Purpose
Many young hitters are not aware of their own strike zone. This is an excellent hitting drill that is used to allow your visual learners to actually see the strike zone he’s working with.
Breakdown
We are using an actual home plate in this particular drill, because it helps the player get a feel for the distance that he is from the plate.
You could actually use tape on the floor or actually draw a plate on the flooring itself.
Tape the player’s strike zone on the mirror, set at his armpits down to his knees. It should be the actual width of the plate, 17″³.
As the player gets into his stance, he can actually see where his strike zone is.
The other part of this drill is he could stride and go through his swing while totally being aware of his strike zone.
There is also an advance strike zone awareness drill, where we’re actually working on hitting a pitch on the inside part of the plate.
In the mirror, the player is going through his swing, and as he does, he can actually see his hands having to come inside the ball, which is what allows him to be able to hit the inside pitch. He visually can see exactly what his body needs to do in order to be able to get to that pitch and hit through the ball.
Variations
We could place balls at different spots on the strike zone so that the player could work on his swing throughout that zone. They can also work on tracking the ball by simulating it coming out of the pitcher’s hand and tracking it into that hitting zone, where the ball is taped.
Video Demonstration
Do you think your players will benefit from this baseball hitting drill? Why or why not? Sound off below!