Archive for Baseball Hitting Fundamentals
Quality Practice
Posted by: | CommentsImportance of Quality Practice
Now that you have decided to take the challenge to create a preseason baseball-conditioning program we have to discuss the important of quality practice.
Quality practice comes from being prepared as a coach and remaining organized from day one. Here are the key factors you should consider:
- You must know the fundamentals of hitting, fielding and throwing in order to have quality practices.
- You must teach your assistant coaches these fundamentals so they can help you teach them. It will be impossible for you to do all the teaching, especially the younger the group of kids are.
- Schedule practice for an hour and a half except for very young kids 6 and under.
- Bring you plan to practice and work that plan. Keep strict time limits to each drill.
- You need to provide each of your players with a copy of the conditioning plan along with the drills so they can see what’s expected during practice as well as at home.
- Encourage the parents to work the plan on days where there is no organized practice.
- Walk the field before practice to eliminate any safety issues such as rocks or holes that might hurt a player.
- Set rules for your players up front and keep them on task during practice.
- Offer encouragement when you see players working extra hard at specific drills. Teach those that are not doing it correctly but make sure it’s in a positive manner. I always tell players, here is what you are doing right but you could make an improvement here. It really works better than always stressing what’s been done wrong.
10. Finish your practice with some type of game based on the skills being worked that day.
I cannot stress enough how important quality practice is to this or any other baseball related program. If you take the extra time to remain organized and lead a quality practice your players will learn much more and over time you will see remarkable improvement.
Baseball Hitting Tips – The Swing
Posted by: | CommentsTHE SWING
- Get in the position of power – weight back.
- Weight transfers from back to the center
- Back foot turns and heel points to the sky
- What type of swing do you want!
- Inside the ball swing – knob of bat stays close to the body
- Do not get the hands out to far away from the body
- Important – get the knob of the bat to the front side of the body before the barrel comes through the strike zone
- This will get you inside the ball
- Remember – hands should not be too close to body – 4 to 5 inches away is the best.
- Keep the bat at a 45 degree angle when starting the swing. Very difficult to correct, but young kids tend to wrap the bat around the head when starting the swing.
- Do not drop the barrel of the bat down below the hands.
- Path of hands to the ball:
- Hands inside the ball
- Wrists stay cocked – do not un-cock hands until contact is made. Doing so will create a long swing.
- Do not have hands roll over too early. You should contact ball and move toward finish before hands naturally roll over.
- Finish the swing high
- You can finish 1 or 2 handed (top hand off) but 1 handed is not very good for a young hitter to do because it puts a lot of stress on the shoulder area.
- After the swing – you should still be balanced with weight in the center. Make sure you don’t have too much weight forward or back here.
- Front foot should be closed to the pitcher – pointing in a 45 degree angle from the body
- Goal is to hit the ball back up the middle every time.
Baseball hitting tip – Position of Power
Posted by: | CommentsPOSITION OF POWER
- Get your weight back into a strong position of power.
- Your hands must get back behind your back foot.
- Position of power is used as a timing device
- Techniques to get into the position of power
- #1 Front knee cock – front knee cocks back toward back leg shifting weight to your back foot. Then strides straight forward. Make sure you don’t turn your body when you do this.
- #2 Click back – this is when you move your weight back without a knee cock, mostly down with an upper body move backward prior to swing.
- #3 Start weight back – this is when you lean back on your back leg putting most of your weight back prior to the swing. Make sure you don’t turn forward until the front foot strides.
- Very important to ensure hands are in the correct position before the stride takes place. They should be behind the back foot and 4-5 inches off the back shoulder and high. Do not wrap the bat around the head.
Good hand and arm position when hitting
Posted by: | CommentsHANDS AND ARMS
- Good hitters can start anyway they want but when the stride takes place their hands are always in the same spot. Start young hitters in this spot so there is less chance for errors.
- Hands should be 4-5 inches off your back shoulder.
