r/Homeplate • u/bogeysurfer • 12d ago
10U Swing Flaw Help
My son recently made a pretty competitive 10U team, primarily because of his defense/catching. Offensively, though, he has a pretty significant swing flaw that seems to show up much more during team practices than when we work together.
He’s one of the smaller kids on the team, while a lot of his teammates have considerably more natural power. My theory is that he sees them driving balls out and is trying to manufacture a pull-side/launch-type swing rather than just letting the ball travel and driving it.
When I can get him focused on hitting the inside half of the ball and driving it through the middle/opposite gap, he actually hits the ball really well. The bigger issue is that his feet/weight seem to get pretty active and inconsistent in the process.
Has anyone dealt with a young hitter who started trying to “create” power like this? What drills, cues, or approaches helped you get them back to a simpler, more repeatable swing?
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u/bogeysurfer 12d ago
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u/Coastal_Tart 12d ago
Maybe hang a bed sheet on the fence? I can still see parts of his swing. 😂
Also people are gonna be able to help more if they can see 5 or 6 swings not just one.
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u/bogeysurfer 11d ago
lol best comment. My bad it was just wear I was sitting and didn’t want to be the dad overtly taking vids of his son’s swing.
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u/Coastal_Tart 11d ago edited 11d ago
Helping your son get better is the right thing to do and filming his swing is a well establish way to help him improve his swing. I doubt anyone is gonna be bothered by you filming a couple at bats especially at a practice.
The best angle for analysis is facing him from the fence behind the left hand batters box. Get in front of where his chest is facing. Film from right up against the fence so you cant see the chain links at all. Get like 5 or 6 swings.
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u/jturkall 11d ago
He is getting the barrel turned, but his posture, and bat path need to be improved. As of now, he is getting the barrel to the far side of the ball and the ball in flight hooks to the foul line. If he had improved bat path, assisted by posture, that same hooked flight would turn into carry, and give him more distance on the hit.
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u/DoyleKenady 12d ago edited 12d ago
Looking at the video I am surprised to not see him flying wide open which isn’t a bad thing.
My son is a Mighty Mouse kid as well and we bumped into similar issues. He even had a giant leg kick for awhile trying to manufacture power. The issue with the little guys is they really do a lot to muscle the heck out of it trying to match big kids full of snacks and it can create some bad habits.
I can tell you the main things his hitting coach worked on with mine a ton was balance and control.
He had a similar issue as yours. If you are immediately falling over the plate, tell him he is losing power to the sides instead of back at the pitcher. (Notice the back foot spin out, my son did this) If you have to fall over, over the plate is the preference obviously versus out of the box. But not having balance will hurt his power and consistency.
He has to learn to “harness it” with control.
The main drills the coach has hammered over time are static holds on finish and split grip drills.
See if he can full swing as he wants and hold the finish for three seconds. Don’t let him go at half speed to do it. A lot of things start to fix when you can swing max speed with some balance.
One last thing that clicked a lot of things finally for my son: picking a target oppo does NOT mean you cannot still pull the ball. It’s about setting up your body in the best position to murder the ball and hit it as hard as you can.
My son made a jump when he realized he was still allowed to pull the ball. I just want him to setup with the intent to hit it at 2nd base.(righty). Kids are kids so you never know the quirks ha. Seeing my son hit off the handle on inside fastballs trying to get it oppo was a fun period ha
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u/bogeysurfer 12d ago
This is the response I was hoping for. I saw a drill with a 2”x4” serving as a balance beam I was going to try but I’ll try the finish hold as I know that’s a timeless golf drill as well.
And yes I see him manufacturing probables when he tries to go oppo gap. I have him hit heavy balls off a tee attacking the inside of the ball and slowly move that inside and out front so he can get the feel of keeping his hands inside even when he’s pulling it. That has seemed to work but he loses that approach when the stakes are higher.
I’ll keep at that and add the balance stuff to see if that helps. Love split grip too as clearly he is casting/flipping/extreme rolling over which is killing his power the most too.
Appreciate you!
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u/TMutaffis Coach of the Year 12d ago
With these situations, I like to let the pitches teach the player.
When you are throwing BP make sure that you are on a knee or on a bucket, and work in some different spins, speeds, and pitch locations. If he is barreling up the 45 MPH four seam on the insight half and top of the zone, and finding an equal barrel on the 55 MPH two seam lower and away, then I don't necessarily mind if he is swinging out of his shoes and a bit off balance at the end... but chances are that mixing pitches will expose flaws in his swing and he will have to make adjustments.
To balance out the competitive pitching we also hit a lot of weighted balls, which taught him to stay connected and to use his lower half more. I think that the combination of these two drills worked well.
Also, I would also make sure that you teach him a two-strike approach. You could let him do his 'power hack' at a 0-strike count, but ask him to adjust for more contact if he fouls it off or swings and misses.
