Bat Drag Part 2 - Drills and Muscle Memory

[mkral]

Got it. Thanks for your patience. I have to make one of those bath mats!

 

[straightleg]

Howard

On the x half of it is for righties - half for lefties. Correct me if I am wrong



Straightleg

 

[Hitter]

Howard

On the x half of it is for righties - half for lefties. Correct me if I am wrong



Straightleg

Yes that is correct.

Thanks Howard

 

[PEPPERS]

My daughter is a big strong kid, I try to emphasize that her role on the team is to hit and drive in runs, not to walk. She is intimidating at the plate and gets walked a lot. One of the college camps they talked about testing you ability to hit balls out of the strike zone/comfort zone.

They suggested that you move the ball out of the zone by small increments until you can no longer make solid contact. I admit we do not work on hitting balls out of the zones as much as we should. This thread has inspired me to work more on hitting balls out of the zone, plus some good suggestions on how to accomplish this.

Thanks guys for your advice and inspiration.

 

[Hitter]

My daughter is a big strong kid, I try to emphasize that her role on the team is to hit and drive in runs, not to walk. She is intimidating at the plate and gets walked a lot. One of the college camps they talked about testing you ability to hit balls out of the strike zone/comfort zone.

They suggested that you move the ball out of the zone by small increments until you can no longer make solid contact. I admit we do not work on hitting balls out of the zones as much as we should. This thread has inspired me to work more on hitting balls out of the zone, plus some good suggestions on how to accomplish this.

Thanks guys for your advice and inspiration.

Peppers

I do a test with most new students and especially at coaches clinics to show what most hitters do and that is pull off the ball. I use the Schutt multi position tee that I modified greatly to fit my needs. I then take a Schutt travel tee, the square box tee, and place it next to the multi position tee at the back outside corner of the tee. Center to center the distance is exactly 11 inches. I then have them measure off the plate from the back corner of the tee the length of the bat and draw a chalk line on the floor and tell them they can not step over the line to hit the ball. Most can not even hit it and if they do they barely nick it. By the end of the lesson they can hit it. We only want to prove a point they can do it and 5 to 8 inches is what you see at the ISF level is a strike...been there and done that! We teach our hitters to bait the pitchers and we also move in the box during the wind up. On intentional walks we crowd the plate and will hit the ball as usually the catcher and pitcher never throw if far enough away that we can not hit it.

We teach our hitters to hit what they want and think they can hit and it is their job to call balls and strikes. The only thing we want the umpire to do is call safe or out as it is our job to determine what we can hit. Our players rarely take a third strike looking...I can teach you how to lay off a pitch however being aggressive at the plate is more difficult to teach in my opinion.

Thanks Howard

 

[PEPPERS]

My daughter is also a pitcher, I hope she never runs into one of your students Howard!!!!!!!

She is 15 & 6 foot tall her best friend is also 15 & 5 foot 2 inches I work with both of them a lot on their hitting I am look forward to testing them on what I’ve learned in this thread. I have one of the Schutt square bottom tees, but not one of the swing rite batting tees. After work and feeding the cows I’m heading to Wal-Mart and look for a bath mat, or something similar.

The umpires we see during our tournaments had a wide range of strike zones, so learning to hit balls out of the strike zone will sure come in handy. One think I am curious about is the mind set on the strike zone. Do you want your hitters to have a narrow strike zone early in the count and expand as you get deeper in the count or do you want them to have the same mind set of the strike zone every pitch?

 

[Hitter]

My daughter is also a pitcher, I hope she never runs into one of your students Howard!!!!!!!

She is 15 & 6 foot tall her best friend is also 15 & 5 foot 2 inches I work with both of them a lot on their hitting I am look forward to testing them on what I’ve learned in this thread. I have one of the Schutt square bottom tees, but not one of the swing rite batting tees. After work and feeding the cows I’m heading to Wal-Mart and look for a bath mat, or something similar.

The umpires we see during our tournaments had a wide range of strike zones, so learning to hit balls out of the strike zone will sure come in handy. One think I am curious about is the mind set on the strike zone. Do you want your hitters to have a narrow strike zone early in the count and expand as you get deeper in the count or do you want them to have the same mind set of the strike zone every pitch?

We do not have a strike zone ...we have a hitting zone and if they think they can hit it, then swing at it! If the first pitch is down the middle, hit it! Until they get to college and see a pitcher who understands how to work the ball in/ out and up/ down how will they ever create a swing DNA? Lisa says it best when speaking about pitching...my job is too throw the ball in the black so the umpire and the hitter must make a decision! If I throw it in the white I made a mistake!

This is exactly why we do not use pitching machines for batting practice and we do the Barry Bonds drill. We throw balls out of the official strike zone and expect them to hit it. We do timing drop drills from no higher than the eye level as I have NEVER seen a ball drop from above the eye level so why would I practice tracking the ball that way in practice? We vary the height of the ball however to make them make timing and rhythm adjustments so they must vary when they plant their heel and begin to rotate. We also like to use two tees one low and in and the other high and away and as they load I will say in or out and they must adjust. I look closely for their eyes to be inside and tracking in/ in/ in and then adjusting away just like in a game. I think this is where many coaches miss the mark by not teaching tracking techniques in every drill we do.

I stand behind the soft toss net and throw balls as the hitter sets up off the tee and when they see my arm at the K position they load and as I get to the pitchers window of release they step and hit. WARNING: As the pitcher do not throw regular softballs! Use whiffle balls or tennis balls or a rag ball as sometimes the hitter can match the exact plane of the pitch to the incoming pitch and it can hit you in the face or OTHER parts and it hurts!