- Knob of the bat pointing just behind the back foot.
- Back elbow should not be up because it causes the elbow to drop creating a long and slower swing. Back elbow should be down and relaxed. 45 degree angle works the best.
- Elbows must remain flexed in your stance.
- Getting your hands in position every time sequence:
- Put your back hand up 4-5 inches from the shoulder
- Back elbow pointing down at a 45 degree angle and relaxed
- After checking plate coverage with bat, bring it up with bottom hand and place in back/top hand.
- Another way is to set in both hands while bat is down on plate, raise it with both hands to shoulder letting it rest there. Then push it up toward the ears. Remember to say shoulder then ear. Hands should then be in correct position.
- Ensure knuckle alignment regardless of how you get in this position.
- Ensure bat is at a 45 degree angle directly back from you. Be careful to ensure you are not wrapping the bat around the head. This causes a long, slow swing.
- Solution to wrapping bat is to start the hands down or the bat back from the normal starting position.
Mavericks Outdoor Practice Plan
Posted by: | CommentsMavericks 1st Outdoor Practice
Well, it’s getting warmer so we took the team outdoors on Sunday for a full practice. Upon arrival I learned that dirt had been added to the field and it was very soft from some snow early last week so I got the workout of my life raking and dragging the field. Besides that everything went great and the players really enjoyed being outside.
For those of you following us on this blog, I’ll outline the practice plan below but before I do I’ll lets talk about my observations of the team so far.
- We are struggling to hit right now and yesterday was no exception.
- Our throwing needs to improve but is mainly due to arm strength. Looks like a lot of long-toss coming up.
- Fielding the baseball in the infield was actually very good and quite surprising for this age group.
- Disipline and hustle was outstanding and the boys are learning at each practice. Everyone is having fun as well.
Practice Plan:
1:00 – 1:10:
Partner Throwing with game. We added a game of 21 to their throwing which is having them count out 21 successful throws without a drop. We had a winner each round and then moved the boys back from each other and did it again.
1:10 – 2:00:
We broke into 4 groups. Group 1 worked on fielding ground balls at shortstop with throws to first base. Group 2 was stationed at first base working on receiving the ball from shortstop and moving off the base when needed to stop the ball from going behind them to the fence. Group 3 worked on a crossover drill in the outfield to learn how to move to the baseball on hits to their right and/or left. Group 4 took fly ball practice which included coach thrown balls.
2:00 – 2:30:
We broker into 3 hitting groups. Group 1 took live batting practice. Group 2 worked soft toss in the cage and group 3 shagged balls in the infield.
2:30 – 3:00:
Baserunning as a team. We worked on balls hit in the infield with running throw 1B. We taught the boys to break out of the box with 2 quick steps, peak to see if the ball got throw the infield and then run to the front of 1B and through it. Once through the bag we taught them to chop step quickly looking over the right shoulder toward fence and turn in that direction. We then worked on making your turn at first on balls hit to the outfield. We taught them to break the box with two hard steps, peak again and move slightly out to their right and touch the grass just to the right of the base path. This gives them a good angle to make a turn off the inside corner of the base.
3:00 – 3:05:
We concluded with a quick team meeting and prayer.
Summary: Our first outdoor practice of the season when very well considering. We didn’t hit well but everything else is on track with our preseason conditioning program. Great start to a very good season.
Hope you get some use out of these quick practice plans. Remember to break your team up into groups or stations as they really stay more engaged and get more repetitions. I’ve always broke into groups regardless of the age of the players. Trust me, it works.
BASEBALL DRILL – Soft Toss
Posted by: | CommentsBEHIND THE DRILL: Soft toss still provides a controlled situation where the hitting can work on fundamental swing develop without worrying about the speed of the pitch but it does add a moving element to improve hand eye coordination.
SKILL LEVEL: All Levels
DRILL TYPE: Hitting
PURPOSE: This drill helps progress the hitter to a moving pitch while still allowing for focus on the fundamental development of correct swing mechanics without the concern for the speed of the pitch.
