My 11u son has been stuck in lower 50's for about 6 months. He's grown like 6 inches in the past 6 months too so I'm not sure why he's stuck. Need help with mechanics to get his speed up.

https://reddit.com/link/1x74bjy/video/2ks7h3itnqvh1/player

Thanks,

My son just finished his Fall ball season playing up with the Minors (9-11 year olds) as a 7 year old. Was really fun to see him compete and grow during his first “real” baseball experience, both with his hitting and pitching. He has really caught the bug and we’ve made an entire “batting cage” setup in our basement with the SKLZ lightning pitch machine, tiny foam balls, and their thin underweight training bat (30 inches, 12 oz.)

Now I’m just making it up as I go as I wasn’t expecting my kid to be that good at baseball and now I find myself trying to set him up for success with the help of ChatGPT 😆

His current bat is a Rawling 27 drop 11 he’s been using since tee ball. He’s 4’6” and 62 pounds and just turned 8

Here’s my question/dilemma - he seems to hit the underweight training bat better than his current bat because he can get around on it easier and hand eye coordination isn’t an issue since he’s smacking these tiny balls with this thin bat. He’s late all the time with his normal bat. I also feel like it’s a touch short for him. In season he hit it really well against pitchers that weren’t too crazy, but had no chance against any of the kids who could really throw the ball.

Should I look at 28” drop 12 or 13? Maybe a better balanced 27” drop 11 bat? 29” is probably out of the question right?

He’s going to be playing up in the Spring and I’d like him to feel better at the plate with what he’s holding.

I’m not a baseball player, I’m a golfer, so this drop 11 stuff and composite bats, etc, etc is foreign to me, but I play a lot with him and finally see his problem is getting around on the ball. Practice will obviously help, but from my golfing experience, properly fit equipment is always helpful.

Thank you!

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Wanted to get other takes on this. My son is 8 and was moved up to the minors (9 & 10 year olds) for the fall season. He and I love it, coaches are great and he’s become a better all around player. He’s a good hitter (can hit 40-50 in the batting range pretty well and was great with coach pitch too in instructional league). He has literally walked every at bat so far this season (he’s got a good eye plus not all the pitchers throw consistent strikes). There is a part of me that wants to tell him to start hacking at anything somewhat near the zone, but I don’t want to mess with his patient approach here either. Anyone have any suggestions on how I should approach this (or just not?), thanks!

Is the 2027 Hype Fire different/improved from the 2026 in drop 10? Trying to decide if I should pay the extra for a 2027 or get a 2026 that is on discount.

He's been using a teammates 2025 Hype Fire and likes it the best. Also has swung the same sized Icon and 2026 Supra that are on his team and still likes the Hype Fire the best.

So he's been pitching since 8 and during pitching lessons, he's throwing the ball noticeably faster/harder compared to games. Typically he averages 50-60% strike rate during pitching lessons. He's not a big dude but his pitches have some zip in them when he really goes for it.

I asked him about this discrepancy and if everything's ok, and he says he purposely throws at 80% to be more accurate and with the intention of throwing more strikes. I don't know enough about baseball but his pitches seem to kind of die off at the end like a splitter, which is leading to bunch of swing and misses and weak ground balls especially when batters are facing him for the first time (he's never been taught how to throw anything other than FB). And, to be fair, he's throwing ~63% strikes on GC after about 90 pitches in fall season, so I just said, ok whatever works and left it at that. Kind of small sample size, perhaps. I don't know if that strike rate is good but it's better than during lessons.

I know some of you guys may be dismissive of this because he's young, but he really enjoys pitching more than anything, so I'm wondering if he's hindering himself in anyway by not pushing himself to throw harder.

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Sunday men’s league first time pitching in a month or
so.
I’m usually a short stop anybody have any success coming back to playing baseball after this as an adult (30) ?
Radial nerve damage but not torn and no predisposed conditions like bone lesions or cysts. Very painful and couldn’t imagine doing that again

We bought it used last year, my son has used it this year on a weekly basis, it still has pop in it, but my son believes it is starting to sound 'weird', and I admit I have heard some weird hits as well. I am worried about those horizontal lines, it doesn't feel like actual scratches... What do you see?

I consistently end up hitting ground balls in the cage. Any thoughts on mechanics so I can consistently elevate the ball? Maybe a timing thing.

So.... this is an update to my op https://www.reddit.com/r/Homeplate/comments/1x1jh6d/rec_league_baseball/

I played a game the very next day,

My favorite position in the lineup is 9, my job is to annoy the fuck out the pitcher and that's why I like it. This'll be relevant later.

