Little League Digest - The KISS Rule of Teaching Youth Baseball Players a Proper Swing

The KISS Rule of Teaching Youth Baseball Players a Proper Swing
By Nick Dixon

Coaching baseball is not rocket science. I believe in the KISS rule of coaching young baseball batters. The KISS or "Keep it Super Simple" rule means that the coach will present the batting instruction in a way that it is easy for young baseball players to understand, visualize and perform. This article explains the 6 simple steps in teaching youth baseball batters using the "KISS" method.

The KISS method of coaching little league batters can be broken down into 5 easy steps:

Step 1 - GRIP & HANDS - The knocking knuckles must be aligned. This grip places the handle in the fingers and away from the palm. A proper grip increase hands speed and power.

Step 2 - STANCE - The feet should be shoulder width part with the insteps of the feet aligned under each arm pit. The toes should point straight toward the plate.

Step 3 - STRIDE - The stride is the step or weight transfer achieved during the swing. The stride may be a simple motion such as simply easing the weight off the front foot and restoring it. The front foot can move but does not have to. The less movement of the front foot forward is better. However, a wide stance is necessary to give the hitter a good lower body foundation and strength.

Step 4 - SEE TARGET - The batter should concentrate on the ball. He should try to see it come out of the pitcher's hand and track it with his eyes as it approaches the plate. The batter will watch the ball all the way to the bat or the catcher's mitt. The batter should keep the head down and the eyes on the ball. The batter should concentrate on hitting the top half of the baseball. Hitting the top half will insure that a fly ball will not be hit. The batter should try to hit a ground ball or a line drive.

Step 5 - SWING - The swing should be level and quick. A short quick motion taking the bat directly to the ball is desirable. A long sweeping motion or upper cut swing is not desirable. A wood chopping swing is not acceptable.

Step 6 - FINISH - The younger batter should finish the swing with two hands. The batter should concentrate on keeping the head down through the finish. Prematurely pulling or jerking the head up to see where the ball is hit, is a batting flaw that should be eliminated immediately.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. Good luck this season! Have a great day, Nick.

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Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

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Baseball Coaching Digest - Home Batting Cages - Two Misbeliefs Concerning Baseball Batting Cage Use

BattingCagesDirect.com - We specialize in complete net and frame packages for teams, schools, home and family use.

By Nick Dixon

Two Batting Cage Misbeliefs that baseball people need to know about are (1) Many people belive that a Batting Cage must be long for it to be usable for all ages. That is not true. (2) Many people believe that a batter must see 75 miles per hour pitches to receive maximum benefit from cage work. That is not true.
This article discusses how many buyers are mistaken or misled in the buying or building a new baseball batting cage. The article outlines Two Batting Cage Misbeliefs that are simply not true:

1. Batting Cage Misbelief Number One - A Cage must be long for it to be usable for all ages.

This is simply not true. Players of all ages, even the high school and collegiate levels can benefit from batting practice in cages that are 35 to 50 feet in length. A cage does not have to be 70 feet long for it to beneficial to advanced players. The reason for this is that long-toss, front-toss and various other batting practice drills can be performed at distances under the regular pitching distances. When batters take swings at pitches thrown at 35 feet, the batter is seeing and reacting to pitches that simulate higher speeds at the normal pitching distance. The player must perform the swing with the proper trigger, separate, and load actions. All of these elements of the swing must be done at the same speed, rhythm, and timing as under normal game hitting.

2. Batting Cage Misbelief Number Two - A batter must see 75 miles per hour pitches to receive maximum benefit.

Most hitters at all levels of play including high school, college, and pros would rather see and hit live arm pitches at 45 miles per hour at 30 feet than pitches thrown by a machine at 75 miles per hour. Live-arm batting practice is batting practice thrown by a person not a machine. We must remember that advanced batters benefit most from seeing pitches thrown by a person. The batter must pick-up the pitcher arm-slot, the pitcher release point and time the speed of the pitch thrown. When a person is throwing batting practice the speed and location of every pitch can be changed. It is also a fact that many people are not adept at throwing strikes at longer distances. However, most people can throw an accurate pitch for a strike from 30and 40 feet distances. The batter gets more work in because more pitches are hittable. Not as much time and effort is wasted by with bad pitches out of the strike zone. The shorter distance makes the workout more efficient.

What does this all mean to a potential batting cage buyer?

For the average home user shorter batting cage is suitable for all drills, batting practice, and applications that you will need for your player to be successful through the high school level. I think it is important to realize that the system you buy will be used for a variety of batting drills. The function of the net is safety, ball containment, and practice efficiency. The batting net is no better than the parent or coach that dedicates time for its use. If you use it, you will experience incredible results. It will be a wise investment. Kids can not use the cage without parental or adult supervision and participation.

