Ideas to Help a Batter Who Is Freezing Up at the Plate?

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Feb 10, 2018
496
93
NoVA
Originally posted this in the Hitting Practical Thread and was getting no responses, so I thought I would post it again here, which is perhaps a better place for it...

Hopefully I am posting this on the right forum. Am looking for any drills or tips to help a girl on our LL team (12U). She is 11 and is playing LL Majors this spring for the first time. I believe she also plays for a local 10U B-level travel team. Anyway...

This girl looks decent in the box and in the batting cage at BP. Right handed batter. Average size girl for her age. Decently athletic. She has a tendency to be late. Lot of stuff getting fouled off to the right side. In games, she will start out having a decent at bat. Laying off bad pitches. Swinging at good ones (even if not making contact). When she gets behind in the count, and definitely when she gets to two strikes, she seems to just “lock up.” Will just watch good pitches go by and strike out looking. Gets very upset with herself, crying, all of that.

The head coach and I are not yellers (other than of encouragement) and the environment is supportive. We do not run girls down or get on them for mistakes or striking out, etc. My question is what are the most effective ways you’ve found to help a girl that is striking out looking too much and losing her confidence in the process? My own view is that she is thinking too much at the plate—I think that is part of the reason she tends to be late too. I think she is having a debate with herself on every pitch or even a silent debate with the umpire about the strike zone. I think she needs to do less thinking and more hitting. But I assume others have run across this. What worked for you?

Thanks.
 
Jul 22, 2015
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She's just too concerned right now about swinging at bad pitches or trying to hard to "read" each pitch. I've had a few kids like this and one thing that has sometimes helped is telling them that I want them to swing at every pitch they could possibly hit in their next game. NOT every strike, but every pitch they can reach that doesn't bounce or go over their head. Tell them you expect them to put the ball in play within the first 3 pitches. Obviously, this approach only works well if you know you are facing a pitcher who is going to be around the plate. Sometimes just seeing the ball hit the bat and knowing that it doesn't need to be perfect is all it takes.
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
Also, one phrase one of DDs old ACs used sticks with me, it is a strike until it is not. got a lot of girls starting swings then holding off on obvious balls.

have her work some on checking her swing, to give her confidence to start her swing and pull back if she then decides it is not a strike. once she sees that starting her motion is not total commitment, it might help her to not freeze for fear of swinging for bad pitch.

and of course, if she does swing at bad pitch for 3rd strike, tell her she went down swinging, and she will get the next one. all it takes is one "why swing at that, in the dirt/over you head" to get into a young players head.
 
Dec 10, 2018
34
18
Our girls NEVER get in trouble for striking out (swinging) but backwards K's are a big NO NO.... 14u is a tough age to start playing ball.... especially if they can't throw and catch.
 
Apr 2, 2015
1,198
113
Woodstock, man
Most kids do NOT stride on every pitch. Every pitch.

They wait until they decide if the pitch is a strike. By this time, they are dead.

The front foot MUST be down when the ball is halfway to the plate - .400 sec pitch, .200 swing time - it's simple math.

TO FIX: Go to the cage. Hold the ball randomly and see if she moved. If not, yell or scream or throw a chair:)

Then watch all the other kids at the plate. Notice they are not striding. They will strike out looking, and they haven't moved a muscle.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
Our girls NEVER get in trouble for striking out (swinging) but backwards K's are a big NO NO.... 14u is a tough age to start playing ball.... especially if they can't throw and catch.

Don't care for this approach. Teach your kids the strike zone, get them good at judging if the ball's gonna be in the zone, work with them on approach and recognizing different pitches, and then if they're taking the occasional strike 3 that's either out of the zone and called a strike anyway or not the pitch they're looking for, fine. They're going to be better hitters than trying to drill in their heads that with 2 strikes they need to (defensively, because it's the only way to do it) swing at everything remotely close.
 
May 15, 2008
1,913
113
Cape Cod Mass.
Often times a batter would rather be called out by the umpire than swing and miss, this way it's not really their fault. In this case the girl is upset about getting called out so on the surface it seems different. But it could be that with two strikes she's afraid of striking out either way and is freezing up. I think you are really dealing with her fear of striking out, the fact that she gets so upset is an indication of how seriously she takes it. I'm not sure what you can do or tell her that will lighten her load since it is internally generated. Maybe you can just give her a little smile and tell her that it's 'just a game', no big deal, don't worry about it. Or, build up her confidence and self image buy complementing her on the other parts of her game even if it means exaggerating things a little. This might take the pressure off her hitting.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
First, make sure she knows and understands her strike zone. Once that happens, tell her, ' You have two strikes now. Anything close to the strike Zone you need to attack. Try and get a bat on it even if it's a foul. Don't leave it in Blue's hands to call you out. Fight! ' it's what has worked for me both in the past and currently at this age. Notice, I said attack versus protect. I firmly believe there's a huge difference between being on the offensive (attack) versus sitting back on your heels trying to be defensive (protect) during an at bat...especially mentally. Batting is 80% mental and 20% physical IMO.
 
Nov 20, 2020
995
93
SW Missouri
First, make sure she knows and understands her strike zone. Once that happens, tell her, ' You have two strikes now. Anything close to the strike Zone you need to attack. Try and get a bat on it even if it's a foul. Don't leave it in Blue's hands to call you out. Fight! ' it's what has worked for me both in the past and currently at this age. Notice, I said attack versus protect. I firmly believe there's a huge difference between being on the offensive (attack) versus sitting back on your heels trying to be defensive (protect) during an at bat...especially mentally. Batting is 80% mental and 20% physical IMO.

At younger ages I’m a fan of this approach. I’ve had the most success with DD and some of our weaker hitters with this. Build the hitting mentality first as it makes learning to read pitches and understand the strike zone easier.

Last year DD would strikeout looking because it was on the edge and she thought it was a ball. We had many conversations about how the umpire doesn’t care what she thinks. If it’s that close she has to put a bat on it. If at that point she strikes out swinging....that’s okay. If it’s 1 1/2-2 balls off the plate and still a strike (it’s happened) there’s nothing she can do about that. Leave those.

I think after that mentality has been set then it’s easier to learn about strike-zones, approach and pitch selection. It’s also important to teach that fouling off a pitch isn’t a failure. It means one more chance to see the pitch you want. One more chance to get in rhythm. One more chance for the pitcher to make a mistake. Or for a teammate on base to steal. So on and so on.
 
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