My pitchers know who the hitters are and it presents a challenge to them knowing how we teach to find the flaw in the individual hitters mechanics. I had the best experience this past summer when we had 22 kids playing at the same time on different teams in a 23 and under program in Beaver Creek Ohio. Kids from Ohio State, Ohio U. Ashland, Whittenburgh, Capital, Mt. Vernon, WSU, Lincoln Trail, Lincoln Memorial, Rhodes, NKU, Mt. St Joe, Thomas Moore, Miami Valley Express Gold, Storm Club, Hiram, University of the Cumberland's, Belermine, Butler. As an old coach this is what you dream of seeing and why you teach.

Thanks Howard

 

[SBFAMILY]

I was telling Howard of a recent College camp. They were throwing the ball up above the head of the batter and the batter had to follow the ball up and then hit it before it hit the ground. I asked what was the purpose of the drill. They stated tracking. I had to walk away .

 

[PEPPERS]

We do not have a strike zone ...we have a hitting zone and if they think they can hit it, then swing at it! If the first pitch is down the middle, hit it! Until they get to college and see a pitcher who understands how to work the ball in/ out and up/ down how will they ever create a swing DNA? Lisa says it best when speaking about pitching...my job is too throw the ball in the black so the umpire and the hitter must make a decision! If I throw it in the white I made a mistake!

This is exactly why we do not use pitching machines for batting practice and we do the Barry Bonds drill. We throw balls out of the official strike zone and expect them to hit it. We do timing drop drills from no higher than the eye level as I have NEVER seen a ball drop from above the eye level so why would I practice tracking the ball that way in practice? We vary the height of the ball however to make them make timing and rhythm adjustments so they must vary when they plant their heel and begin to rotate. We also like to use two tees one low and in and the other high and away and as they load I will say in or out and they must adjust. I look closely for their eyes to be inside and tracking in/ in/ in and then adjusting away just like in a game. I think this is where many coaches miss the mark by not teaching tracking techniques in every drill we do.

I stand behind the soft toss net and throw balls as the hitter sets up off the tee and when they see my arm at the K position they load and as I get to the pitchers window of release they step and hit. WARNING: As the pitcher do not throw regular softballs! Use whiffle balls or tennis balls or a rag ball as sometimes the hitter can match the exact plane of the pitch to the incoming pitch and it can hit you in the face or OTHER parts and it hurts!

My pitchers know who the hitters are and it presents a challenge to them knowing how we teach to find the flaw in the individual hitters mechanics. I had the best experience this past summer when we had 22 kids playing at the same time on different teams in a 23 and under program in Beaver Creek Ohio. Kids from Ohio State, Ohio U. Ashland, Whittenburgh, Capital, Mt. Vernon, WSU, Lincoln Trail, Lincoln Memorial, Rhodes, NKU, Mt. St Joe, Thomas Moore, Miami Valley Express Gold, Storm Club, Hiram, University of the Cumberland's, Belermine, Butler. As an old coach this is what you dream of seeing and why you teach.

Thanks Howard

We played in the PFX Pro-Softball tour about 2 years ago and Lisa took about an hour and spoke to the kids about her experience and was very inspirational in her talk, also seemed like a very nice lady.

The drop drill you talking about is that holding the ball at eye level standing just out of bat reach and dropping the ball in the strike zone? We do it, but I don’t like it!! Every body says they never seen anyone hit, haven't been hit yet, bet I’m going to be the first.

When you do the drop drill do you call load and then drop (this is how I do it) or just drop the ball? If I just drop the ball seems the kids have a problem getting to contact on time if they have to load and then swing.

I can pitch batting practice when I was pitching to a 9 year old, I had a glove full of balls and was pitching to her. She had a bat and glove her mother purchased for $10.00 or as I like to call it a $5.00 bat. She nailed me a one hopper, between the knee and ankle it was bruised and got infected and I spent 5 days in the hospita hooked to an IVl and the doctor was afraid at one time I may loose my leg, so you don’t have to tell me about being careful. My old bottom stays behind a net these days.

 

[Hitter]

We played in the PFX Pro-Softball tour about 2 years ago and Lisa took about an hour and spoke to the kids about her experience and was very inspirational in her talk, also seemed like a very nice lady.

The drop drill you talking about is that holding the ball at eye level standing just out of bat reach and dropping the ball in the strike zone? We do it, but I don’t like it!! Every body says they never seen anyone hit, haven't been hit yet, bet I’m going to be the first.

When you do the drop drill do you call load and then drop (this is how I do it) or just drop the ball? If I just drop the ball seems the kids have a problem getting to contact on time if they have to load and then swing.

I can pitch batting practice when I was pitching to a 9 year old, I had a glove full of balls and was pitching to her. She had a bat and glove her mother purchased for $10.00 or as I like to call it a $5.00 bat. She nailed me a one hopper, between the knee and ankle it was bruised and got infected and I spent 5 days in the hospita hooked to an IVl and the doctor was afraid at one time I may loose my leg, so you don’t have to tell me about being careful. My old bottom stays behind a net these days.

Lisa is great with the kids!

The way you do this drop drill is like every drill we do and that is with tacking , timing and rhythm. We start by hitting up the middle and that is with her measuring off from the back corner of home plate a bat width distance. They are looking forward and your hand is no more than shoulders height with the ball in hand face down. You simply flex your wrist down and that starts her negative move and then you release the ball and continue up with your hand. She will want to rush to begin and tell her to load on the flex of the wrist and step and hit and within a few swings she will be hitting it. Now lower your hand to lets say belly button high and try it and then lower your hand again. Each one requires her to adjust her timing just like in a game. Those that stand on ladders and buckets are forcing an unnatural way of tracking and we do not do that. Get a good two eyed look forward and they will see your wrist move out of the side of the eye

Thanks Howard.