Fix a hitch in a swing

Question
Rick, my 13 year old son doesn't keep his left shoulder in when swinging (he bats right handed). We've tried to fix but no luck. Do you have any drills or techniques that would help him keep his shoulder in? Thanks for the help.

Answer
Brook:  Thank you for your question.  A common problem indeed!

What your son is experiencing can be caused by over swinging, or swinging too hard.  It could also be the result of not getting his front foot down early enough, which will cause him to be late with his swing.  Feeling that he is late, he may be swinging harder so as to catch up.

Another thing to look at would be the direction of his stride as he loads.  It should be early and slow, on line, directly back at the pitcher.  If he is striding off line, it will cause his front shoulder to follow his stride foot, which transfers to his bat head dropping, creating a long, looping swing.

Result is a lot of swing and miss, pop ups or easy fly balls.  He will feel he is late, thus attempt to speed up his bat by swinging harder, increasing his struggles.

The slower and earlier he strides and loads, the less body and head movement that will be created.  Less head movement results in his being able to see the ball better, which is truly the essence of all hitting.  You can't hit what you don't see.

Correct repetitions on the tee will help create the muscle memory to allow him to duplicate that swing in BP and game situations.  Your mind will learn what you teach it, whether it is right or it is wrong.  Once taught, your mind recreates that movement it has learned when asked to do so in competition.  A hitter needs to be able to trust his skills, so that he can step in the batters' box with a plan; first and foremost ~ see the ball.

The good news is that these are all areas that can be relearned.  Starting from the ground up to get the stride on line, slow and early, track the baseball.  If your front foot is down at that point, on line, your front shoulder will stay closed, allowing you to put a short, compact level swing on the baseball.  He should start to see more line drives and ground balls, less pop ups, fly balls and swing and miss.

On my site http://www.theoleballgame.com  there are a number of pages on hitting, as well as hitting drills.  The links to those pages are listed below:

Hopefully you can locate some things which seem to fit your son's current situation.

http://www.theoleballgame.com/baseball-hitter-development.html

http://www.theoleballgame.com/hitting-progressions-rookie.html

http://www.theoleballgame.com/hitting-progressions-advanced.html

http://www.theoleballgame.com/baseball-drills-by-categories.html

Good luck as you move forward.  While hitting issues can be frustrating, they can also become very rewarding as you work through a problem and see it get back on track.  One goal of every hitter should be to become their own best hitting coach.  It provides them with the ability to correct a problem in the moment, thus not losing an at bat, a game, or numerous games looking for a solution.

It all takes time; but is well worth the effort.  Once they learn what causes a particular problem to occur, they are able to make the adjustments in real time, not having to wait.

Please let me know how things are going.  These types of issues are fun to work on as a player because you can see results, things like better contact, more line drives and power, bat speed.  With those come a renewed confidence.  You have done the work to develop the skills, which allows you to trust those skills in competition and concentrate on the essential ~"See The Ball."

Yours in baseball,

Rick