We played against a larger club and the pitcher was quite good in that he had good velo and was consistently getting strikes by going the top of the zone, then following with a dirt pitch. (I shared this with my teammates) I built bit of a mental profile and for context I was half way though the science of hitting.

My mental profile going up to the plate was, i am assuming everything is going to be either top or bottom, or on the sides. Anything else is fair game.

By the time of my first at-bat he through a middle-middle (first pitch) to which I got contact it was a grounder to 1B. I had been focusing on getting contact consistently before I taught myself how to connect power.

I stepped up to the plate humming, and doing the western showdown theme. "Waah wahh wahhh" I am having a riot.

So then, comes around my second at bat, he throws a top of the zone, which he then is 1-0 in the count. I step out of the box, reset, and then stepped back in and after he does the same thing again on the 2nd pitch, I yeet it in between SS and 3B but their defense was good. (Again once I use my hips for power it may go further).

The moral of the story is that I am no longer afraid of striking out and my entire objective is to be annoying as possible and drive up the pitch count.

He does tee ball and he’s actually pretty good, but at home he never wants to play with me or practice. I’ve tried doing things to make it fun but he usually just takes a few swings and then goes to dig for rocks or play with toys. I imagine this is normal for a toddler, but wondering if anyone has any tips? I don’t push him - if he says no, I try once more and then stop.

Thanks!

Tournament is in Phoenix Arizona next week and we need pitchers. 5 games on wed, thurs, and fri and championship on saturday if we make it. Let me know if you are interested. If you live in the area then you would just need to pay the registration fee.

He’s 4’7” and 80lbs he plays 8U rec ball currently. Looking to get him a new bat since he’s taking the sport more seriously.

He’s currently using a 28” -11 bat, and it sucks. I’m not sure if he should go up to 29” to get more seasons out of it or stay at 28”.

ETA: just wanted to share that he wants to pitch and will 100% ask me to work on it next time we’re at dbats, which is why I’m trying to figure out how to best approach it. This isn’t me forcing him. Thank you for all the great advice so far! It’s been very helpful to read through.

I have a 12u player. He was pretty green to pitching before 11u, so we’ve done a lot of work on throwing mechanics. He started in a good spot but has slowly struggled more, and I’m trying to figure out how to help him reset over winter.

I suspect it’s largely mental. We found a pitching coach who he clicked with and that’s been great. He looks good in lessons. He has good velocity and command when locked in, but looks completely different in games. He gets stiff, seems to struggle to trust himself, like he’s trying to force a strike. He just does not look like he does in lessons when he lets loose.

After a rough outing a few weekends ago he told me he wished he didn’t pitch at all. He’s been excited about pitching in the past, always hopes coach puts him in, so that was hard to hear. He’s generally very positive in baseball and hasn’t struggled too much with the mental side of things. We’ve tried keeping it very low key, no long talks after games or anything. He’s batting very well (and worked hard to get there) so we just talk up how well that’s going and tell him he’ll get there and not to stress.

How would you approach the offseason? Just throw occasionally to rebuild confidence? Make it a game/more fun? Work on mental side somehow? (We’ve read win the next pitch). I don’t want to overdo it, but hate seeing him be so hard on himself when he genuinely enjoys pitching and wants to do well. Any advice appreciated.

My kid got this device for his birthday and I spent probably 3 hours trying to get it to work on multiple devices. App sucks, UI sucks, device would show as connected but could never get an actual swing to register. Absolutely terrible experience so we are trying to return it since it is $150. Crickets, zero response from customer service. Has anyone had a similar experience and actually got through to their customer service? Any advice?

Just joined the board for our town's little league which has waned like others due to travel ball, other sports, etc.

In a lot of ways we're starting from scratch... what are some things you really appreciate about how your kids' leagues are run?

could be from an admin perspective, gameday experiences, etc.

Once again sharing the current status of the vintage rack after moving a few bats around. Most are 34"s.

Any suggestions on what to keep an eye out for next? I like finding new examples in good shape. Also still need to put a grip on the TPX Platinum, but my usual source for 1mm red Vulcans is out at the moment.

Whats up all!

I am 41 years old and looking to get back into catching and eventually playing in an adult league, one of my good friends used to be a catcher and was drafted by the Phillies is going to work with me as far as training for catcher specific drills and what not about 2 to 3 times a week, outside of that though I want to hit the gym and workout but I want to workout so that I get better for the catcher position, is there any workouts that you guys can recommend to do at the gym that will help on the field?

I don’t mean custom bats that pros get. What would you say is just the absolute best bat that I could go on line right now and order.