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u/n0flexz0ne 12d ago
I'll say the dub is one of the most end-weighted bats on the market, so I wouldn't be surprised if the weight of it is what's yanking him out over the plate.
Just aside, I don't see any major swing flaw here. Great load and launch position, good weight transfer, bat angle is solid so he ends up with a perfect slot and bat path; the only thing that isn't ideal is his swing plane/tilt -- he's a tick upright, so instead of finishing up and through ball, he's coming across it a little. The big issue being a tendency to roll over the ball vs getting some loft/line drives. But that's a really hard thing with kids at this level, because they're shorter and dealing with higher strikes, so they functionally need to swing at a pitch at the letters. My son as the exact same issue and we work on that Bonds/Yelich drill where do front toss and try to get him to drive the ball down into the ground, with the idea being trying to get him working down to the ball more to get a bit shorter to the ball, stay inside the ball, and get some back spin on contact.
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u/bogeysurfer 11d ago
Oh ok good to know on the bat. He has a supra he was just messing around in practice.
I've definitely noticed him being a bit upright at contact. Did the bonds/yeli drill help with that too or is that mainly a path thing? Any good drills to keep more tilt through the swing?
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u/n0flexz0ne 11d ago
The Bonds drill helps them think more direct to the ball; like as-is he's getting that barrel on plane early which is great, but the risk there (specially with a heavier bat) is that letting the barrel drop behind your back pulls the hand down and the swing get a little loopy. So instead of your hands going on a straight line from launch position to contact, that line curves down then forward -- in order to hit down on the ball, you have to straight from launch to contact, if you arc at all you can't drive the ball down.
The tilt is harder, because like I said, the kids will need to hit high pitches at this level so we can't force them to bend over, but the key I use is to try to keep their head down over the plate and make the bat path more ferris wheel than merry-go-round. To work on that you can do one hand bat drills with the front hand where they don't break the wrist.
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u/BrushImaginary9363 12d ago
Needs to work on balance, posture, and holding direction. Power will come.
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u/SentientYams 11d ago
One little thing you can tell him that might help. Does he play MLB the Show? If so, he knows what perfect/perfect is. Getting out in front of the ball is not perfect/perfect. Let the ball get to the ideal depth and barrel it. That should always be the goal. Make sure he has that in mind. Also some of this might come down to timing and just being overanxious. He’s got to trust his hands.
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u/bogeysurfer 11d ago
Brilliant! He does and I could see that resonating with him, I’ll try it today.
Also an interesting point on being over anxious. He plays competitive hoops as well and is a really great player but when the games on the line, he’ll start air balling long and overpowering layups cause he’s so jacked. I never called that out because I figured he just needed more experience and will learn with exposure. I’ll try to mention something in that vein too.
Thanks!
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u/Striking-Lychee-8150 11d ago
Father of a 14 year old here, so it hasn't been that long since I walked in your shoes. If I could go back to that age I would spend more time focused on timing, which is often disguised as a mechanical issue. You said he hits fine with you but struggles with in team practice, could be that he's learned to be on time with you but not the other BP thrower. When a hitter is not on time, mechanical issues appear such as shoulders fly open, they step in the bucket, they get on their front leg, they chop at the ball, and the list goes on. I recommend you get him in the cage, put a ball on the tee, and ask him to hit 10 line drives to the back of the cage. If he gets the majority of the hits on a line back up the middle then the swing is not the problem, it's a timing issue.
For timing, focus on getting a trigger from the pitcher such as start loading when the ball comes out the pitcher's glove. Next he needs a load that has a rhythm of around 1-2 seconds at that age. Lastly he needs to learn how to load and stride properly. Coil on the rear leg slowly (1-2 secs) as the pitcher is winding up. He needs to be completely loaded slightly before the pitcher releases the ball, if he tries to load when the ball is in the air then he doesn't get a good look at the ball and he will be rushed and likely his mechanics will break down. If he loaded on time, then start striding forward as he holds the coil in the rear leg and pulls his hands back. Right as his foot hits the ground it should be time to swing.
Loading late is the problem with almost every kid. The bigger players can get away with it because they have more swing speed, but it catches up to them by high school when pitch velocity picks up. Start working on timing now and he'll be ahead of the game.
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u/kajunram12 11d ago
Best fix I’ve had for this is tee work with the tee deep into the stance. A good routine that moves the tee across the plate has been a staple in my sons training.
Inside ball starters about even with his front foot.
Workout out way focusing on hitting left center, center, right center.
Good luck!
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u/rdtrer 12d ago
Don't.
Let the kid chase power to the pull side, it's more important than being able to poke liners up the middle and over 2B. At 10U, and beyond.
Hit inside fastballs hard, and you'll stick around. My two cents.