Hitting Problems

Question
Hi Mike...

My 12 year old daughter is a pretty good hitter when it comes to all the drills I put her through. She drills balls pitched from our pitching machine, hitting off the tee, and soft toss. When it comes to live pitching, she struggles at the plate. Can you suggest anything we can do to work on this?

Answer
I suspect this is due to one of two things:  fear of being hit or timing issues.  Watch her closely and see if her upper body is tending to lean backward during her swing.  This is a dead giveaway that she is scared of being hit.  Make sure that she is not standing too far off the plate because of this.  About the only cure for this is repetition until she becomes comfortable in the box against live pitching.  The other issue may be timing.  Watch her bat from a vantage point in front and see if she is swinging a little late or early.  When she does make contact are most of her balls going down first base line or third?  Obviously you can use this feedback to determine late or early swings.  Please let me know what you discover and we will proceed from there.

Coach Mike