Drill Suggestions: too early with swing

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Oct 3, 2011
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Weather has been very dry?? Does it work outdoors too.
It hasn't rained out a practice here since April. Now I have a completely new team and have more important things to work on such as the defenses, cut plays, the swing mechanics themselves, etc. Plus I haven't been down to our old indoor facility to pick it up yet since we've literally played tournaments for the past 3 weekends and will play for the next four. To answer your question though, yes it works outdoors.
 
Sep 29, 2020
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Many hitters subconsciously time their swing based off of the pitchers release. I train my hitters to judge the speed of the ball itself and not base their timing off of the pitchers release. I do this by using a tool I came up with called the board. It's basically a 2 foot by 4 foot sheet of 3/4" plywood with an 8"X14" rectangular hole cut out of the middle and it rests, slightly tilted back on a stand I made. The only thing a hitter sees is the ball pop out of the hole and not the hand itself. Vary the speed of the pitches. She'll hate it like my hitters do but every single one will tell you it works and works well. They now base their swing initiation off of the speed of the pitch and are rarely early or late let alone fooled by a change-up.
Yo, can you give me the specs on the board (I know it's 4x2 and a rectangle in the middle I am guessing 8x14. Just need to know is the height 4ft and the whole 8in tall by 14in???). and how you use it (do you front toss? From how far? Things like that ). Daughter went from a great hitter to one thats too early to too late and I have tried so many different things, and yes she wears contacts. Thanks for your time
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
Yo, can you give me the specs on the board (I know it's 4x2 and a rectangle in the middle I am guessing 8x14. Just need to know is the height 4ft and the whole 8in tall by 14in???). and how you use it (do you front toss? From how far? Things like that ). Daughter went from a great hitter to one thats too early to too late and I have tried so many different things, and yes she wears contacts. Thanks for your time

I posted pictures of it on here several years ago in response to other questions from another member in the hitting technical forum. I don't know if I can find the thread but I'll look. In the meantime, each board (I use to use 3 but now I just use 2) is 4 feet tall by 2 wide. The rectangle sizes I cut into them are 12" wide by 14" tall and 8 inches wide by 14 tall centered left to right. The top of the hole starts 12 inches down from the upper edge of the board. I also built a stand that allows it to slightly lean back at approximately a 10 degree angle to help deflect balls hit directly back at it. I use them to front toss from approximately 15' away. Initially, when starting to work with a new hitter, I start with the 12"x14" board so that they can see more and feel more comfortable. At this distance, I do not do a complete arm circle. The front toss speed is very slow, they have plenty of time to gather and I do the "halfway to home" drill. Eventually, we progress to faster tosses and then move on to random changes of speed continuing to remind them that we are doing the "halfway to home" drill. Once they are comfortable with the process, I switch to the smaller 8"x14" hole and start over.

I have found that when they are first starting this process, the hitters will be extremely early if not miss the ball completely. Thus the "halfway to home" drill. I usually see a huge degree of improvement in a short period of time from this alone.

The next stage of the process is to move back to 20 feet with the smaller hole board. Now go into a full arm circle pitching motion and throw even faster random speeds including change-ups.

I'm a big advocate on using drills and processes that work on multiple things at once. This process not only works on judging the speed of the ball itself, but immediately picking it up from the pitchers hand upon release and ball tracking as well.
 
Oct 3, 2011
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@YOCOACH, Do you ever go back to regular front toss after getting this process going?

Absolutely. I only do front toss through the summers outdoors...mainly because I'm lazy and don't want more cr@p in my car to unload for practices. However, once back to indoor lessons, hitting sessions and practices, I start intermixing the board since, like dropping and blocking for catchers, this is also a skill that will atrophy without constant use or practice.
 
Dec 11, 2010
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I‘m thinking I might try this with some kind of tarp etc attached to my pitching screen. Can hang it on pitchers side. If a ball hits it it isn’t stretched tight and absorbs the hit.
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
I‘m thinking I might try this with some kind of tarp etc attached to my pitching screen. Can hang it on pitchers side. If a ball hits it it isn’t stretched tight and absorbs the hit.
I actually bought a 7X7 Rukket pitching screen that goes on my Rukket sock net frame (they'll actually fit any 7x7 net frame). I think they're like $39 with a lifetime warranty. I set the board up about 3 feet back from the opening which puts me plenty far enough back from the flex of the frame if hit back into the net. Plus, it's quick to set up and a hell of a lot easier to move around than those heavy @ssed steel pole framed pitching screens.
 
Sep 29, 2020
26
3
I actually bought a 7X7 Rukket pitching screen that goes on my Rukket sock net frame (they'll actually fit any 7x7 net frame). I think they're like $39 with a lifetime warranty. I set the board up about 3 feet back from the opening which puts me plenty far enough back from the flex of the frame if hit back into the net. Plus, it's quick to set up and a hell of a lot easier to move around than those heavy @ssed steel pole framed pitching screens.
Thanks Yo, gonna try it out today if the rain holds off. I will update you in a few weeks to let you know how it goes.
 

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