• Overswinging, this is one of the areas where most young hitters do not understand. Young hitters generally want to see how far they can hit the ball, This causes them to use their body too much and therefore overswing. It's best to develop a swing that is about 80% of his max. This does not mean that the hands are not aggressive, but he should feel like he has something left in his body. In hitting, swing at 80% will give you better hand speed. This will help him with the next two areas.

• Balance, swinging at 100% will keep him from having great balance and actually slow his hands down, and as in your son's case, will miss direct the hand path. Swinging at 80% will allow him to work on the correct hand path and will help with the next area.

• Head position, this is on of the most important aspects of the swing. The proper head position not only allows him to see the ball well, but also allows the upper body to stay over the ball. Have him keep his head down past contact.

My advice to him would be, don't try to do too much from the right side. Start working off of the tee, hit the balls to the opposite field hard on the ground. Make sure that his balance and hand path is correct. Keep is head on the ball past contact. These are some basics to work on. Good luck

What are your thoughts on this approach? What drills should a player be doing to develop this slight upswing?

My question is that he seems to tend to rotate his hands too quickly (too close to impact) on occasion (perhaps when he's trying too hard), hitting the top of the ball, resulting in bouncy ground balls. Does this seem to be a likely reason for bouncy ground balls? How do we correct this?

As you know you don't want the hands to roll over until well after contact. That being said, be sure your son is staying inside the ball and he is not casting his top had too soon. Review pages 59-62 in the HFE book. This will give you information on staying inside the ball.

The answer may also be in a lack of strength at this time. Work on staying inside the ball and not rolling the top hand, but this habit may eliminate itself with swing strength.

I would have him do fence drills and one-handed drills if he is strong enough to do so. Concentrating on not rolling the top hand too soon. Another drill you can do is a top hand release drill. Have him swing the bat and after contact and before he rolls his top hand have him release his top hand, keeping his top hand palm up, do not allow his top hand to roll over at all. This will help him to feel his top hand palm up, have him perform this drill off of the tee or in soft toss. It will feel a little strange, and this is only a drill, have him take his regular swing in the game, not thinking about any of these drills. Have him see the ball and hit the ball.

Manny explained his practice routines and he uses the one handed soft toss drill and practices on the tee daily. I started practicing with my 8 year old son for the last 2 weeks after watching the tapes and reading all the information that comes in the package that I purchased in your program and the results are outstanding, his power has increased tremendously and he is getting around on the inside pitch much, much better. Those drills and your explanation of a short swing have made in such a short period of time a humongous difference. I am so glad that I decided to purchased your program.

Will the overextended drill help with making a kid hit through the ball?

The out front tee drill will help to develop great extension. Working on the proper head position is also very important.

Your program has given him a more confident, technical approach that he now is beginning to understand and apply to his game. Most importantly, you being a Christian role model has meant a lot to him and gives him the assurance that God loves a good ballplayer (I don't know why he thought the Lord wouldn't). My biggest challenge now is to see how long my 44 year old arm can hang in there with all the batting practice he now wants.

My question is - From the HFE book there are two times when the bat is at a 45 degree angle, first in the POP, and secondly right before the batter pulls the knob of the bat to the inside of the ball. In the first position the length of the bat is perpendicular to the pitcher. In the second position, the length of the bat and the bat knob are pointed towards the pitcher, ready to be pulled forward with the bat head coming down close to the back shoulder. What are the specifics of the body mechanics that get the bat from the first position to the second? Does the bat make the transition with the hip rotation or is the turn done with the shoulders?

My suspicion is with the hip rotation keeping the shoulders closed to be able to cover the outside of the plate but I don't see any reference to this in the book. This would mean a batting sequence of POP, soft stride, hip turn (shoulders closed), THEN pulling the knob of the bat towards the inside of the ball. Do I have this right or am I missing something?

