What works!!!

With the crazy amount of hitting drills that people recommend. I wonder how many of you truly see any progression of the skill you are practicing. I'm talking real world results!

I have almost come to the conclusion that hitting drills are basically worthless. You can drill a kid over and over and then in the games they absolutely break down.

I do see some fielding drills that are benificial when it comes to footwork and glove work. But hitting drills may just be a waste of time.

Can any of you really say that you used xyz drill and it made a huge difference? If so please share!!!

I agree - hitting drills are just busy time and are waste of time.

Fielding drills for the most part still include a moving ball to field and throw to make.

I wouldn't expect someone to take what they learn in a drill directly into a game.

I'd expect them to take what they learn in a drill into their tee swing, or their front-toss swing, and from there it slowly shows up in their game swing. It can take some time.

I agree that many drills are ineffective. But I do believe that a few drills have been very helpful to my DD. Best ones have been walk-up drill, Babe Ruth drill, flamingo drill, SnF drill. Basically those that have to do with weight transfer, sequence and separation/resistance. Those have definitely made a huge difference over time.

Drills that for me have not clicked so well for my daughter are turn-barrel/bat path, upper-body drills.

DD went to pitching lesons and did not get any better. Her old coach came by and could not stop watching her.

If you are looking for a drill to make them better tomorrow you are out of luck, long term you are being silly that drills do not work.

Drills are not an instant fix. I look at drills as a way of communicating a specific feeling. Getting that feeling incorporated into a game swing means enough reps to make it the new muscle memory pattern. This stuff takes time, and sometimes the lesson doesn't click until a little further down the road.

Doing drills for the sake of doing drills is a waste of time.

Doing drills without a plan or the proper understanding of the purpose and intent of the drill is a waste of time and could potentially be detrimental to the hitter.

Doing drills with a plan and purpose can be beneficial to a certain extent. In my opinion front toss or live hitting are far better in most cases.

I do front toss with DD as often as I possibly can. She will do a couple of drills as part of a warmup (happy gilmore with self toss is the current favorite - maybe 15-20 swings total) and then we go right into the cage. There are things we will work on that some may call "drills" even though I do not view them that way. For example, a good portion of our hitting session two nights ago was working on inside pitches. I would consistently throw inside and would gradually mix in more middle and outside. Depending on my work schedule there are times that she does some hitting on her own. In those cases she will do a few drills with the tee and our bownet. Happy gilmore, 45 degree SnF, etc. I do not feel this is as productive as live hitting or front toss, but as long as she performs these swings properly, I am not going to tell her to stop doing them.

For my DD, The "ball drop" drill really did help little DD shorten up her swing to be able to hit very fast pitching. Single hand drills really do help her feel the cause of a barrel drop and get her hand path more correct by letting her feel the roles independently. Attack oppo really helped her get earlier bat speed and releasing the barrel away to drive to the opposite field.

I am not listing the 100 drills we tried and were indeed useless for her to find these three nuggets. So statistically speaking I would say most drills are indeed useless for most girls. Just as most tools are useless for most jobs. But those few tools (or drills). Can be very beneficial. You just have to do a lot of trial and error to find them and one size does not fit all. I kind of view it like panning for gold, gotta sift a lotta dirt to find something valuable.

Isolation drills - helped DD understand the various motions and relationships within a swing.
Contact drill - focused on what happens at contact.
Tee swings with a second tee in a bucket placed 3-4 feet behind hitting tee to reinforce compact swing.

These drills worked in improving swing mechanics but - tee and batting cage reps probably made the best overall performance improvement.
Okay - add in parents having a different approach for "in the box" success with DD. We look for a good swing regardless of outcome.

1bucketmom said:

Contact drill - focused on what happens at contact.

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This was another drill I found very helpful. In fact, probably need to get back to it.

1bucketmom said:

Tee swings with a second tee in a bucket placed 3-4 feet behind hitting tee to reinforce compact swing.

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Not sure what you mean here. Put a second tee ''in'' a bucket?

For us the best were...happy Gilmore off tee and now with front toss and self toss/fungo. Also some of Tewks drills.