Today, we’re going to take you through a series of baseball drills that you can do in your backyard to practice hitting.
These drills will assist you in developing bat speed, bat quickness, proper sequence of swing, and rhythm and timing. They can help to make any player a better hitter.
These drills can be practiced in your driveway, in your backyard, your garage. There is very little space needed for you to perform them. So now no player has an excuse for not becoming a better hitter. Use a bat, use a ball, but do not use an excuse.
Soft Toss Fake Drill
This first drill is where we are going to soft toss the ball to the hitter and let him swing through.
Your hitter should work on getting his front lower half of his body started into the swing and try to use his legs first–the hip rotating first, then the upper body, and then delivering the bat. Remind your hitter to keep his head down on the ball in order to see it all the way in.
This is a good drill to work on technique because it’s a non-threatening situation in that it’s easy to hit the ball as it’s tossed.
We call this the soft toss fake drill because every once in a while I’m going to fake the toss to see if the hitter’s got his back foot up and is beginning to rotate with the lower half of his body. Ideally, with this drill you’d like to see line drives and hard ground balls.
In this baseball particular drill, we want our hitter to take ten swings and then take a break. Make sure not to rush your hitter–take your time to ensure that he’s ready for the next pitch before releasing it. We want him to work on rhythm, timing, perception, and the proper sequence of the swing.
Inside Soft Toss Drill
On this particular drill, you’ll work with your hitter on pitches on the inside part of the plate.
Take the soft toss ball, show him the ball, pull it back, and throw it towards his front hip. This will give him a feel for hitting a pitch that is on the inside part of the plate. Once again we’re working on rhythm, timing, and the proper sequence of the swing. Your hitter is going to work hard on trying to keep his hands inside the ball and swinging through the ball.
Outside Pitch Soft Toss Drill
In this particular drill, you’re going to be tossing the ball to your hitter’s back hip, which would simulate a pitch coming on the outside part of the plate. Ideally, the hitter would like this pitch to get a little bit deeper out over the plate so that he can hit the ball to the opposite field.
Again we’re going to show your hitter the ball so he can work on his rhythm and timing, and work on that pitch.
Wiffle Ball Broomstick Drill
This hitting drill incorporates Wiffle golf balls. Your hitter is going to use a broomstick with tape around it as the bat.
This is a very good perception drill because your player will be hitting a ball that’s much smaller, obviously, than a baseball. So he’s got to track it a little bit more closely. He’s going to be using a bat that is not as big and wide as the normal bat that he uses. Therefore, this baseball drill is excellent for perception, keeping your eye on the ball, and trying to keep your head still so that you make contact with the pitch.
We will use our normal soft toss rules where we’ll show the hitter the ball, pull it back, and come through. We’re looking for line drives, balls that are hit hard on the ground. This is a much more difficult drill because the balls are smaller and the diameter of the bat is smaller.
Half-Bat Soft Toss Drill
For this drill, you can use a tee ball bat or a half-bat, which is just a baseball bat with the barrel cut off. The idea is that you’re using a bat that is smaller and lighter because we’re going to use one-hand drills here.
Your hitter will start off using his bottom hand and he’s going to swing through on the soft toss drill using his bottom hand. Ideally, when the bottom hand comes into the contact position, we want it to be with the palm down.
It really isolates that particular spot in the swing and allows us to concentrate on it. With all hitting drills, we want the player to continue to work on his rhythm and timing and the sequence of his swing.
These four hitting drills are sure to help your hitters become more accurate and hit with improved timing and rhythm. Which of these baseball drills are you most looking forward to trying out with your team?