Overcoming a Hitting Slump
On any given team there are going to be players that are consistently hitting well and others that you know can hit, but for some reason are struggling and going through a slump. As a coach you want to try and give confidence by showing each player that you believe in him. Unfortunately you can't give confidence to a player through words alone. You need to try to help them improve in order that they can gain confidence.
Mid-season is a good time to adjust your practices and try to give special attention to players that are struggling.
Whether at the plate, on the mound, or in the field, getting those players to perform better will provide a big lift to the team. In this post I'm focusing in on hitting but pitching and fielding can benefit from extra individual attention.
Plan Practice Time -
For any of these things to be successful, you need to plan on having some individual time. Enlist your assistant coach or parent to run a regular part of practice and then spend time with a player that needs extra attention. If you have an hour practice, maybe plan on spending at least a quarter of it working with a player that needs to build confidence to try and get out of a slump.
Analyze -
almost everyone has a video camera on their phone these days. Have someone video the player that you want to work with at a game. Then go home and take the time to watch their at-bats in detail. It's one thing to watch during batting practice but it's another to really watch game at-bats. As a coach it's hard to focus on hitting problems during a game, so tape and watch later.
What do you see?
Most likely you'll see a player that lacks confidence, steps into the box and is hoping to get a hit rather than planning on it. For some players who are slumping you may be able to pick out a problem that you really think is causing problems but for many of these players it's mental and not necessarily a problem with their swing. Not that poor mechanics can't contribute to a hitting slump, but
normally the biggest obstacle is lack of confidence
. With that said I pick one item that looks like the biggest problem and have that player focus on improving that.
Sample swing mechanic items to look for:
Vision - does the player seem to be tracking the ball well from the pitcher?
Balance - does the player seem to be balanced throughout the swing?
Pitch Selection - does the player swing at bad pitches while letting some good pitches go by?
Lunging - does the player commit to early and lunge at pitches?
Stepping in the bucket - is the player afraid of being hit?
These are just a few to give you an idea. Now...
Plan drills/instruction for the player -
now that you've watched the game film and you've picked out one swing problem it's time to start working with the player. You'll be working on improving the part of the swing that's most troublesome but you'll also work on building their confidence at the same time. So for example, let's say that you don't think the player is picking up the pitch and is swinging at bad pitches. You might have a conversation like the following:
"Brandon I was watching film of the game last night and noticed that your swing looks great but it doesn't look like your watching the ball all the way in. Let's go to the outfield fence, just you and me, and see if we can fix that."
In the conversation the coach starts out by giving the player a compliment, shows interest in him as a player by not only talking about watching game film but making individual time for the player. For the next 15 minutes the focus is on:
Making sure the player understands about release points and how to pick the ball out of the pitcher's hand. (instruction)
Have the player take a stance and from the approximate distance of the mound throw balls to the player without him hitting. The player should just be watching the ball from your hand all the way to the fence. This means the player should be moving his head as the ball approaches to make sure he's following the ball all the way in. (drill)
Have the player tell you if the pitch was a ball or strike. (feedback)
Next have the player take live batting practice and again focus on watching the ball all the way in. Hopefully you'll see a player that starts to build some confidence. If he thinks you have helped him, "fix the problem", then he may now have the confidence to step up to the plate expecting to hit the ball rather than hoping to.
Game Time: No matter what the problem is, make sure that you also talk to the player about their goal for the next game. Most kids think it's to get a hit. I always tell players that a better goal is to
swing at good pitches and try to hit the ball hard somewhere.
If a player can swing at pitches they can hit and start hitting the ball consistently, then the hits will come.
As always, having the right tools is essential to improving as a hitter.
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