Baseball Hitting Drills

Frank in Detroit wrote to ask if I could suggest any ideas for youth [tag]baseball hitting drills[/tag].   I sent him this tip which one of my readers sent in.   I”m including it for you to try.

From Mark”¦
Coaching Tip:
I coach 7/8 year old boys [tag]baseball[/tag].   It is a coach pitch league and one problem that we have with the boys is listed below:

Orange Juice [tag]batting[/tag] [tag]drill[/tag]
1.   The boys hit hard off the tee and with hitting stick but when soft tossed or pitched to, they only take a half strength [tag]swing[/tag].
2.   The problem is that they are so worried about [tag]hitting[/tag] the ball that their strength and speed are not incorporated into the swing.
3.   I like to have the boys hit fruit.
ex.   I will [tag]pitch[/tag] oranges at them instead of baseballs.   It is very surprising how hard they will swing to destroy an orange.   I also toss large grapes at them to help improve their hand/eye coordination.
4.   Clean up is a bit of a mess but they learned how hard we want them to swing.