A good book on this subject is "The Art of Hitting .300" by Charley Lau and Alfred Glossbrenner (ISBN: 0525482199, Plume 1986). Read the section on "The Absolutes of Good Hitting."

In general, you will average about three naturally good hitters per team. If players are hitting well, just leave them alone. Let them hit their own way, Don't try to "re-manufacture" them according to any predetermined rules, even ones you read here.

Hitting a baseball takes good eyesight, good eye-hand coordination, practice, and quite a bit of poise and self-confidence.

If a batter doesn't think he can hit, he will strike out. If a batter is intimidated ( afraid of being "beaned" ) by the pitcher, he will strike out. If a batter is anxious or worried, he will strike out.

Specifically, if your young baseball player is afraid that you will yell at him for striking out, he will almost certainly strike out. Give your young batter positive reinforcement only.

The best way to help your young baseball player to hit better is through patient encouragement, with no pressure.

Pressure causes anxiety, and anxiety is the enemy of all hitting.

Training a batter is not trivial.
It is easy to build bad habits, and hard to break them.

To be an effective batting coach, you first have to get rid of your own anxiety. ("Oh my gosh, what if my kid never learns to do this? He'll be a failure!!")

It is much easier to avoid thinking like that if you are not coaching your own child. A good Little League Baseball manager (who is lucky enough to get plenty of help) will really try to avoid having parents coach their own kids during team practices.

Young baseball players tend to listen more to adults who are not their parents.

A good rule is "You coach my kid, I'll coach your kid."

Next, you need to foster concentration.

You do not do this by saying "Hey!! CONCENTRATE, dammit!"
This creates anxiety, the enemy of all hitting.

Pick a quiet, secluded spot away from all distractions, ( specially including friends, teammates and siblings.)

First, make sure that your young batter has a batting helmet. Make sure that the batting helmet fits comfortably. Let your young baseball player try on several of them.

Batting helmets protect batters and help them worry less about being "beaned." A batting helmet thus reduces anxiety, which as you may recall is the enemy of hitting.

Now you will need a baseball bat, and not just any baseball bat. You will need a baseball bat that fits your young batter.

Don't just run out to the sporting goods store and buy the first baseball bat that the salesman suggests. Baseball bats are very personal things, like shoes. Baseball bats have to fit comfortably. You won't know if a baseball bat is right until you've tried it for a while. The baseball team will have a wide selection of baseball bats. The baseball team's manager will have some suggestions. Let your young batter try several baseball bats, and change his or her mind as often as he or she wants to. This can be very frustrating for a parent, much less so if the batter that you are coaching is not your own kid.

Next, give your young batter a piece of chewing gum.

Chewing gum helps you relax and concentrate when you are doing repetitive tasks. (Try it the next time you are painting windows or driving at night.)

Now, you may object that chewing gum is bad for your teeth. Health food stores carry sugar-fee and aspartame-free gum that actually cleans your teeth.

Warm up. Let your young batter warm up by swinging the bat easily about 10 or 20 times. This avoids pulled muscles and injuries.

Stance and swing. The batting stance and swing cannot be described adequately in a book or a web site. You will need an experienced batting coach, but here are some tips.

BATTING TIP #1: THIS IS NOT THE MAJOR LEAGUES. Your young batter will naturally try to emulate the stances and swings of the professional baseball players that he sees on television. This will not work for young baseball players. Have your young baseball player stand comfortably well within the batter's box.

The batter's feet should be about shoulder width apart OR LESS, not touching any of the lines. Too wide a stance tends to slow a batter's reflexes.

The batter's hands should be at shoulder level, holding the bat vertically.

A good batter will "show the numbers" to the pitcher. That is, stand so that the numbers on the back of his uniform are visible to the pitcher. This is a good stance.

Some batters try to get into a severe crouch, thinking that this will make their strike zone smaller and increase their chances of getting "walked" (a base on balls.) Don't do it. A stance like that makes it hard for the batter to swing the bat properly. Pitchers know this, and they have ways of taking advantage of it.

While waiting for the ball, have the batters keep moving a little. Instead of standing perfectly still, tell your batters to bounce around and swing the bat. It helps the batters react more quickly. (Staying in motion can also help you while you are waiting to return a tennis serve.)

As the ball comes in, the batter waits until he sees the ball, then takes a short gliding step toward the pitcher with his left foot (if batting right-handed) leaving his other foot solidly planted, knee straight. Teach your batters to "stay closed up" (don't start swinging) as they do this. Tell your batters " Make sure you see the ball before you stride."

