Batting - Adjusting Hitting

Question
I have a player that I have coached for years.  He is now 11 yrs old and is one of the best contact hitters on the team. He rarely walks and really knows the strike zone.  However, in the past 3 years he has not had one hit to the left hand side of the field.  He is droping his back hand during his swing and connecting on the hit with the bat at an angle to right field sending it that way.  Are there drills or coaching techniques to get him to hit the ball more square and even pull it to left.  Teams are now stacking up the right side of the field against him causing him to get out more often. Thanks for the help

Answer
I don't know of any particular drills to suggest that would correct that particular symptom, althoguh there could be many things causing him to hit consistently to the opposite field. Unfortunately, this is one of those things that's impossible to diagnose in an email...I'd have to see his swing to identify possible problem areas. He could be late on his swing, his bat speed may need improvement, he may not be using enough top hand, his grip could be wrong, he may be too far away from the plate, he might be dropping his shoulder, he could be stepping out....there are a zillion things that may be contributing to this. Granted, keeping your hands inside the ball and going the other way is usally harder to teach than pulling the ball! I would suggest working with him on a batting tee, carefully watching his swing. If he can pull the ball or go up the middle with a tee, then he should be able to do so while at bat. Move the tee around to different positions in the zone, and see how he does. If you set it up on the inside, and he still doesn't pull it, then it should become obvious what he's doing.

Incidentally, I can't help commenting on one thing in your email, where you wrote that he really knows the strike zone, yet hardly walks. That's not typically the case....batters that work the zone almost always have MORE walks due to their patience at the plate. I only mention this in case he's swinging at pitches he shouldn't.

Best of luck!