Purpose

Helps batter see the ball better and pick up the ball better out of the pitcher’s hand

Drill Setup

  • Player stands at plate.
  • Coach stands at pitching distance behind a screen.
  • Use a colored baseball or a baseball with some paint on it.

How it Works

  1. Batter gets into stance. Coach pitches the ball.
  2. In the first part of this drill, the hitter simply yells “ball” as soon as he sees the ball leave the coach’s pitching hand. He does not swing.
  3. Next, the player yells ball as it leaves the coach’s hand and he swings and hits the ball, yelling “hit” as the bat contacts the ball.
  4. In the third part of this drill, the coach yells “hit” when he wants the batter to swing. This forces the batter to sit back and wait for the ball and to track it.

Coaching Tips

  • Batter should be anticipating the ball leaving the coach’s hand so that he is yelling ball right when the coach throws it
  • When swinging, the batter should be tracking the ball from the pitcher’s hand to his bat with his eyes
  • In part three, the coach should be yelling “hit” sometime between when he releases the ball and when it is halfway to home plate