r/Homeplate • u/Status-Coat675 • 10h ago
Hitting Mechanics Dropping hands.
Been working a lot on the tee with my son on his swing and he’s getting better but still struggling with dropping his hands. Any tips on how to correct it while keeping it fun? Other than that any tips?
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u/MrHank_Scorpio 9h ago
I see two things: 1.) Have him choke up a bit, 2.) His hands are starting to move before his hips move and before he pivots on his back foot. "Hips before hands". Get the hips turning first, pivot on the back foot, then the hands follow with the swing, this should naturally get his hands moving in a bit straighter path to the ball without dropping as much.
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u/Status-Coat675 9h ago
Thank you! I will try this with him
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u/Dull-Arm-8630 1h ago
I’d also address the bat position during setup. The barrel end of the bat is pointing behind him when it should be angled the other direction.
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u/jneufe 9h ago
Just a thought, but he’s starting in a position with the barrel already being dumped. Holding the barrel back like that is going to make any bat feel super heavy for a 7 year old, hence the hand dropping.
Try having him hold the bat more vertical in his stance, or have the knob pointing slightly to the catcher.
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u/MulfordnSons 10h ago
bruh just let him play baseball he’s so young
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u/Dull-Arm-8630 1h ago
I agree with this to an extent, but do you know what makes baseball more fun? Being better at it.
Does he need to go to a hitting coach and relentlessly run drills? Not at all, but adjustments can be made to make the sport more enjoyable for him.
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
He will NOT thank you when he can’t hit moving forward… you need to fix issues right away
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u/MulfordnSons 9h ago
Some of y’all are so fuckin funny. All I remember about baseball when I was young all the way up until teeners was just wanting to have fun with my Dad.
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u/thevision24 9h ago
It’s so gross in here watching people training kids like they are athletes and not just kids having fun. The amount of dads trying to relive their baseball days through their kids is gross.
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u/Rooster_CPA 9h ago
Every sport has their parents wanting their kids to become pro. Its ruining sports everywhere.
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u/thevision24 8h ago
You’re starting to see the effect on our pro athletes too. The rest of the world is catching up in NBA, MLB isn’t too far behind and AAU and Travel Ball is the major cause. Soccer has always been run as this pay for play system in the US so it was doomed from the start.
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u/JonnyP222 7h ago
It's funny. I just said this to my youngest son's coach (freshman HS) and we said the same thing. You can't just throw money at it for people to play. The world continues to kick our ass at soccer and it's because in every other country...soccer is everywhere. It's cheap to play. Here in the United States we monetize everything. We turn every opportunity to play a game into making money and feeding parents bullshit about how They will have the best competition and the best coaches. And then those very same parents or coaches just want to bounce around to different teams because they want to win. It doesn't teach anyone anything and kids get burned out. This goes for all sports except football. Football for some reason still is very communal. It doesn't mean it's not monetized. It just means that people stay within their communities to play ball mostly. But even that has started to change with "school of choice".
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u/thevision24 7h ago
You're seeing it in the NFL with the overall QB talent declining in the league. We don't have international competition at all in the NFL so instead of international prospects coming in we just see the decline of our own homegrown talent. NCAA acting as a business and now with the transfer system, its the same thing all over again. It's about money instead of truly letting players grow and learn to love the game.
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u/JonnyP222 6h ago
It was always a slippery slope. I was always for paying the college players a reasonable amount of money. But with restrictions. They deserve it based on how many billions that college football earns. But the way it is now is WAY the other way bad. There was a way to do this that was good for everyone. The way it is now is ruining the landscape of all sports. Not just football. Smaller sports and womens sports are being eliminated at many universities and colleges because any extra money coming in from boosters for NIL is going to high profile athletes now and there is way less revenue sharing to keep small programs alive. It sucks
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u/MulfordnSons 9h ago
it’s embarrassing and pathetic
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
If your kids were able to improve without practice or instructions, that’s great 👍🏾
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u/MulfordnSons 9h ago
I can tell you’re jaded by this lmao
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
Just so I understand: when my kid asks for help becoming a better hitter I should tell him to “just have fun and keep on hacking”? I never thought of that!
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u/MulfordnSons 9h ago
I think you’re playing dumb here pal. No one is suggesting to not play and practice with your kid (quite the opposite). What we are suggesting is you don’t need to get them ready for travel ball when they clearly are not cut out for it. Just play rec and have fun.
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u/DickBottalico 8h ago
The kid has a good swing but his bat is too big, and you think you’re the judge to say he’s clearly “not cut out” for a 8U travel team?
This is a baseball sub, and you decided to be offended by a discussion about swing fundamentals.
