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Teaching Baseball to Kids

“Read how I fail so you don't have to.”

January 19, 2011 So you want to teach your child baseball

First of all, welcome to the site. I hope some of this information is going to help you to teach your child baseball. Most people start teaching their kids about baseball in the backyard, or maybe in the living room with a soft ball. Learning to throw and how to hold the bat are important steps! I’ve learned a few things teaching my 6 and 8 year olds baseball that I really really wish I would have known to start with. There are also some products out there I wish I had to help out with too. I’ll walk you through some important first steps and some helpful aides and drills in this article.

First of all your main goal is to have fun. Think of your own childhood, do you have any good memories of you and your dad playing baseball? This is what we’re going after. Tie baseball in with having fun and spending time together and they’ll love it the rest of their lives, just like you.

Second of all, drop all expectations. If your child does something good, praise him for it – do not expect that performance as his baseline ability. Don’t worry that you don’t think your son is ‘good’ enough at an early age. The fact that you care enough to learn more about teaching them (sadly enough) means you are in the top 10% of parents out there. Parents that work with their kids are going to create good bases to build upon, and build that good relationship with them.  Skill will come, it’s a hard game.

Ok! You’ve got a glove, a ball and are ready to get started! Not so fast my friend. What size glove do you have? What size bat? Is the glove broken in really well? What kind of ball do you have? These are CRITICAL things to know before you get started.

Glove: These kids aren’t in high school, college or the pro’s.  The ‘get a small glove so the ball doesn’t get stuck deep in the glove’ rule is false and does not apply. Give the kid a shot to snag the ball with a glove that is nice and big and fits well. You have to see that the glove isn’t bigger than your five-year old, but give him some margin for error. Some of the biggest problems I see with young kids is their glove is too small. Yes I know Ozzie smith wore a 9 or 10″ glove.  Your child is not Ozzie Smith, and I’ll bet money he didn’t always use a glove that small.  Get him a glove that is big enough to catch anything they can get near.

Break it in before practice number 1!!!
Do not roll out to the back yard from the store with your new glove. You’ve got to break in the glove for a few weeks before practicing. You want your child to be able to open and close the glove properly with his own strength – not yours. Take some glove oil (you can find it where you bought your glove) and oil the glove down twice a day. Wrap the glove with a ball in it with string, rubber bands, whatever you want. Once a night, get a hard baseball and really throw the ball into the glove for about 20 minutes. Make it pop, squeeze hard when you catch it. Really work the glove over. Then oil it again and wrap it up again. In a few weeks, give it to your son and see if he can easily fully open AND fully close the glove. If he can, you’re ready to start practice if not, keep up the routine until he can.

Bat: There are plenty of bat wizards out there to help you find a good-sized bat for your child. There are also 1 million theories to how to match a bat with your child. There’s the ’70 pounds or less 18 ounces or less’ theory. The ‘Hold the bat straight out for 10 seconds’ test.  Swing the heaviest bat you can- mindset. It’s kind of overwhelming. I’ve kind of collected things here and there and simply watched my kids swing bats to determine what type of bat they need. My oldest son has problems starting his swing early and is often late hitting the ball. He’s also just under 5′ tall and over 80 pounds at 8 years old.  He swings a Demarini Vexxum that is 29″ and 15.5 or a drop -13 (length minus weight). I could get him a heavier bat, but he generates great bat-speed with his Vexxum and hits the ball hard. 2 years ago, he swung a 28″ inch bat all season and struggled. The last game of the season, I handed him his 25″ tee-ball bat and he hit his first home-run. Bat LENGTH has been more of an issue to me that the weight. You can tell if a bat is too heavy right away. Figuring out if a bat is too long takes more time and swings.

Ball: Do NOT start out learning baseball with a baseball.  I recommend using a tennis ball. You want to instill confidence in your new baseball player, not fear of a hard baseball coming to hit them in the face. I don’t even like starting up the year with my oldest son with a hard ball. No sense in getting him into bad habits right away when he’s dusting off his glove skills. If you want to get them used to seams, then buy a soft rag-style ball with seams. I wouldn’t even go to a tee-ball type soft ball yet. It’s going to take time to build good habits, so give them every advantage you can.

Check back for part 2 soon!

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