Future Prospect.

by jbg3004 on Apr 22, 2008 7:11 PM EDT

Not a bad swing for a 6 year old.

I am curious what everyone thinks of this swing. My son has been playing ball with me since he was 2 and i have been working on his mechanics.

I am proud of his ablility to keep his eye on the ball and for 6 he really flips through the strike zone well with his wrists. He really extend well and gets the barrell on the ball. he is a little dissapointed to be in tball. he would rather be hitting pitches

What is your opinion

1 recs | Comment 21 comments

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Hey thats great.

I think you should post a video if you want somebody to help you. Good to see some younguns.

Optimist Outlook: Gamers rhymes with winners
Pessimist Outlook: Gamers rhymes with losers
My Outlook: Augusta Greenjackets FTW!!

by gianator on Apr 22, 2008 7:18 PM EDT 0 recs

Thanks

I will work on that

by jbg3004 on Apr 22, 2008 7:36 PM EDT 0 recs

Mechanics

Well he does look good, but he does look like that he is not getting a weight shift. But it’s a hard thing for youngsters to master so I’m not jumping off the bridge for it…

www.dryeagersbaseball.com has a good hitting DVD. It’s not your standard video and you’d need a lot of time to digest the materials, but the information is just great

by shakezula on Apr 22, 2008 8:00 PM EDT 0 recs

Looks good

Time to get him in the weight room…and on the roids.

by UncleBuck44 on Apr 22, 2008 8:29 PM EDT 0 recs

Don't forget the main purpose is to have fun.

Starting him at 2, if you don’t keep it fun, interesting and entertaining he is going to get overworked and eventually burnt out. Parents riding their kids and having huge expectations for them as young children is a HUGE problem. I’m not saying you are in that area but working on a childs hitting mechanics at the age of 2 and posting pictures on a message board sounds like you have pretty high expectations of him already.

Good luck, can’t wait to have some kids of my own.

by jfish26101 on Apr 22, 2008 8:44 PM EDT 0 recs

This is a joke, right?

My opinion is:

Your kid is six.

by mraver on Apr 22, 2008 9:18 PM EDT 0 recs

+1

by JPro on Apr 22, 2008 11:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

Joe Morgan

would say something about a rubber band with his head and his foot.

by Duece on Apr 22, 2008 9:24 PM EDT 0 recs

wow

are you serious? dude, its T ball..you have been working on his mechanics?? he is gonna hate baseball by the time he is 10. let him just go out there and play

by jsmall404 on Apr 22, 2008 11:26 PM EDT 0 recs

re

He won’t hate it f he’s good.

by SBcaptain2 on Apr 22, 2008 11:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

*if

by SBcaptain2 on Apr 22, 2008 11:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

wow

are you serious? dude, its T ball..you have been working on his mechanics?? he is gonna hate baseball by the time he is 10. let him just go out there and play

by jsmall404 on Apr 22, 2008 11:27 PM EDT 0 recs

I don't mean to pile on, but....

Your kid is six and you post his picture here on a prospect site and ask for opinions on his teeball swing?

Please readjust your expectations and priorities. The most important thing for a child that age is not to “extend well and get the barrell on the ball,” but to have fun and learn to love the game. As the father and coach of a 12 yr old baseball player, believe me, you will have plenty of time over the years to teach mechanics.

Even for talented 12 year olds, with travel ball and the immense pressure created by parents, the most important thing is to create a fun (but accountable) atmosphere where the kids enjoy playing and going to the ball park. Like previous posters have said

All that said, I commend you for spending time with your kid. Baseball and other sports can create a bond that will last a lifetime. Too many fathers are too busy to pick up a ball and glove to play catch.

by b1leper on Apr 23, 2008 10:21 AM EDT 0 recs

Fun

First of all i put no pressure on my son. My main goal for him is to have fun. He loves to play the game and wants to get better.

I only work with him because he loves the game. He begs me everday day to go out and play catch and practice.

I teach him to be better because it is more fun for kids if they do better. I use the same philosophy when i coach bowling to 5 year olds.

the better the foundation the better they will play and have more fun doing so.