EQUIPMENT: Bat, baseball, net or backstop
PLAYERS: Any number of players, but one at a time for safety concerns.
TIME: 10 minutes
SETUP PROCEDURE:
- Thrown down a home plate while having the player take his normal stance.
- A hitting net should be set up 8-10 feet directly in front of the player. Make sure it’s set at a distance that allows for a full swing without hitting the net. Don’t get too far away from the net or you risk having the player miss the net and that can be dangerous.
- The coach should toss the baseballs to keep things controlled. The coach will set up at a 45 degree angle to the place right next to the edge of the net.
- The coach will toss balls to the player in an underhand manner with the ball being directed out in front of the play toward his front hip. When the hand of the coach goes back prior to the toss, this is when the player loads to the position of power.
- Toss 25 balls and tell the player the objective is to hit the ball back up the middle on each swing.
- Toss 25 balls to the highest point in the strike zone to help them hit high strikes.
- Toss 25 balls to the lowest point in the strike zone to help them hit low strikes.
KEY COACHING POINTS:
- Make sure they have good swing mechanics throughout the entire swing.
- Teach them to visualize hitting the ball back up the middle.
- On the high strikes make sure the players hands are coming up prior to the move toward the ball. They still need to swing on a level plane to the ball and not upper cut which is common on high strikes. Causes a lot of pop ups.
- On the low strikes make sure the player’s back leg collapses slightly to get the bat on a lower plane toward the ball. Again, the swing needs to be level and without the collapse of the back leg the player will drop the barrel below the hands and this will cause a lot of softly hit choppers, which is not the objective.
BASEBALL DRILL – “Mock Swings”
Posted by: | CommentsBEHIND THE DRILL: Muscle memory is a key component of successful hitting. The player doesn’t have time to think about what movement is supposed to be done when a baseball is thrown. To be successful the swing must be completed without thought.
SKILL LEVEL: All Levels
DRILL TYPE: Hitting
PURPOSE: This drill builds muscle memory in players to teach them how to fundamentally swing the baseball bat without thought in live situations.
EQUIPMENT: Bat
PLAYERS: Any number of players
TIME: 10 minutes
SETUP PROCEDURE:
- Set your players up on a foul line about 8 feet apart to ensure no one is hit with the bat.
- Have the players take their regular batting stance with everyone visualizing a pitcher in front of them. Make sure they are all looking the same direction.
- As a coach use verbal cues for each movement and have them hold it. Walk the line and correct everyone that didn’t execute the move correctly.
- Here is the sequence (these are the verbal cues we say) we use in walking through this drill. Make sure they hold each position for a few seconds before call out the next move.
- “Stance” – player gets into regular stance ready to hit.
- “Load” – player separates by moving lead (stride) foot slightly forward while pushing hands back. Player should be up on toes of front foot and weight loaded.
- “Hips” – player begins to rotate hips by pivoting on the back foot (squash the bug)
- “Point of Contact” – player enters the hitting zone to the point of contact. The rear arm should be bent at a 90 degree angle at this point. The player should be in a palm-up, palm-down position.
- “Extension” – player pushes through the point of contact and extends out in front of them. I tell players it’s like pointing a sword at someone directly in front of you.
- “Finish” – player’s hands should naturally turn over and up to a finish just above the lead shoulder. I tell players this is like taking the sword and now bringing it back into their ear chopping it off. (trust me, these visualizations work)
- Complete 10-15 repetitions.
KEY COACHING POINTS:
- Walk through this very slowly each and every time. Have them hold the position and call out the verbal cue for what it’s called. This builds the muscle memory necessary to execute the swing without thought.
- Correct every player’s position at each step. Do this over and over again.
- Make sure the player’s understand the importance of the hips turning before the hands push through to point of contact.
- When the player gets to finish, make sure they are balanced with their front foot at about a 45 degree angle and not pointing directly toward the pitcher.