A good exercise is to occasionally throw your batter a "dry" pitch: go through the pitching motion but hold onto the ball to see if the batter strides before seeing the ball.

Keeping his eye on the ball all the way in, the batter swings the bat with a quick, explosive motion of his wrists, AND FOLLOWS THROUGH, letting the bat swing comfortably around his body.

Some players are so happy and eager to hit that they will swing at anything, attempting to dig a ball out of the dirt, or swinging at a pitch that comes in above their heads. They have seen this work in the major leagues. Explain gently that these are not the major leagues, that these antics don't work for young players, and that they will cause you to be known as a "sucker" who will swing at anything. Pitchers love that.

If a batter is swinging late, have the batter move back towards the catcher. If the batter is still swinging late, his hands may be creeping forward (from the shoulder towards the chest area.) Have the batter move his or her hands back, as if cocking the hammer on a gun.

Some batters used to swing late because their hands had been "stung" by the vibration of a wooden bat hitting the ball. This happens very rarely now, because of the widespread use of metal bats and batting gloves.

Problem batters. Some batters have problems because they swing their heads as the ball comes in. Teach them to hold their heads steady.

Another bad habit is swinging in an upward motion instead of horizontally. Kids like to do this because it looks like a good way to hit a homer. They have seen the professionals do it. At this age level, swinging upward only results in a fly ball which is easily caught for the out.

If your batters are still having problems, have them choke up on the bat, as if they had two strikes on. There is no shame in doing this. Some major league baseball players do it.

If the batter is swinging too soon, have the batter step forward towards the pitcher.

Start with slow, easy pitches to build confidence, then very gradually increase the speed.

Pitching machines are great for this, but they intimidate young first time batters. Work into them gradually.

Even with batting helmets, some new batters are naturally afraid of being "beaned" (hit by a pitched ball.) Do NOT say "Aw, come on, it won't hurt you." This will undermine your credibility. Getting "beaned" hurts.

A good way to eliminate the fear of being hit by a pitched ball, is train your batter to get out of the way. You can do this by throwing tennis balls at him or her. When a batter gets confident that he can get out of the way, the fear of being hit will subside.

A good habit is to step out of the batter's box and take a few practice swings after every foul ball or strike.

With two strikes on, have the batter "choke up" on the bat.

Finally, if your batter is hitting well, don't increase the speed too much. Train your batters to hit at the speeds that they will actually experience during the games. If you don't do this, your over-trained batter will tend to swing early and strike out.

Don't overwork your young batters. Keep the practice sessions to about 20 pitches, It's better to leave them wanting more than to exhaust them. Remember, this is a game. It's supposed to be fun.

The bucket of Balls. In batting practice, it is good to have a bucket of baseballs at hand instead of just one or two. It makes things go more quickly. Sporting goods stores now sell cheap baseballs by the bucketful. If you can't find or afford this, walk around the local baseball fields after practices are over.

You will usually find one or two scruffy but useable baseballs lying around. You can build up quite a collection in a few days.

Skipping rope. Even well coordinated ballplayers can all benefit from skipping rope daily. Prize-fighters do it. It improves coordination and helps young ballplayers improve their batting.

If you can't get to the batting cages, a good exercise is this: {for a right-handed batter) stand to the right of the player, lobbing tennis balls across and about 6 inches in front of his front foot. To save time, get a bucket of tennis balls (dead ones are OK) and have the batter hit towards the backstop, or into a soccer goal or a golf practice net. This exercise is great fun. Kids love it.

If you can't do that, have your ballplayer swing the bat hard about 100 times.

Video cameras can be very useful for spotting subtle batting mistakes. If a batter is having trouble, recording you baseball player with a video camera and playing it back in slow motion can fix some problems almost instantly. A video camera can also help you improve your golf swing or your tennis serve.

Stickball. To make good batters even better, some managers have them swing at golf balls with a broomstick. This is only for older players who are already excellent batters.

Encouragement. It has been said that encouragement is the basis of all learning. When your young baseball player does strike out, don't say anything like:
"Hey! I TOLD YOU not to swing like that!"
Some parents do this, and it is counterproductive.
Instead, say something like:
"Good try, champ. Better luck next time. "
Remember that we are not playing for money. It's just a game, and it is supposed to be fun.

Let your batter know that it is OK to strike out. One of the all time leaders in number of strike outs
was none other than BABE RUTH.