little league baseball question

[Texas8point]

My son is 12 and plays for a couple of teams.... he is playing very well for his 12U team, however his other team not so much.

His school team has mostly kids that play at an elite or premier level, and they are anywhere from 11 to 14 yrs old. Some of these kids (the 14 yr olds) throw close to 80mph and he absolutely cannot catch up to the ball.

The kids throwing a little slower 55/65 he can hit or make contact....

I got him set up with a hitting coach (he has had them in the past) to work on mechanics but not sure that's going to help him see that fastball.
Am I on the right track ?

TBH Expert weigh in ……

[HogHunter34]

80 mph is pretty rare for 14 yo but not unheard of. What I see a lot is kids try to speed everything up at the plate by swinging faster or loading quicker or even turning hips faster but often times as a result their mechanics get off.
Best advice in my opinion is to not change their loading, etc but just start everything sooner. For example on slower speeds they can start their load at soon as they see the ball release from pitchers hand where on a faster pitcher maybe when the pitcher hand starts forward motion just prior to release of the ball. They need to work on this in the on deck circle on timing that pitcher

[TXJIM]

The physical gap between a typical 11 year old and a 14 year old is huge. It surprises me that such a broad age range is mixed for baseball. There is a reason that 11 and 12 year olds typically play on a 50/70 field and 14U is played on 60'6"/90 field. I doubt there is much you can do in the short term to prepare a 12 year old for 14 year old pitching.

[Palmetto]

The physical gap between a typical 11 year old and a 14 year old is huge. It surprises me that such a broad age range is mixed for baseball. There is a reason that 11 and 12 year olds typically play on a 50/70 field and 14U is played on 60'6"/90 field. I doubt there is much you can do in the short term to prepare a 12 year old for 14 year old pitching.

No kidding. That's crazy.

[Texas8point]

The physical gap between a typical 11 year old and a 14 year old is huge. It surprises me that such a broad age range is mixed for baseball. There is a reason that 11 and 12 year olds typically play on a 50/70 field and 14U is played on 60'6"/90 field. I doubt there is much you can do in the short term to prepare a 12 year old for 14 year old pitching.

Im pretty sure its just timing, and he's never seen 72-80mph pitching.
Im going to keep him with a hitting coach and hopefully next season he'll be ready.
Some of these 14 yr old kids are taller than me and Im 5' 10".
All of the kids are pretty good, but for sure its not just mine, the younger kids struggle at the plate.
Normally the field is 70' bases and 54' mound.

[glen]

as said above a 12 year old is not going to hit an elite or upper 14 year old pitching. Just make sure his swing stays the same. Kids have a habit of pulling off with the front side when they try to speed it up. Good luck

[JLivi1224]

Put him in a cage and throw gas at him ! Lol

I’m all seriousness I would have him start loaded , hands back weight back, regardless of speed. One direction, straight to the baseball.

[ca1219]

Im pretty sure its just timing, and he's never seen 72-80mph pitching.
Im going to keep him with a hitting coach and hopefully next season he'll be ready.
Some of these 14 yr old kids are taller than me and Im 5' 10".
All of the kids are pretty good, but for sure its not just mine, the younger kids struggle at the plate.
Normally the field is 70' bases and 54' mound.

My sons 14u majors team has a handful of kids who range from 6'0-6'4, it is crazy how big some of these kids are. My son is 5'10 and he is just average height on his team.

[rtarcher]

Have him swing a -5 or even a wood -3 at BP with the 55/65 mph pitches. Working up to be able to more consistently hit 70 to 80 mph should be done incrementally. Muscle development and hand to eye coordination are built on foundational preparedness. Trust the batting coaches. He'll get there. I'm watching my son go through the same process right now as he just turned 13.

Todd

[AZST_bowhunter]

My son is 12 and plays for a couple of teams.... he is playing very well for his 12U team, however his other team not so much.

His school team has mostly kids that play at an elite or premier level, and they are anywhere from 11 to 14 yrs old. Some of these kids (the 14 yr olds) throw close to 80mph and he absolutely cannot catch up to the ball.

The kids throwing a little slower 55/65 he can hit or make contact....

I got him set up with a hitting coach (he has had them in the past) to work on mechanics but not sure that's going to help him see that fastball.
Am I on the right track ?

TBH Expert weigh in ……

Throw BP to him at a close distance, like 20 feet (use a pitching net), make sure to throw overhand. This will force him to react faster and not have the intimidation of a ball hissing by him.

[JLivi1224]

The physical gap between a typical 11 year old and a 14 year old is huge. It surprises me that such a broad age range is mixed for baseball. There is a reason that 11 and 12 year olds typically play on a 50/70 field and 14U is played on 60'6"/90 field. I doubt there is much you can do in the short term to prepare a 12 year old for 14 year old pitching.

Very true. I threw low to mid 80s at 14 and upper 80s, occasionally touching 90 at 15/16. Even an elite 11 year old will struggle at 80+

[JLivi1224]

Throw BP to him at a close distance, like 20 feet (use a pitching net), make sure to throw overhand. This will force him to react faster and not have the intimidation of a ball hissing by him.

Also a good way to work on reaction time.

[TXJIM]

Im pretty sure its just timing, and he's never seen 72-80mph pitching.
Im going to keep him with a hitting coach and hopefully next season he'll be ready.
Some of these 14 yr old kids are taller than me and Im 5' 10".
All of the kids are pretty good, but for sure its not just mine, the younger kids struggle at the plate.
Normally the field is 70' bases and 54' mound.

To say its just timing is not fair to your son. While I doubt any of those 14 year olds are actually throwing 80 mph, many are probably over 70 and maybe a few at 75. Even then, 70 to 75 from 54' is gas for a 12 year old at the plate. At 70 mph the ball is traveling over 100 feet per second, so at 54' the hitter has about half a second to recognize the pitch and launch the bat to point of impact. And this is just the physical act, nevermind the mental aspect of hitting, or not hitting, against pitchers who consistently over match you. Seems these youngsters are being set up to fail in this situation.

[mikerosa]

One thing I can recommend for dad’s who are bringing their kids up to be better baseball players.

Hand eye coordination is big ofcourse. Practice that not only with bat and ball, but little things like a dart [emoji457] game, does this, as does a boxing speed bag.

Another thing to work on is wrist strength. You wanna hit ? You need very healthy strong wrists to turn and finish a swing on ball contact.

Lower body hips also are important. Try to do things to strengthen hip strength by doing weighted hip twists and stretches. Stretching is paramount in baseball ⚾️ because of swing finish and fluidity.

There’s a lot of little things not on the field that a dad can do to excellerate their child’s mobility and adaption to the game off the field in preparation.


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[Texas8point]

some great information given. thanks to all.