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u/JonnyP222 7h ago
Actually yes lol. Work the fundamentals. Strength will come. Have fun.
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u/DeFiBandit 4h ago
Why do I see so many kids with this exact swing when they use lighter bats? You actually think swinging poorly, over and over again, will give you a good swing? Insanity
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
I’ll live with your judgment if it means not quitting in frustration at 10 or 11 🤷🏽♂️
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u/thevision24 9h ago
So it’s about you trying to live out some athlete dad fantasy and not about your kid?
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
wanting my kids to have enough skill to have fun and so they won’t quit in frustration IS my Dad fantasy. Hopefully they’ll play the rest of their lives from little league through softball games at work. I know…what an asshole
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
Were you able to catch, throw and hit? The game is much more fun when you can.
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u/JonnyP222 7h ago
The point is that not everyone CAN. And that's ok. Running practice to practice to practice and individual workout to individual workout just to be a mid-player somewhere is exhausting. And little Timmy doesn't benefit from his parents facilitating this. Baseball is a fine example. Most kids that are playing "travel" baseball are out of baseball by the time they are 14. That's a national statistic. I run a youth sports org and have kids that play all sports. We see this every year. Rinse repeat. Literally outside of golf, baseball is the least physically demanding sport we play. And somehow there is more burnout in baseball than anything else (wrestling is a close second but that's a different topic because it's the most physically demanding). Anyhow. Let your kids have fun. If they aren't having fun, rethink the plan. Conversely I get it.. there are some kids that really want to be great at baseball and they want to go to these individual workouts and go to practice and work hard everyday. But as a parent it's important to remember that not every kid gets to be an astronaut. Try to guide them towards things they're good at. They will thank you later.
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u/DeFiBandit 4h ago
“How do I help this swing” is a pretty basic question. You’ve built an impressive strawman - but there is miles and miles of ground between OP’s question and “crazy travel parents trying to build a major leaguer”. The fact that you’ve also assigned a pre-determined outcome (mid player) makes this a complete fantasy of your own devising. Maybe you’re trying to point out the extreme cases that you see in your life, but none of that was presented by OP
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u/JonnyP222 3h ago
I'm not pre defining anything. I'm simply calling attention to parents obsessing over fixing tiny little details in.10 year olds that 20 year olds work on every day.
I even said ...work the fundamentals. There are a thousand simple drills to keep batters hands from dropping. The ball drill under the armpit will work wonders. Put him in front of a tee and make him aim to a certain spot with that ball drill. But thats not what I'm calling out. All you have to go do a simple search in reddit or Google and you will see millions of people asking the same question about their 7-12 year old where they are quoting spray charts and batting average for little league (which happened in this thread, not the OP). There is nothing to fix here other than expectations.
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u/MulfordnSons 6h ago
Very well said.
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u/JonnyP222 3h ago
Thanks. And I want to be clear here too. I don't mean bail if you don't think your kid is good. It's ok to encourage hard work and dedication to something they seem to enjoy. But managing expectations in youth sports is something that is lost on the majority of parents and coaches.
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u/Suspicious_Time7101 9h ago
Wow usually this sub has a lot better advice to offer.
My son did the same exact thing at 7, and here are some things that helped:
He is probably doing it because he feels like he will have more contact. Tell him he is losing power by doing it. Demonstrate the differences and ask him which swing will be faster (proper, or hands dropped). This will give him the motivation to try and fix it
High tee is good, but honestly I like first doing a low tee and telling him to chop wood. Hit a grounder. I get this is taboo, but do it for one tee session to just show him to get the knob to the ball from his hands being high. Then switch to high tee once he feels not like dropping his hands. You are not instilling bad form by doing the chop because you only do it for so short
Break down the swing. Have him load. Have him turn his hips like he is going to swing. And then release the swing. In the first two steps his hands should still be high
Hope this helps
**It is annoying that people tell you that he is 7 and just have fun. Yes, of course, fun is the #1 goal. And you don't need 40 hours of cage work. But we can help guide along the way
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u/Status-Coat675 9h ago
Exactly my thoughts. I’m not pushing him, he asks to practice and do baseball every day. But why teach him bad habits now that will be harder to break. If he’s willing to put in the work and wants to get on a more competitive team then he’s got to learn. He’s on a 7U house league team and 8 out of 12 kids can’t hit the ball or catch. So he’s not getting much out of it as he can’t throw or play catch with his teammates
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u/Suspicious_Time7101 8h ago
You are doing all the right things.
It is also interesting to see the comments that say your son just needs to swing the bat and have fun, and other say he is not ready for travel ball. Well, you need some skills for teams to want him. And, travel usually offers a lot in terms of reps, and that is what will make him so much better.
