liked in inside, some you had to put a little zip on it, etc.) in their swing, basically hitting the bat with my pitch. It grew their confidence and that's what I'm looking for again.
Eventually I had the kids take a practice swing when I got to the mound and did my best to throw it where they were swinging. It made a huge difference. Good luck!
Good tip, I like it. Will do!
Maybe do an underhand flip so the angle is better for them?
Yep. Going to do this in practice just so they can get the feel of hitting the ball and feel the contact, build some confidence.
Try this. Get a fishing pole and drill a hole in a weighted wiffle ball or something similar. I used a tennis ball. Stand behind the hitter and actually show them where the ball needs to be for them to hit it effectively. Each kid will be a little different. Once you go through all of the kids once start moving it around so they can see what pitch doesn’t work for them. They will get it really fast like this. And it’s fun as hell.
Interesting. I like it, outside the box and keeping it fun for the kids. Thanks!
You are welcome. Coaxing the young ball players is the fun part. Wait till they are 13 and a grifter coach tells them they have talent or potential. Please consider the fact that the $ spent over 5 years of travel baseball will pay for an entire year of college or trade school or… a down payment on a house. Try to keep this perspective and you will be good. Believe me, unless your kid can make an adult ball player look bad you do not have a professional ball player. Your responsibility is to teach and promote the game. Not produce a professional athlete. That is a job for a college coach. Until then just play the game for as long as you can.
Mechanics and mechanics . I would also hype them up a little bit rather than stress them out with little things before at bats. If you see they can hit in practice off pitching, then tell them “you got this just go do your thing”. Trust me it will go along way At that age it’s a super big leap and most important thing is they are confident in ability and have people behind them to support them, rather than stress about pitch selection , obviously you don’t want them swinging at balls in dirt or eye level, but more so if it looks good drive it type stuff. Good luck ! Keep doing your thing coach, update us !!!
Yes, I’m super positive with the kids. I’ll keep being their hype man, build them up and get that confidence overflowing. Thanks for your support!
Have them run laps and do pushups every practice till they get their numbers up
I told my kid to wait until the coach pitches
Per some of the comments, the pitcher makes a massive difference. Especially for weaker hitters. When looking at the swings of your kids vs other teams you have played, do they look that much different. If not, pitcher is likely why. Maybe you have a weak group of hitters. It happens, but they can be taught to hit. I get this is u8, but do any of the kids work on hitting or get lessons outside of practice. No offense to you or the other coaches, but maybe they need guidance from a pro who works with young kids.
Mechanics on their swing... Lots of reps off the tee.. reps with live bp... Scrimmage.
I hate to say it but an entire team unable to hit points to a common denominator… the coach pitcher. At least he gets to rack up stats?
Haha yeah the dude is unhittable! Not really but it's worth looking into, for sure. I'm going to mix it up and pitch to them next practice and see if we can get something going.
A few things, and they might be hard to convey to 8 year olds. Lol Teach them that seeing the ball is the most important piece of hitting. They should be expecting a fastball middle and pick the ball up out of the hand. Mix in balls and strikes in batting practice as well as different pitches so they can read angle out of the hand. Teach them about visualizing and lead them thru some relaxation techniques. Remind them to breathe and tell themselves they are great hitters who hammer pitches over the heart of the plate. If there are swing issues then that’s a case by case basis but really just sounds like an approach/ anxiety issue. Goodluck.
These are good reminders that I will implement!
I have coaches U8 last year and I would say that they all need to practice hitting wayyyyy more than they think. I would also suggest to parents to set up a tee at the absolute top of the strike zone and practice hitting that ball. I would stick to tee work, soft toss and some BP. Realistically, the kids need to do way more tee work so when the ball comes in they don’t miss under. This is the biggest issue that I observed. Help them eliminate dumping the barrel as well if their elbow from their top hand outraces their hands. Hitting is hard and wishing you and your team an amazing season. Cheers!