throwing/pitching

Question
Yes please send me what you can.. I will also check out the other websites.. I kow Kyle wants to play.. I just see him getting discouraged because the other teams are getting better and they are not.  I don't want him to give up on something he enjoys playing.  My email is [email protected] or my home email is [email protected].  Thanks for your input, it's appreciated!

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Followup To
Question -
My son will be 9 in June, and he just started Minor league. He is 4 ft and weighs 52 lbs.I think he needs help with control over his throws.  Pitching and throwing to a base. The head coach is too passive saying "well they are just kids and they are here to have fun" not really instructing them and my boyfriend who is an assistant coach seems to think That he just needs to get out there and practice and that he doesn't need someone showing him the correct way to stand, correct arm movement or release point.   I feel differently.  I feel If Kyle had someone to show him what he was doing wrong, he would get better and more confident. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about mechanics to help him.  What could you recommend?
Answer -
Dear Gena,

Thank you so much for your question. I commend you highly on your effort to try to help Kyle improve.  

First of all I have to say that YOU, Gena, are absolutely RIGHT!

Second of all, I have to say that your son's coach and your boyfriend, the assistant coach, are ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY 100% WRONG!

Well, they aren't total wrong.  The boys are out there to have fun and they are "just kids".  But what exactly does "just kids" mean?  Does it mean that they don't have to learn how to do something correctly because they are "just kids"?  I am sure that when Kyle was young, you taught him how to brush his teeth.  First you did it for him to show him the right way to do it so that he would brush them correctly and learn to do it right to take care of them so that they would not rot and get cavities.  Hopefully, Kyle has learned to brush correctly and now he does it without much thought or effort because he was taught early how to do it right.  Now what if you didn't teach him to brush correctly?  He would likely not do it right, or at all because he would lose interest because it really wasn't important.  Later, his teeth would rot and he would be set up for a lifetime of dental problems.

Well this is an example, but it definitely applies. If he does not learn to throw, field and hit correctly now, he will develop bad habits that can be impossible to correct.  I have seen it happen and then as the player ages, because of those bad habits, he can not compete and quits playing altogether.


I coach junior high young men in a select league.  What a select league means is that the young men on my team are the best of the best.  They learned at a young age how to do things right and now they are reaping the benefits at the 13 and 14 year old level.  We travel and play in tournaments and will play about 75 games this year.  While this may not be what your son wants to do later, it might be.  Therefore, he must learn proper mechanics, NOW!

One fact is certain, IF HE DOES NOT LEARN THE RIGHT MECHANICS NOW,  HE WILL NOT BE PLAYING LATER.  Oh he might be on a team, but he will not be a vital part of the team.

Proper throwing, fielding, hitting and running mechanics are essential to being a good baseball player.  Kids can get away with bad mechanics at the 9-12 year old levels.  As they age, bad mechanics overrule ability and athleticism and turn the good player into an average or poor player.  Then the kid gets discouraged and quits.

I have a 13 year old left handed son who pitches, plays first and outfield.  He is 5'8" and 155lbs.  He throws at about 68mph average.  The last game he pitched he threw 90 pitches in a complete game of 7 innings.  He struck out 10 batters and gave up only 1 hit and no runs.  The greatest stat is that of the 90 pitches he threw 70 were strikes and only 20 were balls.  That is control which comes from excellent, well taught and daily practiced mechanics.  We work on it daily except for Monday.  That is his day off. This does not mean that the team practices daily, but he does.

Your son may just want to have fun playing in a rec league, which is great. I fully support the rec leagues and the kids that play in them.  But he should not settle for being taught the wrong way to do things.  He deserves the opportunity to learn the correct way to field, throw, hit and run.  Then let his desire and love for the game take him where it may.  

I can email you some illustrations regarding the proper mechanics of throwing, or you can go to various baseball websites.  A great one is pitchingmaster.com.  You can download an ebook that provides the same illustrations that are great. He may not be a pitcher, but throwing a baseball is throwing a baseball.  If you learn pitching mechanics, you are learning throwing mechanics. You can also do a web search for baseball throwing or pitching mechanics.  Pass the information along to your boyfriend so that he can begin teaching the proper mechanics to all of the kids.  Coaching youth baseball is a big commitment.  The kids deserve instruction on how to do things right.  It is great that he donates his time and heart to the kids, but he should do his best to learn how to teach and coach the best he can.  He is not just a babysitter who likes kids and baseball. He is a coach and teacher.

I also suggest that you go to some hitting websites such as beabetterhitter.com and batspeed.com.  If he learns proper mechanics of hitting now, even at a small size, he will hit the ball hard and become a great hitter.

Have you considered private lessons?  This is vitally important. I have been coaching for over 9 years and know a lot about baseball and teaching it.  I still have my son take private hitting lessons and we have a pitching coach that we go to once per year minimum to fine tune his mechanics. The lessons make a huge difference because it brings in an outside source of knowledge and unfamiliarity.  Our hitting instructor only sees him once per week at the lesson and can be much more critical in finding flaws in his swing. He is unbiased and his only goal is to improve his swing. Lessons are not that expensive and a lot of times 6-10 are all that are needed.  It is a small commitment and cost if your son really wants to play ball at a high level.

Finally,  look for a summer baseball camp that you can send him to for instruction. See if your boyfriend can go and watch some.  He will learn as much, or more, than your son will.  Plus, he will get to spend more time with your son, which is very important for both of them.

My son and I have a very special bond that baseball has brought us.  His goal is to play college and professional baseball.  I feel it my job to provide him the opportunity to maximize his potential to try to achieve it.  Even more importantly, we have a love for the game and for each other that noone can ever take away from us.  

I commend you again for your love for your son and doing what you can to help him.  I will pray for you and your son and your boyfriend that you all will be blessed in your baseball efforts and your lives.  

Encourage your son to enjoy what he is doing.  If baseball is not his passion, he will figure it out and let you know. That's OK.  But if he is going to play, he deserves the chance to play it right and to the best of his ability.  We don't always win games, but if we play the game correctly, we will be successful and have FUN!

If you ever have any more questions, contact me through allexperts.com.  If  you want those illustrations, contact me again through allexperts.com and provide me with your email address and I will email them directly to you. I cannot attach information to these correspondences through this site.

Play Ball!

Coach Boss

Answer
Gena,

I will send the illustrations in a Word file to both of your email addresses.  Please tell Kyle, or better yet, show him what I say about the winning and losing.

At 9 years old, I know that winning is very important to him.  To a coach like me, it is important, but not most important.  What is most important right now is that Kyle builds a foundation in his fundamentals and mechanics and that will allow him to grow into a real and dominant ballplayer.  By working hard now, he will be what he wants to be when it matters, which is in high school.  

My son is having great success now because of his work, but he does understand that a bad game or two or three or four and his team having a losing record has no bearing on what he will be when it counts....High School.  Prepare now for later.  Have fun now for later.  If you win now, great, but prepare and you will win when it really counts.

I will email that information today along with the manner in which we run our bullpen sessions.  A bullpen session is pitching practice.  It works great for control, but you have to have the mechanics first.

Play ball!

Coach Boss