Hitting Mechanics of my 9 year old

Question
Good morning.  My 9 year old son is experiencing an hitting issue that I can't for the life of me seem to coach him out of.  It's kind of hard to describe but I will try and do my best.

When he takes a swing, his arms and wrists are very stiff and rigid thus when he takes a swing his arms stay straight.  Because of this, the follow through causes his whole body to twist causing a number of problems.  I have never seen anything like this before from any kid (I have coached little league in the past) and I'm not even sure how to approach it. His stance is fundamentally sound and does makes contact regularly but there is absolutely no power and his bat speed isn't the greatest either.  Any help on how I can coach him out of this would be great.  Thanks!

Answer
Chris,
I have seen this and it is extremely hard to fix.  your son needs to learn to relax his arms and swing from the bottom up (footwork, rotate the hips, then swing)  The hands are always the last to move and in swings like your sons they are usually the first, causing the reduced bat speed and power. Drills are sometimes too hard to explain in writing but here is a link to a video I found online:  http://www.5min.com/Video/How-To-Play-Baseball-Fence-Drill-5150079  This drill will help with the rotation and keeping the hands inside the baseball.  If all else fails you can try some training devises such as the "Power Drive Brace Youth Hitting Trainer", or the "Power Punch Quick Hands Hitting Trainer".  You can find these products at www.baseballexpress.com under the hitting aids tab.

Good Luck,
John Priest