9 Year Old Hitting Help

You've already received a lot a great advice... let me add a couple things...

I agree completely with using a pitching machine and velocity. I have a six year old who insists he has to practice with his older brother and he has me dumbfounded at his ability to hit 40 MPH balls. A problem occurred this year in his Coach pitch league... they lob the ball over the plate and he had trouble hitting it due to the arch. As the year progressed he developed an upper-cut swing and had more success with the coach pitch but I think it will hinder him in the future. I personally despise coach pitch and believe if you can use a machine for "rookie ball" do it.

Second, give your son some time! (and you will not like this... I didn't when I heard it) Who's expectation's is he not meeting. (Dig down deep for this answer! it's tough) It has been my experience, most 9 year old hitters have problems. (and it was hard for me to accept that MY son was having problems after doing so well) But this is the first or second year of real pitching and the pitchers are starting to develop beyond the hitters. The key is dealing with the failures and not losing confidence. "BASEBALL is a game of FAILURES" Even the greatest hitters of all time fail approximately twice as much as they succeed. (When we both realized that things started to change)

My oldest son was one of the best 7 & 8 year old hitters in his league and that continued the first half of his 9 year old season. But, he either got too cocky or tried to hit home runs ( or I unconsciencely put too much pressure on him) and began to strike out a few times and came back crying. Failure was a new experience and it took a while to get through it. (for both of us) We now realize that even big leaguers go through slumps... check out what Ricky Henderson and Greg Vaughn did for the Padres their first year in the National league. Anyway, it took almost a year and a lot of practice to correct our attitudes, but my son's stroke came back. Early in the year he was strug gling to hit above .220 but we worked on drills and he ended up hitting (.382) clean-up for the California 10 year old State Champs who are going to the AABC World Series tomorrow. He still strikes out 10-20% of the time but we know that's part of the game, but next time he might hit a double and get 2 RBIs. (but chances are he'll hit a ground out)

So my advice it to talk with your son and (and yourself) explain failing to get a hit isn't really failure. It will probably take some time but as he advances in baseball it will become more and more a part of the game.

One last thing, I agree with positive feed-back but I also think negative feed-back has a place also. I sometimes think constant positive feeback helps foster this "Can't Fail" attitude. You see kids who are "spoiled brats" who can't do anything wrong .... all of a sudden - a strike out and they are crying or throwing tantrums and/or equipment or just the opposite - a strike out and they don't care or it was the umpire's fault for calling a bad pitch... No responsibility for themselves. As parents and/or coaches we need to provide a balanced atmosphere and give the kids time and space to grow up. Its a tough job!