These [tag]baseball batting drills[/tag] do an amazing job in decreasing strike outs and getting the kids to make more contact with the ball putting it into play more often.
Baseball tip: Reduce strike outs and to teach your players to keep their eye on the ball on contact.
These drills are best for 10-11 yr olds, but you can try it with athletic 9 year olds too. My players do great with the tee and soft toss, but when it comes to hitting a pitched ball””it often falls apart.
I use the hard plastic [tag]baseball[/tag]s. First I demonstrate what I want them to do. I have my bat and get into my stance.
I have a player pitch a ball to me and I stop the ball from going past me by just bringing my hands to the ball and have my bat make contact with the ball. I am not swinging. The knob of the bat is near my waist and the barrel of the bat is in contact position and my head is looking at the barrel of the bat. This is where I show them where my head is on contact. I’m not swinging at the pitch. I’m consciously putting the bat in position to make contact with the ball. It’s sort of a half -swing.
After they master this-and this will go quick-I have them do the drill adding a follow through.
Add a follow through (a squish the bug or hip rotation) and now they’re swinging fluidly and don’t realize it. They just know their smacking the ball and hard.
I call out “connect and follow through” before each pitch. Warning””Once they see how they can hit every ball pitched to them, they don’t want to stop.
This [tag]baseball drill[/tag] makes them keep their head in there and their eyes on the ball. Naturally, they load on every pitch without reminders. After they master keeping their eye on the ball””the rest is cake! When a ball is coming 40 mph””all you have to do is put the bat on it and follow through””its going!