Today, we’re going to go over a few kids baseball drills that will help your hitters improve and become more accurate and powerful.
Front Toss Drill
This kids baseball drill develops rhythm, timing, balance, and swing sequence.
The pitcher shows the hitter the ball, pulls it back, and then delivers it.
By showing the ball and pulling it back, it allows the hitter to work on his rhythm and his timing. We would like the hitter to have his front foot on the ground when the ball is halfway to him. This gives him a balanced strength position to hit from.
This drill can provide work on pitches inside, outside, and down the middle. It can also help hitters with pitches at various heights.
In a team setting, it is recommended that each hitter get 25 swings with this kids baseball drill, with no more than 10 swings at a time.
3-Ball Front Toss Drill
This is a variation of the first front toss drill; we have three baseballs placed on the ground in relationship to home plate. Each ball represents where a particular hitter would like to hit that ball in relationship to its position.
They pitch down the middle off the front edge of the plate and an outside pitch off the back corner. In this drill, as we toss, we are going to work on pitches inside, down the middle, and outside.
And the hitter, with using these reference points, can tell if he’s hitting that particular pitch in the right position.
As we’re trying to hit the ball in the inside part of the plate, we are working very hard on making sure that we have the proper sequence, a real strong hip turn so that we can get our hands inside the ball. We are trying to hit the ball with our hands inside the ball, and pulling our hands inside when we’re working on that inside pitch.
In a team setting, we would like each hitter to hit three pitches from each of the three areas. That would be nine repetitions. We would like them to do that two times during a practice session.
Front Toss Curve Ball Drill
During this kids baseball drill, the tosser is angling the ball so that it is going away from the hitter, much like a curve ball would be breaking away from a hitter. The hitter works on hitting the ball off the deep part of the plate when it is outside, down the middle, when it’s thrown down the middle, and pulling the ball when it’s thrown to the inside part of the plate.
In all these drills, the hitter can be working on his stance, balance, rhythm and timing, the proper sequence of the swing, his perceptive skills, and his rhythm and timing.
Each hitter should take 10 repetitions at a time. He should complete two sets of 10 in a practice session.
Front Toss Hitter Drill
This drill incorporates a device that is attached to a hoop that is attached to the metal pole. The hoop is approximately 6″ in diameter, and as the hitter brings his hands through with top hand palm up, bottom hand palm down – which is the contact position – he will be able to catch the ball into the net. We’re going to use this to the front toss situation and allow our hitter to go to work.
A hitter with the proper sequence in a swing, using his lower body properly and bringing his hands through properly, with his hands inside the ball, and his top hand on top, top hand palm up, bottom hand palm down, will successfully catch the ball inside the net.
When they’re doing it wrong, the hands are not coming through properly. The top hand may be slightly over top of the ball, or the bottom hand may be coming underneath the ball a little bit too much.
Do not use baseballs for this drill. It is unsafe.
When the hitter is able to catch the ball in the net, it means his hands are slightly above the ball as they’re coming through. Again, you can place the ball in different positions in relationship to the plate and work on pitches either inside, outside, or down the middle.
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