Randy in Boston emailed me looking for little league (Babe Ruth) drills Here is a baseball drill sent to me by one of my readers that just might work!
From Mike”¦
Soft toss hitting drill…
I think soft toss is a great way to work one on one with your youth hitters focusing on baseball basics and mechanics. However, it can get a little redundant and boring.
After a round of standard soft toss we go through it again using two balls. You take two balls in your hand (one on top of the other) and toss them calling out what ball you want them to hit, the top or bottom. This makes the hitter think and react quickly to focus on the right ball improving hand/eye coordination. We also, from time to time, use colored baseballs or colored wiffle balls. The hitter has to call out the color of the ball as he is hitting it. Even more fun is using colored golf size wiffle ball with a Thunder Stick bat…not much room for error!
One last small drill…Using badminton birdies. Throw the birdies using full motion to the batte from a short distance, the birdie will immediately slow down but not before your hitter has naturally started to stride or begun his hitting process. The deceleration of the birdies will simulate an off speed or change up and help the hitter to keep his hands back and not over committing.
As you know keeping the attention of youth players is not always easy to do, but I have found that by adding some [tag]fun drills[/tag] to a practice will keep them interested and enthusiastic about learning.