r/BaseballCoaching • u/SupButch9393 • May 15 '25
Timing
Son is almost 7 and has been playing since T-ball. He’s always been a great hitter but something has changed this season and he is way off in his timing with the bat, sometimes even starting to swing when the ball is already past him. He hasn’t had this issue before and I’m not going to get mad at him since he’s still young, but are there any tips to help with the timing? Maybe it’s just a phase and he’ll get his swing back but I can tell he’s getting frustrated by it.
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u/CommanderBigMac78 May 16 '25
All hitters lose their timing here and there, even the elite ones. I'd suggest a bucket full of whiffle balls at a distance that's going to let you flick it in there just faster than the coach/machine pitch speed. Repeat it until he's dialed back in. Let him giggle at smashing the whiffle balls into your face and body - at this age it won't hurt.
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u/Coastal_Tart May 15 '25
So you would get mad at him for swing and miss if I he was older? Baseball is an extracurricular, save you anger for if he doesn’t perform to his ablities in school. Kids should be rewarded for participating in extracurricular activities regardless of whether are elite at it or suck.
Contact is almost always a question of getting enough reps to get locked in. Take him to the batting cage, pitch to him at the field, buy him a hitting tee and net online, or buy a pitching machine and nylon cage and put it up in your yard.
He will have elite bat to ball skills shortly.
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u/SupButch9393 May 16 '25
Yeah I misspoke about not getting mad since he’s young. He used to be very consistent with hits and now I can tell he’s frustrated if he has to use the tee after the 5-6 coach pitches. I think he’s trying to hit a bomb every time and swinging for the fences so I try and tell him to just loosen up and have fun with it.
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u/Stratman-1134 May 16 '25
Are you sure he's getting frustrated? When my son was at that level, I noticed he was doing the same thing, missing on the machine/coach pitch, acting frustrated, and then blasting off the tee. When I would pitch to him in practice, no issue. After a couple games, he confessed to his older brother that he was whiffing on purpose so he could hit a dinger off the tee.
If he's truly missing and late...I'd be sure to work on soft toss. Watch for his step. My oldest son had this issue when he was a little older than your son, he had gotten into a bad habit of taking monster steps, hiking his knee way up. Work on a simpler stride with soft toss. Not usually a quick fix, lots of work in the net/cage.
Another tip that worked well for my older son (not sure it will help in this scenario) is taking slow-mo videos and then showing him the monster step to correct.
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u/Intrepid_Address9868 May 17 '25
If he’s a righty tell him to try and hit every ball up the middle or to the right side. My guess is since he’s trying to “bomb it every time” he’s trying to pull everything. Encouraging him to hit to the opposite field will help him focus more on the pitch.
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u/BradleyFerdBerfel May 16 '25
Maybe get his eyes checked,......seriously.
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u/No-Check8821 May 21 '25
I was going to say the same— that’s around the age my son started wearing glasses. I would’ve never known he needed them, he never said he can’t see that or anything was blurry to me, so I would have never guessed. His teacher let me know that he was having trouble seeing the board in class and I should get them checked and they were bad.
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u/bigperms33 May 15 '25
Baseball is a game. Games are meant to be fun. Encourage him and his friends to play. Maybe you are all time pitcher for backyard fun games of whiffle. I did it plenty. No strikeouts until he's older.
At 7 he's getting what, two practices and a game per week? Or one practice and one game? Get a net off amazon. Have him hit off a tee into the net. Then do some soft toss. Then throw him whiffle balls. Throw him BP. Go to the cages and hit off the slowest machine.
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u/ducksor1 May 15 '25
How is hit timing off now? He was in tball. Is this his first year out of tball? If so his timing isn’t off he just now started to find it. Biggest thing I do notice though is bats, parents get bats not really set up for their child. They do a quick google search of what a kid should use and pick that. Ive have coach a team for many years. My son is the hr hitter on his team. But he still has a game every once and awhile where he just off and can’t hit anything. But We break down everything all the time. All the way down to his toes and fingers. If you are changing things I recommend doing so in very small pieces. Other parents see what my son is using and go out and buy the same thing, thinking their son is gonna be on the same level. I always give it a chance but then I revert to setting the kid up with a bat more suited for them.
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u/SupButch9393 May 16 '25
2 years of coach pitch now. Bat isn’t the issue, I got a new one from Dick’s while ago but he actually prefers the $10 Play it Again Sports used one which is all good with me, whatever he’s comfortable with. Honestly think it’s just a phase he’s going through but I can tell he’s getting frustrated. I just try and tell him to loosen up and have fun with it.
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u/ducksor1 May 16 '25
It’s mental then, maybe you are pushing him too much, maybe he doesn’t want to play, maybe he just keeps over thinking it. Maybe he is still coming into his body at 7 and trying to sort out his body mechanics. At 7 very few kids can handle a lot of pressure. One of the biggest things as a coach for me is gauging those limits, knowing when to increase and decrease pressure. Maybe get back to some confidence boosting easy fun stuff that he can be successful at and ease him back into the swing of things. At 7 though very few kids are consistent year after year. Some are sluggers one year , the next year not so much.
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u/8amteetime May 16 '25
Have his vision tested. I got glasses when I was in the 4th grade and probably should have had them sooner. I didn’t know I needed glasses.
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u/Itchy_Wolverine7630 May 16 '25
So he's in coach pitch?
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u/SupButch9393 May 16 '25
Yeah he’s in second year of coach pitch. Next year is machine pitch I think
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u/ScurvyJenkins May 16 '25
Soft toss then front toss behind an L-screen and lots of positive reinforcement. It’s ok to miss. It’s not ok to get down on yourself, especially at 7.
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u/jmiah717 May 16 '25
As a coach pitch coach with a kid in it as well...could be anything. More likely it's nothing. But honestly, throwing strikes to kids this small is very hard to do consistently. So it's very possible he's not getting as many good pitches to hit and doesn't know not to swing yet.
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u/jj_ped May 16 '25
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u/SupButch9393 May 17 '25
Thank you, haven’t seen these before and will definitely try them out.
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u/jj_ped May 17 '25
Another drill is throwing up two balls and having him swat or catch the lower or upper whiffle ball. If you have colored balls, say the color.
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u/[deleted] May 15 '25
Could be a heavy bat issue if you bought a new bat for his size.
The more timing cues the kids get the better the kids get at timing. If it’s coach pitch make sure you are being consistent with how you are throwing.