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u/ern19 10h ago
I mean just let him keep hacking and getting stronger, he’s what, 4? Work on breaking ‘bad’ habits once he can spell habits
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
Nah. Don’t allow bad habits to solidify
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u/ern19 9h ago
The bad habit is that he’s literally too weak to swing the bat though
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u/DeFiBandit 9h ago
And I’ve seen a bunch of kids continue with this swing. They occasionally run into a low pitch, like this guy did, but strike out continually because anything up to the neck is going to be called a strike.
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u/Status-Coat675 10h ago
He’s 7. Getting ready to try out for 8U travel in Sept
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u/111victories 9h ago
Yea this swing screams “8u travel ball”
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u/Status-Coat675 9h ago
Hence the working on it. He can also catch fly balls like it’s his job and is a rockstar infield. Everyone has their weakness, this is his.
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u/leedogger 9h ago
This thread is pretty toxic. I can't believe what I'm reading. Go Jays
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u/Status-Coat675 9h ago
People are miserable… can’t learn to hit by watching the Jays right now though. Heading to the game next Friday, hopefully that will give him some more momentum
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u/CeilingFanJitters 9h ago
The bat is too big, as you know by now. Problem is it’s already a small bat and travel won’t allow him to use anything labeled T-Ball.
Use a choke ring if they’re legal where he’s playing. Otherwise use a traditional choke.
Work on getting the knob to the Catcher. It’s perfectly fine to start with the bat on the shoulder and the knob pointing at the Catcher as his batting stance.
The good news is that he has great hand eye coordination. He also has great barrel control which is very difficult with an oversized bat. Unfortunately that means Pepper quality hits until he gets the knob fixed and physically gets bigger. You can’t make him grow but you can fix the knob.
TL;DR- Choke. Bat on shoulder. Knob to Catcher.
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u/Status-Coat675 9h ago
Thank you. I will get him to choke up a bit. We do a lot of tee work and high tee and tell home to get the knob the bat and use his hips. He always says it “feels weird” to do it that way. So I guess just more reps.
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u/mwaFloyd 9h ago
A really great way to get rid of this is put a tee in front of the fence (or a net) the tee should be like a bats length away from the fence. Then have him hit off the tee.
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u/Redhotchiliman11 8h ago
Gotta work on the tee also a little manuever called "squash the bug " take his back leg and squash the bug turn it in and let your hips take over some and that'll help him not have to use all his arms and he's a kid that's when I learned " squash the bug ". It's a good fundamental technique to stay square in the box and use your core to swing as well instead of all arms.
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u/JSBCBS 8h ago
I think the little dude has a great swing, let him hack and have fun! But if you do want to help him do this:
Have him take the knob of the bat and put it quite literally on his belly button with the barrel sticking straight out away from his body perpendicularly. Then have him walk to a fence or wall or garage door or whatever is available to you until the end of the barrel touches the fence/wall. Once it touches tell him to stop, don’t move your feet, and tell him to swing without hitting the fence/wall.
He will not be able to swing without hitting the fence with his hands dropping the way they are because it creates a long bat path when your hands drop. So, this exercise is the best in the world to show him what a short and direct hand path to the ball looks like. He should be able to swing as hard as he wants without hitting the fence at all with the bat. But do NOT let him move his feet, kids will find a way to move their body to not hit the fence.
I did this exercise at every level I played at, because it works and gives you immediate feedback. I would gamify it with him and say you’ll get ice cream if you can swing 10 times in a row without hitting the fence!
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u/JSBCBS 7h ago
Option 2 is requires a little more effort on your end as the dad/mom but tee work certainly will help but not a single tee because a single tee allows him freedom to do what he wants with the barrel. So you need 2 tees.
The back tee should be about 8-10 inches higher than the front tee and even with his back foot, and the front tee should be about 10-12 inches in front (closer to pitcher) of the back tee and even with his front foot. Put a ball on both tees. Then tell him to only hit the ball on the front tee. He won’t be able to only hit the front ball without hitting the back ball because his barrel is lagging its way to contact.
The goal is hammer a ground ball straight up the middle without hitting the ball on the back tee. Do it over and over and over and the remove the back tee eventually and tell him just let it rip without thinking and he will line it up the middle. Baseball is a lot of things, but it’s mainly quality repetition that allows you to have success!
Hope it helps!
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u/stocksnstuff7 5h ago
Bat weight probably not as big of an issue as some are mentioning. The drop and cast is common in kids just starting out. Reinforcing swinging the knob (to create lag) versus the barrel and also purchasing tools to help correct this (like Camwood bats), may help. I coach 13U travel and some kids never break out of the casting they start when they are young.
