Top Hits
Top Hits
TOP 5 Hitting Drills Every Serious Ballplayer Needs
There are so many hitting drills out there; it can leave you wondering where to start. This article will reveal Swing Smarter's greatest baseball drill hits! These drills are the cream of the crop when it comes to hitting success. You won't:
- Need an expensive hitting contraption,
- Require a hitting partner (one exception), or
- Waste anymore time with hitting drills doing absolutely nothing to help your swing.
Future reference: these drills go into more depth under the Smart Hitting Tips tab on the navigation bar.
Also, the hitting drills included here are arranged in of importance. The rotational lower half drills are mentioned first because they need to be mastered before moving onto the linear upper body drills.
Before we get started, there are two issues before starting any baseball drill work to keep in mind...
- A less is more approach, AND
- Making smaller circles.
Taking a less is more approach means to slow the hitting drills down at first until muscle memory can be created, and even then, move into a 60-70% game speed swing. Swinging under control transfers power generated in the hips and core without tense muscles into the upper body.
Making smaller circles means to break each movement down into digestible parts. The first drill we talk about does just that...
1. Balance & Reach
For a right handed hitter, stand sideways on a small 3 inch platform, feet together with bat in hands (we're NOT swinging, just holding it in a starting position).
Lift the left foot slightly off the ground, then raise the left knee up to hip level; you should be in a solid balance position.
Now, balancing on the right leg, have the hitter reach out with a closed left foot like they're striding towards the pitcher, then have them tap the ground softly (about 2-3 feet out) like they're striding on eggshells, and slowly return to the starting position. Reverse directions for a lefty.
The goal of the drill is for the player to get what it feels like to really load up the backside with a majority of their weight. And, tapping the ground lightly simulates what a correct stride should be. So, in short, they learn:
- Maximum load of the back leg, and
- How to be light with the stride foot.
Building into the next hitting drill...
2. Bat Behind the Back Drill
We start with the bat behind our lower back gripping it like in a karate punch stance.
- Step 1 is to transfer our weight to the back leg (70/30),
- Step 2, keeping our weight back, we stride with the front foot 1-3 inches (a separation occurs between our front foot and weight shift), and
- Step 3 we squish the bug, or rotate the back foot, so the toe finishes pointing at the pitcher.
The latter two hitting drills help train the central nervous and muscular systems with the right rotational energy transfer, while the next few drills will train the upper body to harness that power and transfer it into the baseball.
Remember, less is more with the following...
3. Top/Bottom Hand Drills Off the Tee
First, when doing this drill, we want to choke up to the top of the bat grip tape, so we have more control. Take the off hand and lay it across the stomach, and don't let it flop around while swinging.
Two things to focus on with the TOP hand (besides the footwork we've been working on with hitting drills 1 & 2 above), is to:
- Take the knob DOWN to the incoming baseball (imagine it's incoming off the tee), and
- Take the barrel through three imaginary baseballs hovering an inch apart past the contact point.
The TOP hand is our push and power hand ALWAYS, no matter what side you're hitting on...
would you rather PUSH a big giant heavy dresser or PULL it, to move it? We impress the girls (or boys) with the power in our TOP hand NOT our bottom hand.
Two things to focus on with the BOTTOM hand:
- Take the knob DOWN to the incoming baseball, and
- Keep the front elbow DOWN.
The bottom hand guides the hands DOWN, it's like the rudder on a boat, steering the barrel as short as possible into the swing plane. The bottom hand starts to work first, then the top hand takes over like the thruster on a rocket ship, pushing through the ball.
4. Two Tee Drill
This is the best drill for practicing the DOWN part of Down & Through, shaving down to a shorter swing.
You set up 2 tees, one behind the other, with about 2-3 feet distance between a ball sitting on top of each. The back ball should stand about 6 inches higher than the ball on the front tee.
Once we're all setup, then we take our stance...the object of the drill is to NOT hit the back baseball, only the front one. If we hit the back one, then our swing is too long and we need to shorten it. The best key to shorten it is to tell ourselves to take the knob DOWN to the incoming baseball.
Last but certainly NOT least...
5. Hitting Through 3 Baseballs
This part of these hitting drills requires an extra pair of eyes or a video camera, in the beginning, to give the hitter proper feedback.
You're going to set 3 baseballs an inch or so apart on the ground spanning a straight line from the contact point of the tee. As you hit the ball, try to extend the TOP hand out, palm up, through the three baseballs (imagine the baseballs you set on the ground in front of the tee are floating in mid-air after the contact point).
Martial Artist do this all the time when breaking boards...they envision a spot well past their striking point because they know a broken hand would result if they didn't, so they strike THROUGH the board 3-4 feet past.
This drill should be done in slow motion at first to get a feel for how the top stays palm up well past the contact point. This is one of the hardest things for young hitters to do because they've gotten in the bad habit of rolling over too early.
If you're hitting the ball on the ground too much, then use the TOP hand to push through more...AND, if you're hitting the ball in the air too much, then take the knob down more to the incoming baseball.
I didn't get this concept until after my college career had ended, from a Rod Delmonico book. I had a hard time keeping my barrel in the hitting plane, which meant I was rolling over too soon.
If you like this, then please check out the two Part Series that cuts through swing flaws like a hot knife through butter...
Also, rolling over too soon causes a bump in the pitched ball path...do a swing in slow motion while rolling too soon and see for yourself.
SHORT to it, LONG through is the only way to create the vital backspin, helping us to swing smarter NOT harder!
