We do a lot of tee work on the pitch locations, hitting the inside pitch in front of the front foot, the middle pitch even with the front foot and the out side pitch between the legs. We work on the low pitch, pitch down the middle and the high pitch each location with pitches inside,middle and outside.
The outside pitch we work on contact deeper in the strike zone or between the legs. Keep the bellybutton more toward the ball and then extend the bat head more toward the opposite field. We have a practice bat with white tape on the sweat part of bat for feed back on barrel contact.
We do this in the open field not into a net, this gives feed bak on distance and correct conact, if the ball tails away then we hit it too deep in the zone if we hit around the ball then we were too far out front. Some days my daughter hits the inside pitches best and some days the outside pitches better.
Peppers If you mark your net this can be done inside as well. Located your tee 4.5 feet from the net and then I used two different colored ropes and locate one 51 inches and 39 inches horizontally from the floor. I then put a vertical line in the middle of the net. Then depending on the width of the net I use red rags for foul lines by using the plate angles. Then I have tee shirts on what is the third and first base lines so we have an idea where the ball is being hit while indoors. When working out side I place my Schutt tee over home plate and call for an inside pitch to be at a colored line of tape and can predict where the ball should go based on the hitters position to the back corner of home plate that we measured off from.
The 51 inch line represents about 26 degrees and all things relevant a powerful hitter could hit a ball about 325 feet. The 39 inch line will put the ball at about 8 to 10 feet high over second base at 86 feet. We call this our hitting zone and it gives feed back to the hitter as to about what angle they are driving the ball. This too me makes more sense that just hitting a ball and feeling good about just hitting it. We want them to feel good about where they are able to hit it. When hitting off the tee or soft toss they and I can see where the ball should go if everything was done correctly ie tee shirt inside on third base line, vertical line or close to it and first base line tee shirt.
Our tee positions are adjusted from the the hitter measuring off from the back corner of the tee the length of a bat off the outside corner. Then 4 inches in front of the corner is our back corner window of opportunity and 12.5 inches forward of that line is our front edge window of opportunity to hit in. I have a Schutt fold up tee and it is marked with taped lines and various lines to make set up faster and the kids all understand what the lines represent.
If Chris sees this post maybe he can post a picture of what tee looks like.
If they still have it posted the WhipHit web site has a video of one my kids and you can see the lines on the net.
Thanks Howard
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