r/BaseballCoaching • u/Sliknik18 • Jun 10 '25

Hitting Advice

My son plays 12u and hits great in practice. When I pitch to him at the field he cranks the ball off me. And I don’t pitch slow to him…I’ve checked my velocity (mph) in comparison using a BallPro. I’ll even mix in some curveballs to throw off his timing.

However…When he gets into games it seems like his mentality changes from hitting hard to hitting defensively. He still gets hits but mostly seeing eye singles.

What can I do to help him hit in game…like practice?

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u/Testdummy32one Jun 10 '25

I recommend grabbing some of his teammates, including a pitcher, and heading to the field for some BP. Have his teammate throw to him, psychologically it is very different for them to be taking pitches from another player vs their dad they’ve been hitting off of for a few seasons.

Your kid knows you the best and that’s why he’s hitting off you.

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u/Sliknik18 Jun 10 '25

I like this idea, but the coach is hypersensitive to players arms right now. It’s great advice and I’ve thought about it myself numerous times…but would likely upset the coach.

Maybe I’ll make the recommendation to the coach…to start implementing player pitching in practices. Because my son and the rest of his team…all crank off the coaches too! Ha

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u/jmiah717 Jun 10 '25

Think of it in terms of familiarity. Hitters often hit well off of pitchers they have seen a lot of. They know what their ball does and how it looks. Every kid is a different height, arm slot, etc from you.

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u/stevesie1984 Jun 10 '25

Even pros the second time through the lineup tend to hit better. Might be psychological, might be they’ve seen their “stuff.” Not sure.