43Drills

This generally begins because of fear of the ball and may continue later simply because of habit. To help correct this habit, place a ball glove or something flat to the left of the hitter’s stride area (for right-handers), so they know when they are stepping out. If they realize they are stepping out and continue doing it, they may have a balance problem. Have them lift their front heel off the ground during their stance and stride. This will help them keep their weight forward toward the plate.

Stepping out may also be due to the desire to pull the ball. Discourage strict pull-hitting. The hitter should develop the mental image of hitting the ball straight back at the pitcher and hitting to all fields.

If fear is a factor, it is important to convince the player that he is safer when striding straight at the pitcher than when bailing out. The proper movement of the batter when a ball is thrown at him is to turn inward toward the plate and then toward the catcher (while dropping his head if the pitch is high). This protects his head and chest (the two dangerous places to get hit). Bailing out opens the hitter up and usually results in exposing the chest and head to the ball. Also, I know several young players who have overcome their fear through on-deck prayer.

There is a lot of controversy concerning the angle of the bat when hitting a pitched ball. Based on watching film of great hitters and what has proved successful for the kids I work with (and in line with Ted Williams’ approach to hitting), a level swing is not swinging the bat level with the ground. A level swing also only refers to the path of the bat head through the hitting zone, not the initial part of the swing involving the hands coming down to the ball or the follow through after contact.

A level swing involves swinging the bat level with the path of the pitch. This is a slightly upward swing (the degree to which depends on the pitcher). This increases the likelihood of hitting the ball squarely, even if contact is a little too late or too early. When hitting down on the ball (which is popular among many coaches), the hardest hit balls will be grounders. Lines drives will flutter and only occur when slightly undercutting the ball. Weak line drives are also produced by big uppercuts and the only hard hit balls will be high fly balls (which are easier to catch than low fly balls).

Correcting for uppercuts and undercuts begins with the position of the hands when the stride foot is planted (launch position). Aside from the hands being over the rear foot at this point, their height is also important. Uppercutting (more than what is required by the path of the pitch) often occurs because the hands start too low ñ often by the ribs. Undercutters generally start their hands too high, somewhere above their shoulder. Ideally, the hands should be close to shoulder height. From the rear shoulder, the hands should bring the bat head down into the hitting zone and then up at the ball. When the bat head flies forward, it should go through the contact area level with the path of the ball.

Some players accept striking out as part of the game. Others find it humiliating. Some take weak swings trying to just make contact or swing at something they can’t drive early in the count so they aren’t faced with the possibility of striking out.

Developing patience at the plate and reducing the fear of striking out can be facilitated by having confidence that one can still have a successful at bat with two strikes in the count. If this confidence is lacking (or if a player simply needs to reduce his number of strike outs), a player should consider developing a two-strike swing.

While a lot of players shorten their stride and their swing with two strikes (which is good), sometimes a more radical approach is needed. One thing I would suggest, especially for younger players, is to avoid the stride altogether with two strikes. When faced with two strikes, take your stance in the batter’s box. Before the pitcher delivers the pitch, take your stride and hold it with the weight back a bit and your hands over the rear foot. Then simply take your swing from this position.

I’ve seen hitters do this over a course of a year and actually end up hitting better with two strikes on them than early in the count. Makes you wonder if you even need a stride (actually you do to reach your potential as a hitter). Once a player has confidence in his two-strike swing, he should show more patience and take better swings early in the count.

One problem we have in youth baseball is getting the baserunner to come off of the base agressively as soon as the pitch crosses the plate. In our league you can’t come off the bag until the ball is either put into play or caught by the catcher. To correct this we run an exercise requiring a pitcher, a catcher and a first baseman and one baserunner with batting helmet (at first base). The remaining players line up in foul territory to take their turn running. To begin the pitcher pitches to the catcher and the catcher makes a throw to first base to try to catch the baserunner coming off of the bag to go to second base. The object is for the baserunner to get as far as possible toward second base (but not to go to second) and then try to get safely back to first before the throw. We mark a line in the dirt at the farthest distance that each player gets to if they get back to first safely. That tells the player how far they can get off the bag and still get back during a regular game. We have a competition to see who can get the farthest. In order to get any distance at all they have to dive headfirst back to first base (which is legal in our league). Our aim is to get the players to come off the bags far enough to take advantage of any dropped balls by the catcher or to get the catcher to make an attempt at a throw-out (which results in an error about 50% of the time). It is also a good workout for the pitcher, catcher and first baseman. Its important that when you finish the competition to go back over each players mark so they have an idea how far to come off the bag.

