Is My Kid in a Slump?

Recently, I heard a parent tell one of our coaches that her son "is in a slump". The coach then spent several minutes talking privately to the player. Then he smiled and called out to the parent, "he's not in a slump. He's 0 for 7. That's not a slump."

The parent was doing his best to help by giving the coach some background info to use in the hitting lesson. It's difficult to know how to approach a young player who hasn't had a hit in a couple of games. But I can say without hesitation that using the word "slump" will not help.

Let's look at this from a kid's point of view.

Unlike the Big Leagues, a little league season isn't 162 games long.. So two or three games without getting a hit can feel like going 0 for 30. Especially when you consider that many young ballplayers start off with a wrongheaded idea of what success at the plate is. More than once I've heard a youngster tell a Bash coach that a good day at the plate is to go 4 for 4. That's not a good day, that's a fantastic day -- a once in a season day, if even that.

The truth is that every at-bat is a zero sum game -- if the batter wins, the pitcher loses and vice versa. The pitcher is trying to succeed as much as the batter is. Plus the batter isn't just playing against a pitcher. Defenders all over the field are trying to prevent your kid from succeeding. At best, the deck is stacked against hitters.

At best.. But, your kid may not be at his/her best walking up to the plate to hit. The majority of young ballplayers simply do NOT take nearly enough practice swings. If your player is in house ball (not travel) their team is likely practicing once or twice a week. What's the worst time for a young player to work on their hitting? If you answered, "at a team practice", you win! Do the math. Coaches have 10 - 14 kids at a two-hour practice. In those two hours you have warm-up time, defensive practice, and other coaching that goes on. The amount of time left for batting practice is barely enough for each player to get a handful of swings.

There's no magic number to how many live swings a player should take each week. But I guarantee it’s a lot more than a handful of swings taken at couple of team practices a week. Success comes with practice. Whether you're learning piano, a foreign language or hitting, the more you practice, the better you'll be. Practice the piano that little and you'll master playing Chop Sticks in about 2 months.

As a parent, what you do can help, or unfortunately, hurt.

It's helps to remind yourself that every kid who plays is developing and learning. From 5 year olds on up. Up to what? Well, Tom Brady -- considered by many to be the greatest quarterback ever -- was the 199th player drafted into NFL at age 22. If Tom Brady wasn't a finished product entering the NFL, your child isn't even close.

It helps to remember that development is not linear. There will plenty of bumps in the road and set backs. Your young player might have a week of games with plenty of hard hit balls. And then a week of games with very few hard hit balls and plenty of strikeouts. Bad days are going to happen. Bad weeks are going to happen. It's part of the game. Recently Chicago Cubs first baseman, Michael Bush said, "Baseball...can kick you in the butt. And you just try to ride that time out, try to just be as consistent as possible. Try to flush yesterday, no matter if it's good or if it's bad."

There are lots of potential reasons your kid isn't hitting well right now, way more than the ones I've mentioned. But a kid will wear the word "slump" like a name tag. And dragging that label up to the batters box with you is a lot of weight on your shoulders.

So what can you do to help? Teach him/her to think about the process of hitting and not worry about results. Easier said than done, I know. But there are many parts of the swing that can go haywire for a child. A good coach can help. And lots of swings will help even more. You don't get better as a hitter when you step to the plate hoping to get a hit. You get better as a hitter when you concentrate on a good swing and hitting the ball hard. That's the most that any hitter can do. Do that, and realize that's a successful at-bat, even if the result isn't a base hit. Pile up a few hard hit balls and the results you want will come.

Deal only with things that are in your control. A great pitcher having a great game is out of your control. Bad luck is out of your control. Making bad decisions at the plate or having mechanical flaws in your swing are things you CAN control. If you're comfortable coaching your child through the last two issues, you should. If you need help, get your child a coach. Sure I'd love that to be a Bash coach, but there are other good coaches around.

I've ignored the elephant in the room until now. The truth is that your child might not be a good hitter. At least not at this point. Ouch.

Some kids are great at kicking a soccer ball or shooting a basketball, not so much hitting. If that's the case, let your child decide if they want to keep playing that sport. If they enjoy it and want to continue to play baseball or softball, give them every opportunity to succeed.

But whether your child isn't a good hitter or is a good hitter going through a rough patch, the to-dos are the same: stay positive, get help if you need to, and for Pete's sake, find a way for that hitter to get more swings.