My name is Joey Myers, and I played 18 total years of baseball finishing my career after my fourth year of college (2000-2003) as a Fresno State Bulldog (the 2008 College World Series Champions). I'm very grateful for the success I had at Bullard High School, and getting a
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About the Author
Top Hits
Billboard Hot 100 - Top 50 Singles (4/25/09)
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Latest Greatest Straitest Hits $63.73 Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Latest Greatest Straitest Hits is a 2000 compilation album by George Strait. It was released by MCA Records. The album represents his greatest hits since the release of his 1995 box set Strait Out of the Box. The newlyrecorded track The Best Day was released as a single. Although not a single, Murder on Music Row also charted in the Top 40 from unsolicited airplay. Author: Miller, Frederic P./ Vandome, Agnes F./ McBrewster, John Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 72 Publication Date: 2011/02/25 Language: English Dimensions: 5.98 x 9.02 x 0.17 inches |
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Rhythmic Top 40 NumberOne Hits of 1992 (USA) $79.66 High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles This is a list of the U.S. Billboard magazine Rhythmic Top 40 numberones of 1992. Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It is often considered to be one of the holy grails of the entertainment industry, and the official trade publication of the music industry; it is typically regarded as one of the most relevant and unbiased sources of information on the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. Author: Surhone, Lambert M./ Tennoe, Mariam T./ Henssonow, Susan F. Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 120 Publication Date: 2010/08/28 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.28 inches |
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Rhythmic Top 40 NumberOne Hits of 1994 (USA) $79.66 High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles This is a list of the U.S. Billboard magazine Rhythmic Top 40 numberones of 1994. Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It is often considered to be one of the holy grails of the entertainment industry, and the official trade publication of the music industry; it is typically regarded as one of the most relevant and unbiased sources of information on the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. Author: Surhone, Lambert M./ Tennoe, Mariam T./ Henssonow, Susan F. Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 120 Publication Date: 2010/08/28 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.28 inches |
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Rhythmic Top 40 NumberOne Hits of 2006 (USA) $79.66 High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles This is a list of the U.S. Billboard magazine Rhythmic contemporary numberone singles of 2006. From January 7 to August 4 the chart was featured in Billboard Radio Monitor, save for the last two weeks after the publication ceased operations on July 14. From August 12 onward the BDS monitored chart became part of the new RR after Billboard assumed ownership. Billboard magazine Rhythmic Top 40 numberones of 1994. Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It is often considered to be one of the holy grails of the entertainment industry, and the official trade publication of the music industry; it is typically regarded as one of the most relevant and unbiased sources of information on the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. Author: Surhone, Lambert M./ Tennoe, Mariam T./ Henssonow, Susan F. Binding Type: Paperback Number of Pages: 120 Publication Date: 2010/08/28 Language: English Dimensions: 6.00 x 9.02 x 0.28 inches |
Softball Hitting Tips - Execute Perfect Hits
Landing the perfect softball hit needs the proper and balanced batting stance, adequate bat swing, and the right weight position. Always watch the ball and keep the right batting stance before, during, and after hitting. Use your lower body especially the hips for support, bring your arms across the body, and deliver a compact and accurate swing… Those are the essentials of softball hitting.
Here are some more softball hitting tips that you may use to further enhance your hitting skills and finally execute that perfect softball hit:
Softball Hitting Tip #1 – Find and Use the Right Bat
Finding and using the right and proper bat is probably one of the best and most softball hitting enhancing tip around. The proper bat to use differs from athlete to athlete but the basic states that an athlete should choose a bat that is the heaviest… the heaviest bat that she could swing around without losing speed, power, precision, and batting form. A rule of thumb is that when the bat is placed at the side, the bat’s knob should be placed at the wrist.
Softball Hitting Tip #2 – Hitting/Batting Stance
While on the batter’s box, the back of the foot should be equal to the plate’s back corner. Both feet should be pointed in the same direction while the batter should be looking directly at the pitcher. In other words, the softball hitter is in a “sideways” position. The bat should be parallel with the ground and side body aligned. The bat’s knob and the back foot should point in the same direction.
Softball Hitting Tip #3 – Practice Softball Hitting Drills/Games
One of the best ways to enhance your hitting skills is to engage in softball hitting games such as the color game. The color game entails hitting softball with three different colors with each color saying hit, bunt, and ignore. There are a lot more very exciting and totally helpful softball hitting drills and games out there. You can most certainly find tons and tons of them on the internet and softball specific books and manuals, not to mention your creative coach and teammates. So try some out and find which one’s suit your abilities and downsides best. This softball hitting tip will not only help increase your hitting skills but also your mental toughness.
Softball Hitting Tip #4 – Mentally Toughen Yourself
Softball hitting does not only use muscles and skills, it requires a lot of mental prowess as well. Having total or complete mental toughness skills is one of the best kept secrets of the world’s best softball players. There are a lot of great and amazingly effective ways of strengthening one’s mental faculties: Not giving in to pressure (external and internal), being mentally positive all the time, controlling the controllable (forgetting what you cannot manage while taking full advantage of the aspects you can control such as your swing or pitch or run), and having a healthy mind as well. One can most definitely become mentally fit and stable for optimum softball performance by eating right, playing right, and having great and optimistic peers, friends, and teams… One will most certainly increase his or her softball hitting skills by being both mentally tough and physically fit.
Try these very easy and basic softball hitting tips and see a big difference in your softball hitting performance.
About the Author
Marc Dagenais, MHK, CSCS, is a Softball Peak Performance Coach that helps softball players and teams hit with more power, run faster, throw harder, become mentally tougher and be more dominant on the softball field.
Top Hits