Baseball Drills |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Another baseball season has wrapped up for me as both my kids have finished and have now started football camps and are getting ready for practices to begin. This was the first season since my oldest son started playing that I wasn't the head coach of a team. I helped out with both of my kid's teams and was able to spend more time watching and being a Dad which was a nice change. It also gave me a good opportunity to watch a lot of youth baseball and I would like to share a few of my observations, which you may or may not find helpful.
Until next time,
Don Edlin
QCBaseball.com
"The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting."
--- Hank Aaron
This newsletter is being sponsored by mlstrength.com - Major League Strength and Conditioning and a couple new articles have been supplied by Dana Cavalea, a Strength and Conditioning Coach for the New York Yankees Organization.
Hitting practice, hitting drills, hitting, hitting and more hitting; so why is it that many players look completely unprepared to hit when they step in the box? The answer may have to do with us as coaches not teaching kids how to be prepared and how to be ready to hit once they step in the box.
This is issue at all levels of the game. I recently read an article about A-Rod and his new Yankee hitting Coach Kevin Long. In the article it talks about one of the first discussions between two where Alex was explaining that he likes to take a pitch to "measure the pitcher's stuff". Kevin's response was that he (Alex) was hitting fourth in the lineup so what was he doing while he was on deck, not to mention in the dugout before his at bat? The message was to take advantage of the opportunity to get prepared and ready prior to stepping into the batter's box. Be aggressive and look for a good pitch to hit from the first pitch you see.
In baseball at all levels you see a player step in the box and watch a fastball go right down the middle. It happens with all counts. Next pitch he'll look silly swinging at a breaking pitch in the dirt. Why let a good pitch go by and swing at a bad pitch? Most likely the batter wasn't ready to hit when he stepped up to the plate or was thinking defensively. Hitting is confidence and attitude as much as anything. When a batter steps up the plate he can't be thinking "I'll hit the ball if it's a strike", he has to think "I'll hit the ball, unless it's proved to be a ball". In short he has to think that each pitch is going to be the pitch he's going to hit until the location of the pitch proves otherwise. If a hitter thinks the pitcher is going to throw a ball, he'll never be ready to hit a good pitch.
My oldest son started off the season slow on his new team and I could see when he stepped in the box that he was nervous and he really wanted to prove himself to his new team. After a few games we spent about an hour going over what to do in the on deck circle, thinking about the count, and what hitting zones he was looking for before stepping into the box. Basically we developed a plan for him to go over after every pitch. He needed to know what location he was looking for and he needed to expect that the pitcher was going to throw the ball in that location. If the pitch isn't there, then let it go, otherwise plan on ripping it.
Ted Williams once said, "There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher." I told my son about that quote and what it means. We talked about it not referring to tight muscle; white knuckled; non-thinking mad, but having an attitude at the plate that you're not going to let the pitcher beat you. Take that confrontation seriously and make up your mind that you're going to hit the ball hard somewhere. The quote from Hank Aaron above is the same type of attitude that you have to have as a hitter. Once he had the plan then next he added the attitude as he stepped into the box.
The final step we talked about was picking up the ball out of the pitchers hand. Keep it simple, see the ball, hit the ball.
I could tell a difference in him the very next game just by the way he stepped into the box. He was focused and he no longer looked nervous. He needed some attitude and with the attitude came confidence and then the hits started coming. The next few games we talked about what he was thinking about, we went over a number of at bats and discussed them. Not from an evaluation of the swing standpoint but from a mental approach standpoint. The point of the story is that often as a coach we think mechanics, we analyze swings, we make adjustments, and often the player continues to struggle. Hitting is both a physical and mental discipline and we need to make sure we coach both aspects.
Here is some additional information on the web site that deals with hitting approach and a link to a couple of drills that you might find helpful: hitting approach
Footwork is critical in all aspects of the game of baseball, especially defense. Getting kids to work on a drop step for a ball hit over their head or a crossover step for a ball hit to their side can be a lot of fun early in the season. As the season goes on you may find the team not giving you the effort you'd like in working on these important drills.
One way to energize those drills is to introduce a football. Kids love the change of pace and working on a new skill, in this case catching the football. Instead of hitting or throwing line drives and fly balls you'll be throwing the football. Have the players use the same footwork they would when playing baseball because that's critical to improving their defensive skills. Besides the change of pace and increased enthusiasm, the use of a football will have a couple other benefits. First it's more difficult to catch, so players will have to concentrate harder on watching the ball all the way. Second they will be forced to use two hands to make the catch and unlike a fly ball where they have a tendency to drift, they will have to hustle to get in good position to catch the football. These drills can easily be turned into competitions that are fun for the kids and give your team renewed energy.
Four new team infield drills have been added to the site and we're submitted by newsletter readers. If you would like to share your favorite drill with other coaches, just email it in to don@rteamsite.com and I'll add it to the drills section of the site. You can find the new drills and all others at: Drills.
© QCBaseball.com, 2007. All rights reserved.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Featured Product
