Baseball Drills: Hitting: Introduction
Coil | Stride | Hip Rotation | Swing

Hitting Series

Introduction:
For most of the drills I don't have an introduction page as most drills are self-explanatory. With this hitting series drill I think it's important to understand why you would want to spend time using this drill during your practices. Some coaches may think that spending time on this will not be valuable because it's not the standard batting practice that many coaches are used to. The following is a list of reasons I think this is a great drill for all levels of baseball.

• Allows a coach the opportunity to teach hitting from the ground up and also teach the mental side of hitting at the same time.
  • Part 1 starts with standing outside the batter's box. What is the batter thinking about? Is he thinking positive thoughts? Is he thinking about where the pitcher releases the ball? Does he know the count and what pitch location he is looking for? This is a great opportunity to talk to your players about approach when getting ready to step up to the plate.
  • This drill not only works on building muscle memory but also is good for building visualization. As a coach you can give them a pitch count, talk about the pitch they are looking for. Have them visualize seeing that pitch out of the pitcher's hand and hitting it hard.
• Great way to work on balance throughout the swing. Balance from beginning to end is essential to a good baseball swing and this drill allows you and the players to understand where their balance should be during different times prior to and during the swing.
• Gives players a good understanding of the different aspects of the swing and why they are important. This can help players self-correct during a game. Player can't wait on a curve ball? Okay maybe they aren't staying back during their stride. If they don't understand what the problem might be, they won't be able to correct it.

Warnings:
We covered what I like about the drill but I also have some warnings.

• This drill will not keep the player's attention for long. The first couple of times you work on this do it as a group, but keep it short. You can then have them work on this during a station during batting practice and it can be used with a batting tee.
• Make sure they understand why they are doing the drill. They need to know what they are going to get out of it. If not, you'll look over at your batting station and see a player just hitting off the tee without using any of the fundamentals you're trying to instill.