Hitting and Hitters Discussion Help me! Afraid of being hit by pitch.

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I have a young player who I know is afraid of being hit by the pitch, thusly this lefty is bailing badly. When I pitch wiffles or softies or hard balls she doesn't bail because she trusts that i will not hit her with the pitch, but anyone else...lookout. Even with a "slower" pitcher, she did it. She claimed she wasn't afraid and that she didn't know why she did it. I know she's scared in her subconcsious. I realize that this is a mental and not physical problem, but I'm hoping someone had a succesful trip through this and can help me.

 

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What age?

 

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11 y.o.

 

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If shes been hit by a pitch before it may just take time , if she has not been hit before it may take getting hit , at around the same age my dd got those happy feet in the batters box after being hit, she had to decide what hurt worse being hit or being afraid , not long after shes was her old self again but it took her making that choice to over come the fear and now she wears her bumps and bruises with pride !

 

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My DD went through that after seeing someone else get hit. She got over it after she got hit and didn't die.

 

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Try having her stand in (without a bat) while one of your accurate pitchers is throwing and just focus on tracking the ball all the way from the pitchers hand to the plate. Getting acclimated to the speed and movement worked for some similar aged kids.

 

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Try having her in the batter's box with her glove on and no bat. Track the pitches and catch them

 

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No batter enjoy's getting hit by a pitch. It hurts. But it is part of the game. So with my DD we realized that she was baling out also. So during her hitting lessons we would use a big punching bag behind her to where she would be forced to stay in the box. Then step 2 this might be a little controversial but as she was being pitched to we would actually hit her intentionally a couple of times per lesson. Now we took the heat off but forced her to turn her back on it and take the end result of ending up on first base. ( Which is just as good as a hit ) My kid got hit by more pitches last year than any other on her team. It only took about a month to break the habbit. But at 11u you want use an incrediball.

 

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When my DD started travel ball around 9 years old, she got hit pretty good in the middle of the back, and hence she was very nervous about hugging the plate during a fall scrimmage. As you are doing, went back to using whiffle balls and the drills helped but still jumping out of the box. Ultimately, I continued to do soft toss with the 11" ball throwing inside pitches. Started off relatively slow then gradually increasing the speed. Occasionally, she got hit with some soft tosses. Once she felt comfortable, moved back several feet and did the same thing, threw relatively fast underhand trying to hit the inside of the plate. Worked on this throughout the winter and eventually regained her confidence. I think she got hit once or twice this past season on the forearm and didn't see much problems with her hitting or jumping out of the box. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

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Much like Slapper21 we used a broomstick behind the rear end to keep the girls in the box. It helped them from bailing out but we would also have them put their gloves on and have them catch a few on the way in to gain confidence. They catch on for the most part. For some it was just something they needed to get over in time, for some we could break them of it. But we tried a lot of things to keep them in the box.

 

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Guess you can't do what my dad did when he coached me in little league. He tied my feet to the equipment bag and had the asst coach pitch inside. Needless to say I was hit a few times. I did not die, and never pulled out again. I guess that would be considered child endangerment now.

 

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When my DD started travel ball around 9 years old, she got hit pretty good in the middle of the back, and hence she was very nervous about hugging the plate during a fall scrimmage. As you are doing, went back to using whiffle balls and the drills helped but still jumping out of the box. Ultimately, I continued to do soft toss with the 11" ball throwing inside pitches. Started off relatively slow then gradually increasing the speed. Occasionally, she got hit with some soft tosses. Once she felt comfortable, moved back several feet and did the same thing, threw relatively fast underhand trying to hit the inside of the plate. Worked on this throughout the winter and eventually regained her confidence. I think she got hit once or twice this past season on the forearm and didn't see much problems with her hitting or jumping out of the box. Hope this helps and good luck.

Good point FP86. I think there are a lot of girls in this situation. Just have to keep the repetition and eventually she'll get more confident. Kids are very resilient / tough. My DD got hit in the hand trying to hit an inside pitch. For a while, got the jitters in the box and then one time at bat, ripped a low line drive down the third base line. Then that seemed to be the turning point with her confidence.

 

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Fastpitch is on the right track. Start slow and easy working toward game speed. Getting hit hurts; a batter has to accept that fact. Teach them to spin out of the way taking the hit but not in an area that will cripple. It can hurt more or less and that is controlled by the batter. I think it is important that you teach batters how to protect themselves.

