Let’s face it, players like being good, which means they love practicing their strengths.
But it’s the strength of their weakness that will determine their success, especially when it comes to hitting.
So break out that batting T and help your players work on hitting pitches in all 4 corners of the strikezone:
- Low Inside
- Low Outside
- High Inside
- High Outside
(These pictures are based on a right-handed hitter)
Instead of putting the T right down the middle, help your players learn how to get their hands farther out in front of them (ahead of their front foot after taking their stride) for those pesky inside pitches. Work on making sure they hit them fair, instead of pulling them all foul. This goes for Inside High as well as Inside Low.
Also work on hitting both the High and Low Outside locations by moving the T back a little bit (behind their front foot) and practice hitting outside pitches to the opposite field. Having your hitters follow through in that direction will greatly help their ability to hit the ball opposite.
Every hitter will have a favorite location – someplace where they easily can hit the ball and hit it pretty hard – and a least favorite place – where they really struggle hitting the ball. Start out by letting your players have 5 swings with the T in each of the 4 different locations. Then after some success, move down to 2 swings at each location – asking your hitter to make whatever adjustments are necessary based on the first swing.
Once your hitters get used to doing this drill, you can change it up by having Double Hard days – where they have to hit twice as many from their hard location as they do their favorite. And other days can be Super Smash days where they get to build up their confidence by taking lots of whacks at their best location.
Finally, remember that confidence is a mindset that must also be trained, so don’t focus so much on what your hitters don’t do well. Challenge them gently if they’re struggling, and on those days when they’re doing great – challenge them more!
For more help with Hitting Drills, check out the following:
