My son is in a bit of slump. He started off this year drilling the ball. but the last few weeks he hasn't touched the ball. It started when he crushed his fingers. he lost the ball and hit low on the bat. hit it hard enough that he busted his finger open. but he is a trooper. he was back out the next inning. but now he wont hardly swing. Seems like he swings when he knows he wont hit the ball and no where near as hard. So far I have done soft pitch. He kills it. but when you pitch it he backs down. I need help
I got annoyed at some of the other guys posts. First of all slumps are part of baseball and completely alright, sadly in youth baseball we expect the little fellas to be better than any pro out there. Just do the math on hitting stats and you will see what I'm talking about.
He is scared of being hit again which is his first obstacle to overcome. After that the second hurtle will be overcoming a flinch or step out or whatever he subconciously chooses to do to avoid the possibility of it happening again.
Baby step him through overcoming it and be patient. Getting back in the box was the hardest part to do and he already conquered that battle. Start him off just doing light toss drills and focus more on tossing inside portion of the strike zone and focus drills to get his mind off of the memory of being hit. Set up the L screen close, pitch overhand to him from about 20ft or so and have him actually work on hitting the inside pitch and hitting to LF. This will really help him get his hands through the zone on inside balls. Ease him back into live pitching. After he gets that go back to all fields hitting. Good luck. Be patient with him. Let us know how it goes
