Coaching Youth Baseball-Free Drills and Youth baseball Tips for Parents and Coaches - Youth Baseball Hitting

coachtrev writes "The batters box is the hitters space. Just as we teach our kids to take command of the mound, they need to learn to take command of the batters box.

A youth baseball batter needs to take control of the batters box as soon before he enters it. A bad box puts our youth hitters at a disadvantage, and it is hard enough to hit a round ball with a round bat. So , how do we make the batters box our own?

1) As a coach I teach my first batter up, to get as close to the box for your warmup swings as he can while a pitcher is doing warmup pitches. It gives the hitter a better view, better timing,and it can also make the pitcher a little nervous. Don't worry..if a player gets to close the umpire will move the youth baseball player away from the batters box.

2) Get back in the box. This is a general rule. It is not far from the pitchers mound to the plate, so a youth baseball hitter needs as much time as possible. There are a lot more late swings than early. Bat speed rules and the back of the box gives a little bit more time. As a youth baseball coach you have to really be aware of the kids here. If a pitcher has a little less heat than your team is used to they need to move up a little bit. If a player is having trouble with off speed pitches, he needs to move up a little bit. But for the most part..the hitter gets less than a second to Focus and see the ball and make contact. Back is better.

Quick Tip - Teach Verbal Commands-Back,Out,Up,In. Young hitters need to respond to commands. I experimented with my 4 year old and it worked so I passed it along to a tee ball team(just wish my 13 year old responded a little better).
I drew a line on the back corner of the plate and have taught several kids "Line"! when they go up to bat. That is where they put there front foot.
Back! means back in the box, Up means up in the box. I have really young kids that can take the line, move IN,UP,OUT,BACK,and take the LINE again, before they ever hit a ball. After a few practice sessions they learn where to move in the box based on my command. Game time comes up..they take their stance at the back corner. I state a single word command..they look at their feet and move their body. Pretty cool actually. Granted this is for really young kids..but it makes it a lot easier in future years. The kids learn to move based on watching the pitcher, but there are several youths that still do not know the difference between back and out of the batters box. As a youth baseball coach we need to make sure our hitters know what these terms mean or it is the coaches fault come game time.

3) Make your own spot - I mean where you plant that back foot and where your stride foot will land. Players dig holes and stride different resulting in an uneven batters box. When your time comes to bat kick a little dirt in that hole, smooth out the area you stride to. An uneven surface can cause a player to trip,fall, for drops his head(one of the most fatal mistakes in hitting). As youth baseball parents and coaches we should be sure our kids know to have the proper batters box before they actually hit.

As coaches and parents we should make sure our youth baseball players and children approach the box correctly and use it to there advantage.

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