During the approach to the ball, as the knob gets to the front hip area, the barrel should be about shoulder height. The angle at this point is flexible, as long as the barrel of the bat is above the hands. The reason I exaggerate this angle in the book is because most kids will drop the barrel of the bat below their hands on the approach to the ball. If the barrel drops below the hands on the approach to the ball the hitter will not only have a long swing but an inaccurate barrel to the ball.

Hopefully you receive this answer in the e-mail I sent you yesterday. Have a great 4 of July.

If I understand what you are saying, I do not see the rear elbow as being a problem yet. Have your son concentrate, in his drills, to keep the rear elbow behind his hands on his approach to the ball. Leading with the back elbow will put the top hand in a weak position, causing a poor angle to the ball.

I understand why you are opposed to setting up in this fashion. However, I have always wondered why all these major leaguers set up this way. Certainly, it could be poor youth coaching, as I remember well the days when every coach, parent, spectator was yelling at us kids to get the back elbow up. I see much less of that now, and many youth league players are setting up with the elbow down. But is there some advantage(other than psychological-feeling of strength) to setting up with a high elbow? Is it a timing/retarding mechanism for a bat that might be "a little too quick"?

Major league hitters can do things that young kids cannot because they know their swings. There are many very good hitting instructors in professional baseball, and some in college, but there are many professional coaches that do not understand the swing.

What we have found is that less is better and you are not giving up bat speed to have an effortless swing. Take a look at some of the better hitters and you will find that their swing looks effortless. You should always feel like you have something left in your body after you swing the bat. Your hands should be 100% but you body should only be 75-80%.

By keeping the barrel on the contact plane, timing does not have to be perfect, but if the barrel is in the zone, out of the zone, your timing must be perfect.

Widen out your stance, don't take a stride and rotate the backside through the front side, trying to stay square to the plate with your front side as long as possible. Keep the front foot closed and have the feeling of the backside pushing through the front side. Use this drill off the tee of soft toss.

To me it feels like these issues are related, but I wanted to get your opinion and any suggestions. He will be turning 12 on April 18th and is fairly good size and strength for his age, but has struggled with these issues off and on for a couple of years.

The backside dropping is a fuction of a poor weight transfer. Keep working on his weight getting from back to center. Make sure he is getting on his back toe as opposed to spinning on the ball of his back foot.

The front foot should be at about a 45 degree angle. The foot should not be pointing to the pitcher, nor should the foot be pointing toward home plate. Either extreme will cause problems

Take a short stride with your stride foot toes pointing to home plate, with your weight still back. When the hands come forward, they need to come down at about a 45 degree angle to meet the ball in the contact zone. The bat head needs to stay above the hands. Your back foot needs to rotate up to the toe, to open the hips.

The key is repetition. Muscle memory.

Also, make sure he keeps the barrel above his hands and near his back shoulder as he brings the barrel to the ball--otherwise, he will cast the barrel away from his body--long swing.

If he is pulling off the ball, have him work in his drills and batting practice to drive the ball to the opposite field. If he has some fear at the plate, teach him how to get out of the way of a pitch inside.

The problem is that it is just in batting practice. In games he wasn't making contact. When he did, it was a rocket. The first thing that I saw was that he was pulling off theball. The next thing was a loop in the swing. After that I saw the early rolling of the hands and then too much weight passing through center onto his front side. Do you have any suggestions?

He must get back to thinking "hard contact" and "line drives". An excessive effort level leads to many break downs - head movement, front side pulling off, rolling top hand, etc. Get him back to basics so that his goal is consistent hard contact and line drives. Look for good balance, correct head position throughout the swing, and a short hand path to the ball.

Are there fundamentals that I should focus on that will get more observable results than others? With these kids getting limited reps, the progress is slow. I have completed the entire swing and am wondering if I start back at the beginning as most kids still struggle with the basics. I would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks.

Give them specific areas to work on, such as working on balance in front of their mirror at home. If they have a tee at home, give them something specific to work on. If you can get more help, I would set up more drill stations so the kids can get more swings. They need to swing the bat everyday to improve their skills.

What drill can I do to make him stop drop his back shoulder during the swing? Why would droping the back shoulder during your swing decreases bat speed so much?