I always stress to my son the most important thing is to try your hardest and have fun.

by jbg3004 on Apr 23, 2008 12:36 PM EDT 0 recs

Well good to hear

Don’t ever forget that and hopefully it works out the best for him.

by jfish26101 on Apr 23, 2008 1:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

You guys need to relax

You don’t know the entire situation of this man and his child’s lives. I remember when I was that age i would BEG my father as well. If the kid wants to play then he is being a great father for making time for his son. Many kids would be lucky to have a father like him who is home and gives them antiquate attention.

You don’t know how their family runs. Don’t bash the guy for making a cute post about his kid.

Remember: baseball guys... baseball...

by Metty5 on Apr 23, 2008 1:02 PM EDT 0 recs

There is a big difference...

between wanting to “play” and wanting to work on specific skills like hitting, fielding, pitching with a child that young. Throwing a ball around or just swinging at a few pitches is drastically different then this.

I wasn’t trying to tell him how to raise his kid; simply pointing out it’s a fine line to be walking. I don’t know a kid in the world at age 2 or 5 or even 6 that begs their father to teach them specific ML caliber technique but it’s possible. 90-95% of the time it’s the adults though and again it can be a HUGE problem down the line. Getting burned out is actually pretty insignificant in the scheme of things, a lot of adults actually subject their kids to a good deal of emotional trauma through their own expectations for their children. This is actually becoming a huge problem in our society as the wages for pro athletes continue to rise.

He can raise his kid however he wants. I wasn’t insinuating that his child doesn’t have fun, I was simply pointing it out as something he needs to be aware of and keep in mind.

by jfish26101 on Apr 23, 2008 1:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

James,

I actually wasn’t commenting on your post. However, I do agree with a lot of what you said. From ages 15-19 I was a tennis instructor. You see parents ride there kids way too hard and it has a negative effect. Clearly that is bad, and it leads to kids loosing their passion.

However, as a tennis instructor I also taught very young kids. Sometimes as young as 6 and 8. Everything I taught them was with two intents. First, that every swing they took, every movement they made was mechanically correct. Second that I incorporated a game or something fun into each element I taught.

There is no point practicing incorrect mechanics that could end up hurting you in the long run. If you play a game causally and don’t care about getting better that is one thing. However, if you want to get better, have a passion for the game, and are a sponge in the class room then there is nothing wrong with teaching someone the correct mechanics. If a father wants to infuse learning into the fun that he is having with his son then more power to him.

Remember: baseball guys... baseball...

by Metty5 on Apr 23, 2008 2:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

It's Josh not James

I don’t dispute most of that but still it remains, do you think the 6 year old wants the mechanics of Albert Pujols or do you think he just wants to play some ball? I understand American societies emphasis on winning but there isn’t much you could say to me that justifies strict coaching to children that young. Even if I was present when a child told me he enjoyed learning what to do with his hands, wrists, hips, head, etc when hitting, I’d have a real hard time believing that wasn’t heavily influenced by his father’s (or his coach) behaviors and attitude to that point.

The only other thing I’d argue is you should NEVER abandon the class room. I don’t care if they are 6, 13 or 18. That is another HUGE problem with sports in America. I’d rather my son or daughter be any number of professions before a pro athlete because the majority of pro athletes careers are short lived and what then? I think it’s ridiculous that children as early as junior high (and in many cases earlier then that) are spending more time on a sport then on books.

Now again, I’m not saying these issues are present here. I’m talking in general terms; I have no idea what the situation is or know if I could even take his word on how he portrays it. Most parents see absolutely nothing wrong with having a child spend 2 times the amount of time on sports then books and pushing them day in and day out to be the best.

This sort of thing is pretty interesting though…well at least I think so.

by jfish26101 on Apr 23, 2008 2:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

Schooling

I never put sports in front of schooling. I actually do have high standards for my son.

Way too often in America parents do not expect much from there kids and are quite satisfied with them being average and telling them that is all right. The only way kids will reach for higher goals in life is you give them the confidence and believe in them. I try to instill great confidence in my son with the hopes he goes forward with it in anything he does.

I teach him to play better and mechanics, because i want him to understand that anything he does he should always put his best foot forward and not half ass it.

If he does that he will succeed in life at what ever he does. We all know that you can not be great at everything, but you can at least reast your fullest potential at anything you do.

I originally posted this beacause i am very proud of my son and the natural swing that he poses and just wanted an opinion on what other people thought about.

by jbg3004 on Apr 23, 2008 4:35 PM EDT up 0 recs