There are nearly countless moving parts in a baseball swing.  Because of that, it's quite tough to keep all the parts working efficiently all of the time.  Throw in the fact that the pitcher is trying to foul up everything you've ever learned in your countless hours of baseball instruction and you've got some serious challenges ahead of you when you step into the box. 

I receive frequent questions as a hitting instructor regarding solving the troublesome issue of grounding out repeatedly to the pull side (that is the left side of the field as a righty, right side of the field as a lefty).  While there are a handful of causes of this issue, three main possibilities stand out.  I’ve covered them below.

1.      The most common mechanical mistake that produces a tendency to hit the ball on the ground is having too much weight transfer forward onto your front leg.  Good hitters understand the importance of utilizing the right movements at the right time to create energy.  Therefore, when a hitter prepares for the task of hitting a baseball, he must transfer some weight onto his back leg before the baseball swing process begins.  Many times hitters that do not shift enough weight to their back side of their body have trouble keeping balance as their swing begins.  This causes weight to be transferred to the front foot after which a hitter becomes off balance.  This balance problem (too much weight on the front foot) will produce a lot of groundballs or even shallow pop ups to the opposite field. 

2.      Another cause of hitting ground balls to the pull side is the premature opening of the front hip during the early stages of the baseball swing.  The proper movement a hitter wants to create is one that allows some of the weight stacked on the back side to transfer forward.  The forward movement creates momentum.  Momentum then allows the front hip to open creating torque, or the maximum energy for a hitter.  The front side of the body, mainly the front knee and hip are responsible for controlling the energy as the momentum is created with the back side of the body.  If the front hip begins to open too quickly, before the previous process occurs, then energy will not be channeled into the right direction.  Because of this error, many times the barrel of the bat will enter the hitting area and cut across the zone rather than continue through the zone.  This causes balls that are often pulled on the ground.

3.      One final cause of a baseball swing that produces groundballs is an improper hand path into the hitting zone.  This is a complicated problem and can stem from poor control by the front hip (see point number two).  While a front side opening too soon can make it difficult for the hands to stay close to the body, the hands themselves can be worked on to produce a smooth swing.  Without being too technical in a written article, the hands should remain near the body as they enter the hitting zone.  Hands that stray away from the body immediately will cause a bat path that sweeps through the zone. If a bat sweeps through the strike zone, the hitter will have a difficult time hitting inside pitches effectively. 

Finally, one good suggestion for working on this problem on your own would be do a search on the internet for some pictures or videos of major league hitters.  The MLB site has a bunch of multimedia highlights after you click on the team pages, then roster pages.  Look for the parts of the swing mentioned in this article. Visual analysis of baseball hitting mechanics will help you learn and understand the intricate details of a good baseball swing. Once you have an awareness of what needs to change within your swing, you can implement the necessary functions into your youth baseball drills.