Obviously people will have different preferences for size, sweet spot etc but curious about peoples’ take on this.

11u rec player with good pop will be doing a round of travel ball tryouts for the spring season. I'd rather wait until the spring and he is actually on a team to get a USSA bat. Pretty competitive area for baseball.

I also don't want to be the dad that goes up to the coach afterwards, saying "Ashually, he's a stronger hitter. It's just that he's using a USA bat."

I reckon their will be lots of kids so not as if the coaches are going to be taking a close look at their gear.

Overthinking it? Or find a USSA bat?

edit - yes, mechanics and barreling the ball will be the main drivers in getting selected, but 15 feet is 15 feet. If he's on the edge​...you never know.

A little vent here:

My son is a freshman and loves baseball- when he’s not playing, he’s practicing it, watching YouTube videos analyzing pro swings and pitching, training with personal coaches, and playing MLB: The Show almost entirely without our (parents) pushing him to do so. He will be playing for an “elite” team coached by a Varsity high school coach in the summer, hopes to make JV+ as a freshman, and has dreams of playing beyond high school.

He has also been the victim of constant bullying. I did my best to stave it off when he was playing for me 9u-14u but he certainly faced his fair share of bullying in school.

He decided to play fall ball with the high school team that was coached by the “advanced” coach in the same organization he had played for (and I had coached in) up until this year. Throughout the fall ball season, he faced constant negative comments and bullying directed towards him. The players critique him, criticize him, badger him and bully him, and are generally shitty teammates towards him. I was there for the last half hour of the final practice yesterday and witnessed it myself- the only name I heard from others was his criticizing only him. He lets it roll off his back thankfully and the (IMO) awful coaches ignore it despite me bringing it to the coach’s attention earlier in the season, mostly because the coaches’ kids are involved. My son is, objectively, one of the better players on the team and the loudest voices are the kids who objectively produce the least.

It hurts us as parents to see him deal with this but that brings me to my point: before skills and drills, we must teach these young kids to be good teammates and good people.

If you listen to interviews with pros, so many of them stress having good character and to be good people first and baseball players second. Poor attitudes and poor teammates thankfully don’t last long in the game as they get older so if you are coaching, prepare the kids for this.

The best teams have players that genuinely care for each other, support each other, and push each other in a positive way to get better at the game. Look at the dugouts during the playoffs- everyone is on the rail cheering and supporting. They aren’t focused on winning, they are focused on each other.

So, just a reminder to teach attitude, effort and being a good teammate at every practice and every game. Don’t allow the bullying to continue. It’s bad for teams and bad for baseball.

There's always someone who comes in here and is baffled by why there is travel/select/tournament baseball when the kids should play rec. But let's just completely remove the usual from the discussion (level of play, better coaching, kids who what to be there), and discuss the not-so-obvious reasons. If anyone else has any, I'd love to hear them!

Population and Financial Reasons:

I live in Houston, TX. We have a metro area of over 8 million people. Here, there are thousands of select teams under 14. I am not exaggerating. It is also a part of the country that is a hotspot for baseball. There are not enough city parks, with fields, to accommodate that many kids. Some LL's have private facilities. with the exception of the massively wealthy neighborhoods, the only other ones are on the outskirts of the city, where land is cheap. The 5,500sq/ft lot my house sits on in one of the more affluent parts of the city, The Heights, is worth about $400k. buying land in the city is not an option.

Under a "just play rec" philosophy, tens of thousands of kids would be waitlisted on LL's because there aren't enough fields for them to play. The city has given our LL 1 big field, 2 minor fields and 1 tee ball field to use. The minor fields have to serve 40 teams from 7-12 each season. Our boys are starting games at 8:45 on a school night. We asked for more, as the league has grown and they said, no. We asked to help refurbish an older field. They said no. What are we to do to grow our league if we are limited by bureaucracy?

Socioeconomic Equality:

Given this, what would you like kids in a low income neighborhoods to do? We're always talking about baseball as a "pay to play" and having a high barrier or entry. That is true, but starting a team also has an advantage for low income communities. It is much cheaper to find 11 kids and parents, who really want to play, to get the money together for a team to compete, than to get a whole community to buy in and have the funds to maintain a high quality LL.

There are TONS of teams in minority populations that are able to play a bunch of rich areas because they play travel. Just that alone helps some of those kids make it on to "fully funded" teams with private facilities. I know because my nephew's good friend was one of those kids. He now pays ball in college.

Btw, we do have some small LL's that can only field 1 team, and they have to travel around the city playing other LL's.