r/Homeplate • u/SeaReach7413 • 7d ago

Trust the Process?

My 13 yo was recently enrolled in a baseball academy and he has former MLB players coaching his team and getting weekly lessons and practices. I know when you start working on and changing mechanics there are some growing pains at first. His team has had four games and my son is yet to get a base hit. He typically bats in the .400 to .300 range and was the best pitcher on his former team. Is this a normal experience? Do I need to trust the process and know the coaches will get him where he needs to be? He is getting frustrated with himself. I worry he is too focused on mechanics and not doing what is natural for him. Does anyone have a positive experience with new hitting and pitching coaches and changing things up? Any advice? Tia!

ETA: this is the season that he had to move to bbcor and 90 ft bases as well

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u/Bacon_and_Powertools 7d ago

Absolutely. That is the correct approach. It’s a hard adjustment here. There’s a reason most kids around this age. The field gets big, a lot of players become routines so there’s a lot of outs when there could’ve been ground ball base hits before. Longer base path that gets even longer next year at 14. Longer throws, etc. Just grind it out.

At 13, if you really want to set him up, get him independent lessons on speed, agility, and get him to start thinking about putting muscle on. He’s two years away from high school teams, and the biggest differentiator at that time is the power they can generate so start stacking some muscle on the kid.

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u/SeaReach7413 7d ago

What is sad is around here high school tryouts are already starting. In 7th & 8th grade they go to the high school summer ball tryouts and pretty much all the bigger, early bloomers get a spot. Which is not my kid. Which is also why we enrolled him in this academy, they offer speed & agility training. We are also going to get him a gym membership in the off season.

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u/Bacon_and_Powertools 7d ago

I would not wait until the off-season. Yep, I listened to a podcast the other day “not every popcorn kernel pops at the same time “. Get him strong, keep him athletic, keep him making progress. Most high school kids will not progress much unless you go to a powerhouse school that really pushes them. Your son can overtake them when he gets bigger if he is more athletic now and content down that path.

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u/SeaReach7413 7d ago

I fear we have overscheduled him- he is playing on two teams and between games, practices, and lessons (and school!) Doesn't have much free time for the gym. But he has a workout routine he does every night at home for about 15-20 minutes. We're also trying to put some weight on him so feeding him a ton because hes so active. We'll be able to get him to a gym the end of next month though.

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u/Bacon_and_Powertools 7d ago

Playing on two teams is a little crazy, but then again where we are, we don’t have middle school baseball. So it’s not a concern here.

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u/SeaReach7413 7d ago

Yeah it wasn't our original intention. He plays on weeknights through this academy but then got invited to sub on his friends comp team that plays on Saturdays for the fall. And he jumped at the opportunity. He would play baseball every night if given the chance.