Do Private Baseball Lessons Help? (In-Depth Guide)

Baseball is a fun sport with a great mixture of game intelligence and versatile skill requirements. You will need to throw accurately, catch reliable, swing with power, field fast and smart, and sprint explosively. That sounds versatile, which often means that you will be great at something and not as great in other things. Do private lessons help?

Baseball players’ success on the field will be as good as their skills are. Thus, private baseball lessons will help tremendously and speed up the skill acquiring because you can get focused training tailored to your specific needs of improvement.

That being said, private baseball lessons are well worth it, assuming that you are very passionate or have specific goals in baseball.

Now, let’s take a closer look at what baseball lessons can include and how they will improve your skills better and faster.

What Does Baseball Lessons Include?

Private baseball lessons are a great way to get your kid or yourself ahead of the competition or simply not fall behind. This is because you will gain the professional coaches’ attention to create and target the training you need the most.

This isn’t simply possible in regular lessons as there are often a dozen other students. Meaning that every minute will be spent optimally, and the coach is often from a higher level of play when doing private lessons.

When getting private lessons, you can choose what to train, or go all in and train everything. However, this would often require multiple sessions in a row or separate days, as most private lessons last 30minutes to one hour. Let’s take a closer look at the skills you can target.

1. Batting

Batting is without a question one of the most important baseball skills. If you need improvement on batting or want to be awesome in it, a coach will help you with that.

Keep in mind that a good coach will look at your strengths and weaknesses and adjust the training. For example, if you don’t like to do a leg kick, a good coach will adjust to it and work with your strengths by giving tips, advice, and example.

A bad coach will try to mold you as he once was, which is terrible as you and he are different. This good coach bad coach example applies to every kind of training, not just batting.

Anyways, the hitting instructor will improve your swing mechanics, stance, hand-eye coordination to a point and make adjustments that follow your strengths.

2. Throwing

Throwing training can include both accuracy and speed training. Both of them are very important, accuracy even more. It’s more important to get the ball to the teammate’s glove instead of throwing it unbelievably fast to a fan’s glove.

Private baseball lessons will help you determine your current skill level to make adjustments for both accuracy and speed.

Both of these skills in throwing will improve as you learn to throw the right way, so more of them will reach the desired destination. In addition, you will learn the right way to throw for speed, even though some of the throwing power comes from physical strength, but certainly not all.

3. Catching

Catching isn’t as easy as it sounds either. You know this if you apply private lessons because of catching issues.

Anyways, there is a correct way to catch because it isn’t only about getting the ball to your glove. You need to get it out very quickly to be ready to throw.

With private lessons, you will learn an experienced baseball player that will help you improve catching faster and better.

4. Running bases

Stride speed is a vital part of baseball as it determines whether you will reach to next base or not. If you don’t, you won’t be helping your team gain runs which determines the winner and loser.

An advanced baseball coach will help you adjust the correct stance and technique for your maximum stride speed. However, there is much more to it than just speed.

Safety is a big part of baserunning, as if you do it incorrectly, you will sprain, strain, fracture, or get a concussion at some point.

5. Position training

Then there is the specific position that needs a specific skill set. The most common position lessons are for catchers and pitchers. However, there are general fielding lessons for the infielders and outfielders.

If you play a special role on the team, such as a catcher or pitcher, private lessons can be of extra help. You will learn all the tips and tricks to succeed in that position which can get you ahead of the competition.

Combined, you will boost your self-esteem and confidence as your baseball skills improve, which is proven to increase performance through thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.

What Age Should You Start Baseball Lessons?

Suppose you want your child to have the best chances of being a great baseball player, whether as a hobby or a career, there is the best age to start baseball lessons. As a rule of thumb, the sooner, the better, but still, not too soon.

What’s the best age to start baseball lessons?

Generally, the best age to start baseball lessons is seven years old. At this age, the body is advanced, social skills and concentration are more refined, routines have been established, and intelligence is developed enough to soak up information and learn what is shown.