Make sure you work all fields; left, center and right. Start off with all outfielders in left field in a single line. Infield and catcher are in their normal positions. Start off by hitting a grounder down the left field line, outfielder fields the ball and throws to second base, then goes to the back of the line. After all fielders have gone through once, hit grounder to left center, outfielder fields the ball and throws to second base, once group has completed a cycle hit grounder directly to left fielder who will now throw home. Finally, hit a routine fly ball to the left fielder, who will again throw home. After the group has completed this cycle rotate to center field and repeat drill. During this time have the infielders play their normal back-up positions for an outfield hit. On throws to second, the second baseman should cover the bag, make the tag and then throw to third base. Third base will make the tag and then throw to first base. First base will cover the bag, catch the ball and throw to the shortstop. On throws to home, catcher should catch the ball, make the tag and then throw to the shortstop covering third base, who will make the tag and throw to first, first throws to second and second back to third. To develop the outfielders throwing accuracy and emphasize the importance of throwing the ball low and on the line. This drill also works on helping the players understand alignment.

Breakdown your players stance and inward turn, into a four step process. Position the hitters in their stance and have them begin rocking back and forth between the catcher and the pitcher, lifting each heel off the ground in a rhythm. The four steps are rock towards the pitcher, rock towards the catcher, rock towards the pitcher, rock towards the catcher. The motion is not exaggerated but very slight. As the players rock back and forth call out 1, 2, 3, 4 to help develop a rhythm. This drill helps plays develop an inward turn for more hitting power.

Position a complete infield, except for the pitcher, and a complete outfield. The drill starts with the coach hitting to the second baseman, the second baseman throws to third base, the third baseman throws to first base, the first baseman throws to the shortstop and the shortstop throws to the catcher. The whole time this is going on you have a runner run the bases. They leave at the same time as the coach hits the ball, Make sure that your infielders stay in their normal positions and do not start moving closer together. The runner is racing to get around all of the bases before the ball gets to the catcher. As your players will quickly learn, if they make good throws and catches they will easily beat the runner.
This drill teaches the infield to concentrate on their throws and allows the coach to stress the importance of team work. If one player doesn’t make a good throw, the outfielders need to be in a position to back up the bases.

Line up a player at first base, shortstop, second base and in shallow left, center and right fields. Line-up remaining players in foul territory at first base. Start off the drill with a runner on first base. The coach hits to one of the fielders. If it’s a fly ball to left field the runner at first should go half way between first and second and watch the ball to see if the fielder catches it. If the fielder catches it, then the runner should return to first. If the fielder misses it then the runner needs to continue to second base. Have the fielders play the ball live. Continue the drill with different baserunning situations and hitting to different areas of the field. This drill will teach players to watch the ball through as baserunners, before taking the next base.

Get first baseman line at their position, first player in line will run to first and get in position to get the catch and the coach will deliver a throw trying to alternate the location of the throw so players can work on footwork in all directions. When the player has caught the ball he will throw it back to the coach and go to the end of the line.
As players go through the line, coach should move to simulate throws coming from other positions. This drill helps your first baseman work on covering first base and the footwork required to receive the throw

Get a catcher in full gear, coach with a number of baseballs about 5 feet from the catcher. Another catcher in full gear, coach with a number of baseballs about 15 feet from catcher, coach with a bat in the batters box.
Catcher will place both arms behind back and the coach will underhand balls to the catcher aiming for the mask. Then the catcher will catch a thrown pitch from the coach. coach should aim for the catchers mask. The other coach will swing the bat missing the pitched ball. In both parts of this drill the catcher should concentrate on not blinking or flinching.