Youth hitting

Question
Hello,

My son, who will turn 11 in March, set his New Years resolution to be a better hitter.  He's a very talented, smart, and average-sized kid.  He's done outstanding in rec ball every year (helping lead teams to 35-5 record the past 3 years), by simply being very good at making contact, base running, and great pitching and defense.  However, travel ball has been a different story.  Instead of using much of the hitting technique coaches randomly throw at him, he seems to get up there and often just make hard contact because it's always served him so well in rec.  However, because the pitching and fielding is so much better in travel ball, this generally results in groundouts to the right side of the infield and SO's.  So with all his talent he gets relegated to the bench frequently, though he's got a great arm, footwork, and baseball instinct. His latest travel coach said this: "I think Trevor has a very Derek Jeter like swing where he is at least driving the ball the opposite way not pulling weak grounders to the left side.  Jeter is making Millions going the other way.  Do a lot of T work for this (which he always has). It is usually a combination of poor hip turn and what they call a chicken winging of the Left elbow at the initiation of the swing.  He needs to get the hands into the palm up/palm down position - Left hand down and right hand palm up at impact."

We have a batting cage, a pitching machine, a Tee, a hit-a-way, and a net indoors to hit into.  My questions are:
Question 1. With all the drills out there, if he had 1/2 hour per day to practice hitting, what specifically should his routine be?  
Following is his latest routine, some of which may or may not be helping significantly:
1. Bat behind back hip turn drill
2. Stand at a fence ONLY bat length to belly away and practice taking swings in that confined space. It will help keep the left shoulder 搃n?before extending and releasing out in front of him.
3. Place his glove or a rolled up towel/batting glove under the left shoulder and swing off a tee releasing the glove only after impact and extend trying to hit line drives to short.
4. Hit off a T at no higher than knee height making attempts to hit line drives. Most poor 揷hicken wing?hitters will continue to hit weak ground balls. Hit until able to hit line drives to the left side. (He seems to do this no problem).
5. One Knee Drill - soft toss position
6. Cement Drill - soft toss position - fake a few throws.  
7. Pivot & Catch Drill - soft toss 2 balls, 1 after the other, catch 2nd ball with right hand after swing.
8. 1 1000 2 1000 Drill - Count & hold 2 seconds after swing.
9. Hit-A-Way
10. Batting cage with live pitching or pitching machine

We watched the "SUPER 8" video and got most of this out of it:
Stance: Back foot in 1st, dig in, hand back to ump, bat back to hand. Feet slightly > shoulder width apart  Slightly bend knees.  Soften shoulders.  Stay still. V shaped arms.  
Load: As pitcher releases, say 搉ow?to load/ cock hips by pointing them toward back of plate, lifting up front heel.  
Stride: < 6" front foot stride regardless if swinging, front heel down
Swing: hips first - they are slower than hands.  
Summary: 1.) Load hips, 2.) hips stride, 3.) hips
pivot, 4.) hands out front directly to ball.  Hips take us to ball, discipline hands react accordingly.
Shoulders are launching pads, hands are jets.  
Summary 2: Dig in, Stance, Coil, Short Stride, Drive, Contact.  Attack THEN adjust to the ball. See the ball!   Track the ball in!  
Hips: full 90 degree horizontal hip rotation forward to pitcher.  Belly button inside ball.  Entire body including shoulders except head rotates. Front side to ball, back side is power.  Outside pitch only: only rotate hips toward 2nd baseman.  
Hands: A to B.  Above pitch level/ don抰 drop hands, hands out front - everything good happens out front.  Knocking knuckles facing exactly in the direction of the pitch, top hand close to body, hands and bat butt to inside of  ball, left palm down, right palm up, always swing diagonally down to the level of the pitch (not 搒wing level?.  Don抰 roll wrists early.  Speed bat - never hit ball with handle/shaft, always hit with
6" percussion/ sweet spot - mark with tape.  Top hand has the power, use it!  Good club/head bat speed.
Full arm extesnsion after contact. High pitch top hand angles bat up, low pitch down.  On contact weight on front heel.  Finish with hands diagonally up over shoulder - no ?swings.  Don抰 let go with top hand.

Question 2. After all this practice and things to think about, when he gets up to bat in team practice and in games, what should his thought(s) be, knowing that kids only think of 1 or 2 things?

Thanks!,
Jeff

Answer
Jeff,
With just a half hour per day your son should just touch the basics such as T work, soft toss, and live. I woldn't concern yourself with too many drills.  Some drills can be very gimicky and not be very useful.  I personally like "game situation" drills or drills reproduce game like actions.  Responses to your drills:
                  #1- Good drill but I rather work on the backside rotation while hitting off   
                      tee.  This does the same thing and if you have good rotational mechanics
                      you will have a good swing and good result with the hit ball.
                  #2- I personaly don't like this version of the fence drill because you can
                      cheet and you cant hit a baseball at the same time.  If you do the same  
                      drill but with the fence about 2 inches from your back elbow you can
                      swing and hit off the tee.  This drill will prevent swinging prior to
                      rotation.  If you swing before rotation then your bat will hit the net.
                  #3- Always thought this was a useless and gimikey drill.  If you have the
                      proper mechanics you will get the proper result when hitting off a T.
                  #4- Hitting of the T is great but hitting line drives to every direction and
                      all heights of the strike zone.
                  #5- I have done this drill but nothing beats proper soft toss and T work.
                  #6- I don't know this drill.
                  #7+8- Never liked these drills, proper swing will give a good hit, what will
                        catching a ball or holding position do if you can't hit a line drive
                        off the T or soft toss.
                  #9+10- Good drills.
I have never see or heard about the "super 8" videos.  I always used and taught rotaional hitting, I will look into these videos.  Your current rotine seems good.  Nothing beats good basic batting T, soft toss, and live hitting.  I use the other drill to change things up to keep the interest but focusing on the main basic drills.  The ulyimate goal of a player is to not think and make all his movements by reaction.  After all the hard work and training baseball needs to become a game of instincts.  If I would remaind myself of two things before stepping up to the plate it would be stay balanced, and stay inside the baseball.

Let me know if I can explain anything further.  Good Luck,
John Priest