Let Them Swing How They Want
"This may indicate that the 10-year-olds do not have the same ability to understand what has just been successful, or it may simply be due to poor concentration."
Byron Buxton, a father who happens to play center field for the Minnesota Twins, was asked how he approaches working with his young son on his game.
On the Sports Info Solutions podcast with Marc Simon, Buxton said he lets his kid hit anyway he wants.
“When we go out to hit before we do anything, he’ll hit like any player he wants to hit like. He wants to hit like Max Kepler or hit like Cody Bellinger. Anybody he wants to hit like, that’s what I let him do,” Buxton says. “For him, he likes Mookie Betts’ leg kick, but he likes where Cody Bellinger’s hands are at. I’m not going to make you hit like me or hit like this person because there are days when you might have to back off the plate or open up a little bit. So it’s one of those where I’m literally whatever he wants to do on the diamond. I do whatever he wants to do because that’s what keeps it fun.”
People need creativity and freedom to explore movements to find optimal ones. Some coaches and parents give strict instructions until the young hitters conform to preconceived notions of what a hitter should look like. This presents several problems. First, motor learning rarely progresses well from that teaching style. And what works for one hitter might not work for another.
“I was forever trying a new stance, trying to hit like [Hank] Greenberg or [Jimmy] Foxx or somebody, and then going back to my old way,” Ted Williams wrote in his book, The Science of Hitting. “I recommend that for kids. Experiment. Try what you see that looks good on somebody else.”
Williams’ advice was published in 1970, but the sentiment still holds true. While Williams was trying to be Greenberg and Foxx, Buxton’s oldest is moving like Bellinger and Kepler. In the same podcast interview, Buxton said he had watched Aaron Judge’s swing and wanted to use his inside-out approach on fastballs in the zone. (This may have been a catalyst for Buxton’s 2021 production.) Borrowing from others and trying new things can lead to a big adjustment.
Letting kids try different things without instruction can give them strong building blocks when developing their swing. But here’s the rub: While young kids learn from implicit techniques (trying new things independently), they may not be as good as older kids at identifying when things are working well and maybe quicker to move on.
A study conducted on implicit learning of dart-throwing from various ages found that when members of the 10-year-old group were doing the activity well but misfired, they would alter their technique — which may have led to poorer performance in the future. Meanwhile, older participants did not have that issue:
When an adult or an 18-year-old found a throwing strategy that worked, they continued to use this technique for the remainder of the test period. When 10-year-olds found a good process, they would typically continue using this until they had missed the target by some margin once, after which they would again alter their strategy. Thus, their throwing continued to be very variable. This may indicate that the 10-year-olds do not have the same ability to understand what has just been successful, or it may be due to poor concentration.
The Lord of the Flies player development strategy has some drawbacks. Like everything in life, there needs to be a balance.
In baseball, where failure is present, a young player may start adjusting when outcomes shift. For most, squaring 3 out of 4 balls would indicate progress. However, that fourth swing that was a mishit or miss could prompt a young hitter to do something different. This makes external guidance and feedback important. Focusing on the positive part of the feedback, rather than the mistakes, will increase their confidence and motivation and create a learning loop that will hopefully turbocharge their development progress.
The recipe is simple: create external goals and targets, allow for individual creative freedom, and provide positive feedback to solidify everything. Repeat.
Let the kids be who they want but provide guidance when possible.
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