One can start baseball at tee-ball level when between four and six years old. However, this isn’t baseball yet, as it’s more focused on having fun and introducing the sport.

After the age of seven, the time to start isn’t optimal anymore, yet it isn’t too late to start baseball by any means either.

Still, if your child would start baseball at the age of 12, he would be behind in skills to the other kids that started at seven.

It certainly isn’t impossible to reach the same level, but it is a disadvantage that needs to be acknowledged.

How Often Should You Take Baseball Lessons?

If you want the best results from baseball training, one lesson just doesn’t cut it, even though you can get valuable tips and training ideas that you can implement yourself. But for the best results, you need a little more than that. So, how often should you take lessons then?

Generally, you should take baseball lessons 2 to 3 times per week. If your goals and requirements are high, you should take more lessons, and if you want to improve your baseball game as a hobby, less is adequate. Private lessons should be taken to a point where you understand the instructions.

The right answer to generalize in a sentence is very hard because people are different, and so are their current skill levels and end goals.

Think about this; Children and hobbyists often take lessons two to three times a week, whereas MLB players train at least seven times per week. In addition, if you train in a league, you don’t necessarily need to take any lessons during the season but should go twice a week in the off-season.

Also, it isn’t as simple as that either. Baseball lessons are expensive, and it can be impossible to keep them consistent around the year as it would result in a bill costing thousands of dollars. That’s why you should take lessons to a point where you understand and are soaked up the instructions, tips, and the general idea the coach is trying to tell you. Then, you can implement the learned things yourself and save considerable amounts of money.

Oh, and too many lessons can be, in fact, bad for you. When you focus and spend too much time among mechanics and so on, it will take your mind off the swing. It’s a swing of a bat in the end which shouldn’t be overthought, but the mechanic should be learned properly.

How Much Do Private Baseball Lessons Cost?

At this point, it shouldn’t be a surprise that private baseball lessons are expensive, especially in the long run. Private lessons aren’t cheap in other sports either, such as tennis.

So, how much do private baseball lessons cost?

Private baseball lessons cost $60 30 minutes and $110 1 hour on average. Most lesson providers offer membership and bulk discounts that can decrease the price considerably. Other factors such as location, coach skill level, competitor’s pricing, and demand for your services affect the price.

Below you can see a table of different private baseball lesson providers and their pricing. There are discounted member prices, but I have listed the prices for non-member people.

Lesson Provider	30 minutes	1 hour
Baseball Clinics	$69	$139
Diamond Kids Baseball	$60	$100
Asphaltgreen	–	$100
All-Star Baseball	$55	$105
Long Island Sports Zone	$65	$110
Extra Innings	$55	–
The Baseball Zone	$65	$120
Maple Zone Sports Institute	$60	–
Average	$61	$112

As you can see, the prices aren’t low, but those are the highest prices the providers offer. That’s because they are one-time lessons without a membership. Suppose you were to order ten lessons as a member; it would cut the cost by hundreds of dollars, so keep that in mind when browsing different options.

How To Become a Baseball Instructor?

If you are a great baseball player yourself and don’t require instruction but want to be the instructor, how would you get to that position?

To become a baseball instructor at any level other than Little League or to get paid, you will need to have a college degree in any topic. In addition, a major in sports-related study and a baseball coach certificate such as one provided by USA Baseball or NFHS would be very beneficial.

Little League does have volunteer unpaid coaching positions, but it’s an alternative option as you wouldn’t get paid and wouldn’t get to instruct as you probably would want to. If that’s something you would like, then it’s great.

When it comes to the certificates, they aren’t necessary for becoming a baseball instructor. Still, they are widely recognized and respected as they prove you know a lot of basic drills to other required practices.

If certificates are of interest to you, I recommend checking out the Coach Certification Program from NFHS and the Baseball Coaches Certification by USA Baseball.