hitting/running

Question
My son is having problems with hitting the ball with some power. He is small. 5"3 124 lbs. Age 15
He has a very good swing but, needs to be more aggressive at bat. He also needs to gain some speed in his running. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

Answer
How well does your son hit the ball at the batting cages?  If he has good power at the cages the problem most likely lies in pitch selection.  If he hits consistantly at the cages but with little power you will want to focus on improving his bat speed.  Of course everyone always wants to improve their bat speed and there is no simple solution, but there are a few things that will go along way toward helping.

First, swing often.  I have my baseball players swing at least 100 times/day - the only way to get better at something is to do it.  We also spend alot of time doing rotational medicine ball work.

As for running speed.  Again, the only way to get better at something is to do it.  Look at the demands of his position and the distances he has to sprint in a game and replicate that.  Have him sprint a distance, rest 3x as long as the sprint took and repeat for example.

I know that those are pretty vague answers, but they should get you moving along the right direction.  If you have any farther questions, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]

Yours in Sport!

Coach Dan
www.baseballstrength.com