Change up Hitting Drill
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- Jan 14, 2015
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I have seen people throw a tennis ball overhand that bounces about half-way to the batter. I asked them why they were doing that and he said it was a way to practice hitting change-ups. I have never tried this so I cannot speak of it's effectiveness, but you may want to try this dill.
- May 17, 2012
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When indoors hitting in the cage you should mix in a change up with your other pitches.
Can't throw an effective change from 15 ft? Try bouncing the ball. Sometimes I bounce it once, sometimes twice. I always "bounce" out of a fast-pitch pitcher motion (once you practice this you can get pretty good at the timing and making it smooth). I am currently bouncing indoor full sized softball, tennis balls, and indoor baseballs.
What you are looking for is the hitter to continue to resist while they are "waiting" on the change. If they stop their hitting movement to wait (they stop resisting) or they have a delayed start they have lost the battle (as they are guessing on the timing).
As a pitcher I want you to hack at my change (and try to hit it). When you combine this drill with the Zepp swing analyzer what you will notice is that the bat speed drops by 5-10 MPH when hitting the change (because they stop resisting). They should have close to the same bat speed when hitting the change vs other pitches (you want to punish the change up).
I don't like throwing the change 30 times in a row because they simply adjust their timing. Simply mix in a change up every random "x" amount of pitches. To prove my point tell them you are working on hitting the change and after 10 straight change ups mix in a fastball, they wont even come close to hitting it.
If they can't be disciplined and resist while waiting for the change, tell them they can't swing at change ups until they learn how (you didn't state they age of your player).
Hope that helps.
Can't throw an effective change from 15 ft? Try bouncing the ball. Sometimes I bounce it once, sometimes twice. I always "bounce" out of a fast-pitch pitcher motion (once you practice this you can get pretty good at the timing and making it smooth). I am currently bouncing indoor full sized softball, tennis balls, and indoor baseballs.
What you are looking for is the hitter to continue to resist while they are "waiting" on the change. If they stop their hitting movement to wait (they stop resisting) or they have a delayed start they have lost the battle (as they are guessing on the timing).
As a pitcher I want you to hack at my change (and try to hit it). When you combine this drill with the Zepp swing analyzer what you will notice is that the bat speed drops by 5-10 MPH when hitting the change (because they stop resisting). They should have close to the same bat speed when hitting the change vs other pitches (you want to punish the change up).
I don't like throwing the change 30 times in a row because they simply adjust their timing. Simply mix in a change up every random "x" amount of pitches. To prove my point tell them you are working on hitting the change and after 10 straight change ups mix in a fastball, they wont even come close to hitting it.
If they can't be disciplined and resist while waiting for the change, tell them they can't swing at change ups until they learn how (you didn't state they age of your player).
Hope that helps.
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most important thing is to teach them how to sit/increase stretch as they wait on the change. once they understand *how* to do it, using close front toss behind a screen to burn it in works really well, alternating between fastballs and changeups, first you let them know it's coming then you mix it up. the key is that they don't just pull changeups into the net/foul down the third base line....quality line drives, oppo if possible....
redhotcoach
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- May 8, 2009
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We used to do it, came from some college clinics. Stand on a chair and drop a tennis ball and hitter has to hit the ball on the drop unless you call out "CHANGE" then hitter has to hit the ball off the bounce.
We do a dry swing and tee swing drill that the hitter has to start slow and early gathering then continue to coil until "GO" is call and then sudden swing.
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I like to use tennis balls in my indoor cage. I always use the bounce drill as a part of the routine. Teaches them to be patient and to let the ball come to them.
I typically do not like the side toss drill, but here are 2 things that work in getting ready for a change up. In a side toss drill, set up a batting tee at it's lowest level. Set the tee on the outside corner of the plate with a ball on it. Proceed with the side toss as usual. After about 3 or 4 regular tosses and while the ball is in mid-flight, say "Change up". The batter will then hit the ball off of the tee instead of the ball that is in the air. Then continue on with the side toss and randomly say "Change-up" and have the batter hit the ball off the tee. Also in side toss, if you see that a batter is being too aggressive, pretend to toss the ball and then see how her bottom half reacted.
- Dec 7, 2011
- 2,368
- 38
Best drill I ever saw was one that forced the batter to "reload - midstream" => bucket of small foam yellow balls. Take two of the small soft foam balls and quick-pitch them back-to-back in tight sequence. Tell the batter that if I scream "2" in the middle of tracking ball 1 that she needs to not hit ball 1 and reload and hit ball 2. This was the most realistic drill I ever saw in action. (Thanks Roger Schliewe of the WI Bandits - you rock!)
