You mentioned pointing the bat at the catchers feet. I tell my team to pretend the knob of the bat is a flashlight and to point the flashlight at the catcher. Really helps them get their upper body coiled

I agree with you that timing the pitch is highly necessary for any age hitter. I also agree it is necessary for any age hitter to preload or pre coil the body to get ready to swing the bat. However, for kids ages 5 to 10 it is just important for kids to swing the bat on the plane of the pitched ball. Coaches tend to think of the way they swing and try to impart this same concept to kids. Unfortunately, young kids don't have the muscle strength to be able to swing like an adult. I believe it is imperative to teach young kids to start with the lead elbow up and the back elbow down. The bat should be touching just below the top of the shoulder. This places the lead elbow, the heal of the lead hand and the head of the bat on the same plane. By pre-coiling and keeping the hands back through the beginning of rotation, the bat can be locked in the correct position and will help young player with the weight of the bat. As far as telling the kids to keep the hands back, with proper rotation, the centrifugal force of the swing will bring the bat head out on the proper plane on its own.

Good stuff Matt. This is super common and I’ve seen my 7 year old have a few games where he struggled with getting loaded too late. I love how you are keeping it fun for him, that’s what it’s all about. Even though I’ve said this a million times to my son, it really sinks in more for him when he can watch your videos with me. Thank you so much.

Perfect Timing! Thanks Matt & Matty!! Great Stuff, God Bless!!!

Can’t express how much I appreciate this video. My 6 year old started being late on loading and this will be great to help him out. Thanks man!

Love the videos, I'm trying to coach 10 to 12, and some haven't played before, so I appreciate the ideas that work for the new kids, and that they translate to the advancest kids. I hit .600 as a kid at 13, but it's hard to remember how I learned that then, so I love these videos

So cute. Matt is full of great information and that little guy just wants to hit and throw. I can see he listens to Dad/coach. The hardest thing to do with kids it explaining things simply with an easy to remember phrase. Someone below talked about pointing the bat knob like a "flashlight"...awesome one. Keeping chin tucked and touching front and rear shoulders during the swing..."Mike and Ike". Fun stuff...what a nice kid. Great job Matt!

Love this! I took my son to a hitting coach this morning and this is exactly what he focused on!! Good athletic batting stance and an early load! I’m not sure it was quite clicking for my son, so I’m going to show him this video and hope it helps 🤞🏼 Thanks for sharing this!

Thanks Matt, timing is so crucial in hitting

Just made this adjustment with my 8 year old son. Widened the stance, quicker to the ready position, and let the bat rip! Looking forward to his game this weekend. Thanks for the video. Lots of different info on KZfaq, but this instruction is spot on.

Love these videos. I have a 9yo boy so super helpful to get these tips and see your coaching approach for kids at this age.

Would also love to see tips on Youth Pitching for younger kids new to kid pitch (around your son’s age) !!

Excellent video, thanks for sharing the knowledge!

Thanks for your videos they are awesome they teach us a lot in what to look for. I use them alot to show my little league team keep posting!!

Love the videos for this age keep them comming!!!

You're a great teacher, and great with kids

It's great to see you rockin in the new facility!!!!

Excellent tips!! Thank you

Your boy is growing. Had the best trainer. Lucky man.

I love all this advice. My son that is 11 struggles with this so In turn he struggles with making hits. We have some hitting lessons coming up.

Great stuff. Thank you!

Thank you!

Wow! Love it! And the "I GET IT!" smile at 8:10 is absolutely priceless.

Hi Matt, thanks for sharing! I know you are working on getting your son set up early but I noticed he is collapsing his back foot a lot during this video. As a former professional baseball player, I know you realize the importance of pivoting the back foot to allow his hips to open. I appreciate you and your son taking the time to make these baseball instructional videos.

Matt - love this and all your youth hitting videos. So helpful for teaching. Do you have views on bat selection for young kids? Struggling with the "right" sizes for 5-8 year old kids (the span of the two age groups of my kids / the kids I'm coaching).

