Running an Effective Batting Practice

Hitting drills we do can be found all over the web.adds the element of a slow moving ball with the
The secret sauce is not in some special new drill, butbatter concentrating on hitting the center of the ball
in organizing the hitting practice to maximize theat the bat-ball contact point for line drives into the
proper mechanical swings to develop proper muscleoutfield.
memory.4. Wiffle ball short toss: 3 sets of 10 inside, 10 middle,
It is important to realize that perfect practice makesand 10 outside = 90 swings concentrating on getting
perfect play. If the players are not swinging correctlythe whole swing together but with the ball moving at
then all they are doing is reinforcing poor musclea slower speed than during the game. At a short
memory. Poor muscle memory means there will bedistance, the coach can position the pitch at different
"holes" in the swing that become easy offensive outspositions within the strike zone to provide additional
and increase player frustration. Perfect practicebatting practice for hitting to all fields.
creates good muscle memory, which means more5. One arm tee work: 3 sets of 10 front hand only
hard hit balls.and 10 back hand only = 60 swings concentrating on
Here is what we do is set up multiple differenthand movement through the hitting zone. The front
batting stations around the field and divide the teamhand guides the bat through the strike zone while the
into multiple groups (try to keep only two or threeback hand provides the power to the swing. This drill
players per group). To get 400 swings in 60 minutesisolates the hand movement through the hitting zone.
using six stations for one hour allocates 10 minutes6. Hitting practice off a pitching machine: 40 swings
per station. The pitching machine station can onlyconcentrating on timing the swing. By mixing up
provide about 40 swings in the allotted time. Thisdimple balls from different manufactures, the ball
leaves us with 360 swings for 5 stations; therefore,movement and speed are slightly varied to simulate a
you must average 72 perfect swings per station pervariety of ball movement. It is very difficult to teach
player.batting mechanics with a machine, but is very
Here are some example batting stations:effective with hitter timing.
1. Underload and Overload practice swings: 5 sets ofThere is nothing special about this set of stations
10 underload and 10 overload = 100 swings focusedother than you can get a lot of swings very quickly
on bat speed. Practice swings without a ball developsand isolate the individual hitting mechanics. We will use
a good fundamental swing with good balance.different station drills throughout the season to
2. Ball location batting tee work: 2 sets of 10 outside,provide variety and work on specific skills.
10 middle, and 10 inside = 60 swings concentrating onWhat I want to encourage is that you, as a coach,
hitting location and driving the ball in all directions.think about how to maximize the number of swings
Working off a tee adds the element of hitting theper practice by sub-dividing the players into smaller
ball without ball movement so the batter can focusgroups and use multiple hitting stations. What drills do
on another element, in this case driving the ball to allyou know that fall into these broad categories?
fields. By removing the ball movement a batter canOkay, switch them in for variety.
develop good balance and contact point location toBaseball @ Youth-Athlete provides helpful instruction
be able to hit to all fields.for parents, coaches, and young athletes around the
3. Semicircle soft toss drill: coach soft tosses 10 ballsworld. Youth-Athlete also provides tournament
from the front, 10 from the side, 10 from behind, 10listings, suggestions to parents and coaches that
from the side, and 10 from the front = 50 swingsenable a successful season, more on batting
focused on hitting the center of the ball. This drillmechanics, and a community for open questions.