Blake Barthol

Coach Rau and I were working with a local kid on his hitting yesterday and one of the problems that he was having is very common in a lot of hitters…..swinging hard. Anybody that has been to a little league game all the way up to a high school game, has seen kids swing out of their shoes. This is one thing that gets kids into slumps.

As coaches, you need to talk to your kids about quick hands instead of swinging hard. Swinging hard comes later in the developmental process. You will find that when kids think of being quick, instead of hard, they will consistently make better contact. Another thought process I like to use is, tell the kids to swing at about 80%. At 80%, this helps them be more "barrel conscious" and consistently make better contact.

One little drill you can do to make the kids more "barrel conscious" is, take white athletic tape and wrap it around the barrel of the bat. Only make the tape about 3 -4 inches wide, do not cover the entire barrel. After you do that, have the kids take BP or just do some hitting drills and have the kids consciously make an effort to hit the ball off of the tape. You will get immediate feedback from the tape. If the kid is hitting the ball off of the tape, there will be a mark. Be sure to enforce the idea of hitting the ball off of the tape and not worrying about how far the ball goes. You can start off by playing pepper or doing a bunting drill, anything to start the process of thinking barrel.

Coaches, one of our toughest jobs is to convince a kid that they don't have to swing hard to hit the ball far. We need to get the kids to understand that making contact with the barrel is the most important thing in hitting the ball hard. If they can be "barrel conscious", swing quick, and eliminate the thought of swinging hard, they will become more consistent and better hitters overall.