Someone (maybe Howard) posted an excellent description of what is involved here. Now that thread has been removed with a whole lot of other threads that Howard participated in and shared his wealth of knowledge. I thought I had saved it but I can't find it!
Maybe you could describe what you know? I often do a simplified Bonds drill that involves the batter stepping closer to the pitching machine one step at a time and then stepping away one step at a time. something I want to try with the younger kids is putting a fielding glove on the top hand (typically their throwin hand) and have them stand in the batters box and catch the pitches. (there's more to it than that but that's the executive summary) this is all part of the unabridged Bonds drill that was started at clinics and camps.
The Bonds Drill is really nothing more than moving a step closer to the pitching machine after every hit until you just can't catch up to it anymore.
so your swinging a bat in this situation, there's no glove involved?
so your swinging a bat in this situation, there's no glove involved?
The Bonds Drill is really nothing more than moving a step closer to the pitching machine after every hit until you just can't catch up to it anymore.
We don't do much with pitching machines as I feel like it can be detrimental to a swing to use them too much. One thing I have my hitters do is a slight variance of this and that is to have the hitter move around after every hit. Move up two steps. In a little. Out a little. Move back on step. Etc. etc.
The Bonds Drill is really nothing more than moving a step closer to the pitching machine after every hit until you just can't catch up to it anymore.
so your swinging a bat in this situation, there's no glove involved?
gvm, The drill with the glove is not really the BB drill, it is more a tracking the ball drill. To do the drill as I understand it is to put the batter at the plate in their regular batting stance with them wearing a left hand glove if they are a righty(they want to catch the ball with the top hand. This drill is easier if you are using it to help your right handed slappers as they just wear their regular glove) and pitch the ball through the machine to the batter. Hold a ball in your right hand and make the windmill motion then drop a ball into the chute with your left hand to mimic the pitchers motion. You need to do this to help the batter time or as HC says "dance with the pitcher". The batter should go through the batting sequence so they catch the ball at the POC with good timing of their hitting motion. The BB drill is as cshilt described above. I start my MS players at the plate with the machine set at 43 - 47 mph. The speed should be where they are comfortable and can really time the pitch and take it up the middle. After a few cut have them move up three feet at a time until they are 20 -25 feet away from the machine. This distance could be less if their mechanics start to break down. Every foot increases the apparent speed by 2-3 mph through the reduction of reaction time due to being closer to the release point of the pitch. Again be sure and use the pitching motion prior to feeding the machine. I have a windmill attachment on our Jugs machine but not everyone does. After they are as close to the machine as they can handle the pitch have them move back until they are back at home plate.