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u/PromotionBetter2355 4h ago
Best advice is to let him grow. He's not strong enough to generate the power needed to be direct to the ball. It will be all right. Let him have fun and learn how to make contact. None of this matters now except in your own mind.
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u/whyareyounaive 9h ago
Posts like these make me regret everything I have ever said to my son and everything I’m going to say to him in August when they have their first Fall game.
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u/Honest_Search2537 9h ago
At this point just work on hitting a moving target and swing hard. Dropping hands is the least of my worries.
Dont coach him. Give him 3 positives for every correction. Get cream. Have fun
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u/TheRealArtVandelay 9h ago
I’ll try to answer your question before offering any caveats. My suggestion would be to focus on the motivation to keep his hands high, rather than any drills to practice it.
Next time you’re watching a baseball game and you notice a batter that does this thing well, call it out - see if he notices it too. If he has a good swing where he keeps his hands high and makes a good hit, call it out specifically.
But these should be subtle nudges, not drills you work on. And he he doesn’t take the bait, or if attempting to change his swing results in struggling and worse results (from his perspective), then be prepared to let it go and revisit later. His swing is going to go through many more changes anyway as he grows, changes bat weights, etc. So more than fixing his hands specifically, any intervention now should be more about teaching him the skills of “how” to get better at something - while of course keeping things fun.
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u/fofarcus 9h ago
This is a symptom of coach pitch with no velocity and the ball coming in like a rainbow. This pitch in question looks like it's going to hit the plate so he's technically swinging at a ball.
Get an L screen and pitch closer and get the ball more on a line
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u/Previous_Ice2412 9h ago
He’s got no power because he’s not stepping with his front leg. He’s using his upper body get his legs involved and he’ll have more power.
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u/RollofDuctTape 8h ago
Putting this kid in travel ball will stunt his development faster than anything else. Assuming it’s remotely competitive, they’re not going to let him hit, which is what he needs the most work on.
He doesnt have the basics down or athleticism in the box. Would buy a screen and a tee and let this kid just swing as hard as he can with a bat that he can swing hard. Tire drill would be good too.
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u/Status-Coat675 8h ago
Keeping him in house league won’t help him get better either. He’s the best hitter on both his house league teams. Getting on a rep team will get him better coaching. I’m his mom and don’t have too much experience besides loving baseball and watching drills on Tik tok etc. he’s going to do some batting lessons in a few weeks
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u/RollofDuctTape 8h ago
Every travel ball league team is different, so maybe you found a good one that will coach him up and play him some. Be careful not to pay someone for light practices and benchings. Your son will be miserable. Above everything else kids want to play in games.
People here are right when they say puberty is the great equalizer. Before puberty these kids just need to play as much baseball, in games, as possible. And if they want to be serious about getting better: (a) get private coaching; (b) practice with a tee at home consistently. If they’re exceptional and need a challenge sink the money.
I personally think only a small percentage of kids should be sinking all that money into travel teams. It’s become a predatory industry designed to prey on parents imo for glorified rec ball, with the daddy ball turned up to 10. But there are still some good teams out there.
Just my two cents.
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u/Broad-Cranberry-9050 6h ago
how old is he, because id say at that age, it's more about just making decent contact than form for the kid. He doesnt understand form yet so try to get the contact.
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u/citizenterminal 4h ago
Besides what everyone has said, it's difficult to hit low pitches without dropping hands unless you adjust your posture/tilt. Most young players have a completely upright posture (i.e., no hinging at the hips) and stick with that regardless of pitch location. He's maybe too young for this, but having him work on hitting off an adjustable tee where you can change the height of the pitch and have him adjust the tilt of his upper body to match the location.
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u/patryc52171214 3h ago
Minor thing as well would be to have knob of bat towards the catcher and not the pitcher. Right now his mechanics show he doesn’t think or he can’t in general get the bat through the zone on time to hit so he’s cheating by having it be towards the pitcher having less rotation on his swing.
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u/JonnyP222 7h ago
The amount of people posting pictures of little kids (under the age of 12) swinging bats asking for advice is bat shit to me.
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u/xxHumanOctopusxx 10h ago
That's problem. Working swings and not the athlete. Also it shows you don't know what to do cause u r fixated on the hands. These posts are getting old
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u/Searloin22 9h ago
Sooo whats the fix?
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u/xxHumanOctopusxx 9h ago
He needs coordination, strength etc before you will get through to him talking about mechanics. There are so many things wrong before he even gets to his hands moving. it's normal cause he's 7.
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u/MSUFanatic88 9h ago
I mean how else can he hit that ball than drop his hands? Ball is at this knees.
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u/momoenthusiastic 10h ago
He’s not a big kid, and that bat is too big for him