I hope that you found this article useful and informative. You may find more like it at the Baseball Coaching Digest and at the Youth Baseball Digest. Thanks for reading my article. Have a great day. Nick

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Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

The CoachesBest Baseball Store has a great selection of 1400 Baseball Products. Check out the BatAction Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages and has a full year warranty.

Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.


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Baseball2u.com/CoachesBest.com is the ultimate online baseball training and coaching store. With over 1400 products organized into categories Baseball2u.com makes finding that baseball training product easy and simple. Order securely online or by phone. Baseball2u.com is a fully licensed company and has a full time staff available from 8:00 to 5:00 CST. Their toll free customer service number is 1-877-431-4487.

The Categories they have are: Baseball Training Equipment, Youth Baseball Training Equipment, Training Bats, Pitching & Throwing Trainers, Defensive Trainers, Batting Cages, Pitching Machines, Jugs Equipment, Game and Practice Baseballs, Protective Practice Screens and Nets, Portable Pitching Mounds, Baseball DVDs & Books, Clearance Items on Sales, BatAction Hitting Machines, Hurricane Hitting Machines, NEDCO Bataction Replacement Parts, SKLZ Hurricane Replacement Parts and Much Much More! Visit Baseball2U.com today!

How to Hit a Curveball

HandsBackHitter.com The mechanical ball launching tee.

By C Randolph

The curveball has been a universally feared pitch in baseball for more than a century, and with good reason. If you've never seen a good curveball from the batter's box, it can be difficult to appreciate its effects on the hitter, but be assured that it brings a whole new challenge to striking that small round ball approaching between 70 and 100 MPH, with a round bat ---- you literally have less than a second to decide to swing the bat.

The challenge is especially intimidating if you haven't yet had much experience with curveballs and other "junk" or "breaking" pitches. Watching even professional hitters, check that, watching even the very best professional hitters, buckle at the knees and turn into jelly at the mercy of a nasty curveball is really pretty astonishing.

With all that said, the curveball can be hit, and you can improve your ability to hit the curveball with some thought and some practice. Let's break it down.

Being Prepared

While not specific to curveballs, the first thing a hitter needs to do to be successful with the curve is to be prepared. What do I mean by that? Well, there are many factors to preparedness, but the basics are:

· Knowing the pitcher and what kind of "stuff" or pitches he has, and how he uses them (i.e. in what situations). This is why it's important to watch the pitcher closely from the dugout as he's pitching to other batters.

· Understanding which counts you're likely to see which pitches so that you can properly anticipate the curve or breaking ball. For example, you will rarely get a curveball on a 3 ball count unless the pitcher would prefer to walk you than throw you a fastball. Hitting strategies related to pitch count are a topic worthy of discussion by themselves, but suffice to say several factors go into this art, including the score, the inning, whether there are runners on base, the pitcher's command on that particular day, and so on.

Recognizing the Pitch
In order to hit the curveball you need to recognize that the pitch is a curveball, and you need to do that in milliseconds. Seems simple, right? It's not, but it's an absolute requirement if you want to consistently hit curveballs. There are a couple of key things to watch for:

· Pitcher's tell - every pitcher is different; however many give away clues while positioning their hand prior to the pitch, or they slow their arm speed during delivery, and/or their arm angle changes during delivery. This is yet another reason it's important to watch the pitcher from the dugout as he's pitching to other batters.

· Rotation - there are different types of curves and they all behave a bit differently; however they all require ball rotation that's pretty discernable, although again, you've less than a second to pick that up AND decide to swing.

Hitting Mechanics

The key with the curveball is to resist the urge to act too quickly. The pitch speed tends to be slower than most other pitches, certainly slower than a fastball, and most hitters have a difficulty "staying back". Once they've committed themselves they attempt to adjust themselves during swing execution which often results in a swing that's severely flawed mechanically. So even if you make contact with the curve you don't hit it well. If you feel yourself out of sorts, particularly if your weight is forward, its best not to swing unless you must (i.e. you're protecting the plate).
The curveball, when used effectively can be a wicked pitch to hit, but it is in fact hittable. Many hitters love the curve if they've anticipated it, or if it's hung in the strike-zone. Many a hanging breaking ball finds itself planted in the bleachers for a round-tripper.

When it comes to hitting curveballs, like most things, a thoughtful approach, practice and experience are the keys to success.
Pillows
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=C_Randolph

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