Amazing - thanks for posting this - really helpful in working with my little guys! Also, not sure if you have discussed the topic of managing innings for kids at 7-10 y/o. My nephew (10) plays short and pitches - wasnt sure how to manage innings and playing short throughout weekend? I did the same growing up and ended up going to a mid major as a position player but always had arm issues - would love to get your opinion on this!

@matt I was trying to find a video for swing fundamentals that a fresh 6 yr old can do to practice the foot work and swing techniques

Thank you! I love the videos. Do you have camps inside your indoor facility? I would love to take my son if there was a week long camp or something. I live in west coast.

Yea I like the adjustments that he made but I noticed also that he wasn't getting his front foot down on time and like you mentioned that hitters have to be on time which is so true. But I noticed as well that the bat was dragging through the zone and so I would just work on those things with him. My coach in highschool used this method it's like facing a boxer. Are you going to allow the boxer to get to you first or are you going to get to the boxer first? So if your bat is dragging through the zone then most of the time he's either going to be late or make weak contact. See I liked his stance that you worked on with him and I liked that he was balanced and his weight was on his back leg but I would just work on his swing a little more and getting that front foot down a little quicker

Great tips ! Noticed Matty is using a wood bat . Do you prefer wood over metal at this age ? My son is 7 y/o in little league

Matty is gonna rake now

Love these youth training drills. I have a 6 year old who's been watching for the last several months. His improvement is crazy. Curious why y'all use the wooden bat? Is that just preference? Or is there an advantage to having them train with one vs. aluminum?

Hey Matt. You mentioned to your son that it is better to be slightly early rather than slightly late. Would you give that same advise for a high school player. I would have thought that it is better to be slightly late. Thanks Mike

Thanks matt is the new facility open now

Do you believe at stride weight going 50/50 or should the majority of the weight be on the back leg?

You could definitely tell he is 7 yrs old. LOL! I also like how you pointed out that you didn’t correct him in the game. I try to do this even in games as a coach. But it’s hard when you see what they are going wrong and know how to correct. But I think this causes more confusion during game then practicing and correcting in a practice. Good stuff Matt!

What is the wooden bat your son is useing?

What’s a fix for my Boys front foot for going out of batters box

what size wood bat, inches and drop do you recommend for 7u?

Matt, how will you approach your son’s arm bar/ dragging back elbow? Is the age of 9 a realistic age to fix this problem? I have no doubt he will be an elite hitter soon.

"I didn't say anything till the game was over" .... teach me your patience lol

Where whus this at

Hitting with wood is fine and I understand the pros are all about launch angle now, but the bat lags behind quite a bit. Seems like a blooper swing to left field. I’m simple and my dad threw me golf ball sized wiffle balls that had duck tape on some and others had cracks. It was a good way where I didn’t destroy my dads shins and I saw offspeed due to the variation in whiffle ball quality.

Maddie is an awesome player Because I played it against him well I am this prophiles son so I know Maddie Because I live in Massachusetts and I played him tonight

Hey Matt, I noticed that your son drops his back elbow pretty far forward, instead of behind the hands as you teach in your other videos. Common swing flaw in younger kids, right? My son is just a bit younger than your boy, and he does the same thing. Hard to correct at this age?

Video practice Okay

nice video for kids ... not to technical and something that can be achieved in couple practices...

The kid is hitting with wood at 7 haha, the bat seems huge. Personally I think a smaller barrel and lighter bat would be better to develop better mechanics as well as hand eye coordination. Dominicans hit with broomsticks and bottle caps.

I have a funny baseball video

Surprised he's playing kid-pitch at 7u. Around here that's coach pitch.

The best hitting tip is to copy Ken Griffey Jr and forget everyone else.

Getting wider with your feet is a bad idea, makes it harder to get the hips moving, TERRIBLE IDEA

Thank you so much for this vid it help a lot🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻THANKS!!!!!!