Please make sure that the batter is NOT crowding the plate. I see so many players that set their feet back when they were 8 and have never moved back (but grew 2'), putting their hands in the strike zone. If my pitchers see a batter crowd the plate-they are coming inside on the black. Having a girl bailout on a called strike is a great feeling for a pitcher. If they see a batter off of the plate then they are going outside. Your batter can use this to her advantage. She can invite the pitchers to throw outside and then step into the pitch. Working with her mental attitude like this will put her in control and aggressive. Right now she is thinking of not bailing which is the last thing I would want her to think about. The stick and the bag just reinforce this focus. I want her thinking about how to get a hit......

I would try to have her start way off the plate and move into the pitch especially on her slapping. That would replace the backward motion with a forward motion the result should be neutral.

This will take time and you must be patient.

 

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We actually teach them how to get hit and call it fear of the ball drill.

When they think they will get hit, they turn their back to the ball and twist the hips and feet rearward and tilt the bat head downward.

We take a ball and start from the ground up and touch the back of their leg with the ball and point out the knee caps are not going to hit and basically it is the fleshy areas that will be hit and that is a bruise verses a broken bone. Back of thigh, butt, back and shoulders. Then we point out because the bat is tilted down it tucks the elbows in and the fingers are protected by the rest of the upper body.

We point out you can play with a bruise but it is very difficult to play with a broken finger, elbow, knee cap, wrist or ribs.

Many times when you see a hitter bail out they stick their butts out and think that will help until you point out the ribs, fingers, wrist, elbows, knee caps and ankles are more at risk.

Now they set up off the plate and I throw tennis balls at them as they practice their turn. I have found when you explain the results of not turning they become educated and seem to understand and I would not say accept liking to get hit however they have a better understanding of how not to and minimize the potential injury.

Why does the helmet have a cage? Why do you use a glove verses bare hands to catch a ball?

The kids are not as stupid as some may think and logic and examples will work with most of them, depending on how the message is delivered in my opinion.

 

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I always would take the psychological approach when coaching girls at that age. I would ask a batter that was afraid of being hit by a pitch, what is the main goal for a pitcher when facing a batter. They would always reply "To strike them out." I would then reply "You mean they're not trying to hit you?" I know it doesn't work for everyone, but it does seem to help them understand that the pitchers are trying to throw strikes and the chances of being hit by a pitch are slim when you take into account how many pitches a batter sees in a season.

 

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Hitter
Excellent advice for most kids. A kid that is terrified may need even less ball contact, little baby steps, don't push to fast, be prepared to drop back and slow down if she gets skittish.

Giving her something else to think about during these practices, some kind of distraction. (IE: She thinks she is working on her keeping her head down while you are anesthetizing her to being hit.) You can't 'break' her of this habit by beating her, yelling at her, abusing her or she will just focus on that fear and become even more scared. Getting hit will be all she can think about, when that does happen her fears will be confirmed and you will be back to square one.

She needs to replace 'getting hit' with 'getting A hit' and then she'll do fine. (( I think the psychologists call this replacement therapy))

 

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we actually used the Jugs Lite Flite machine and force the kids to get hit by the balls. Several times. Once they feel the pain of the cushioned balls they understood the ball may sting for a second but the sky hasn't fallen. Some even liked to step into the ball just to show how tough they are. Sounds weird and backwards but it did work.

I will also say some take 1-2 years to stop the fear issue. I've seen it for 4 years at the 10u level and once they get to the 12 level and take several hard shots it tends to go away gradually. Some kids leave the game too. It's not for everyone.

 

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I would recommend an elbow pad (******** variety), that way she feels she has a way to protect herself when striding toward a pitcher.

 

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we actually used the Jugs Lite Flite machine and force the kids to get hit by the balls. Several times. Once they feel the pain of the cushioned balls they understood the ball may sting for a second but the sky hasn't fallen. Some even liked to step into the ball just to show how tough they are. Sounds weird and backwards but it did work.

I will also say some take 1-2 years to stop the fear issue. I've seen it for 4 years at the 10u level and once they get to the 12 level and take several hard shots it tends to go away gradually. Some kids leave the game too. It's not for everyone.

Lester, I heard you lined the kids up and made them turn their backs while you fired the machine repeatedly at the kids backs until each one dropped to the ground-your a mean, mean man.

 

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Lester, I heard you lined the kids up and made them turn their backs while you fired the machine repeatedly at the kids backs until each one dropped to the ground-your a mean, mean man.

He got that from the Ty Cobb school of baseball and also shows them how to sharpen their spikes prior to game time or so I am told! :lmao:

I was told it was like going to the eye doctor and they flip the lenses and is this better or worse as they feed a light flight ball and then a real ball! Does this hurt as bad as this one?