| I am the coach of the 1998 13 yr. old Dizzy Dean Ala. State Champs. This hitting drill we use alot is a strike recognition drill. The drill teaches a batter to swing at only the strikes and take pitches out of the strike zone. It is also designed to encourage our hitters to hit hard line drives and hard ground balls. The batter is allowed 5 swings or called strikes in one at bat (fouls don’t count). He may take 50 pitches if they are not in the strike zone. When he hits the ball, we give each hit a grade from 5 as the maximum and 1 as the lowest. A score of 5 is a powerful line drive, 4 is a hard ground ball, 3 is a long fly ball, 2 is a slow roller, 1 is a bloop or dribbler. We have a coach pitching, a coach calling balls and strikes and a father keeping score. Each batter usually can have a total of 3 at bats during one of these sessions. His score is tallied for each session and the team is given the results weekly. There should be a batter on deck (hitting soft toss or tee with a concentration on mechanics), when the hitter finishes he goes into a natural rotation by going to right field and shifting to a new defensive position with each batter (as you do in volleyball). In this drill the batter will soon realize that he can hit the strikes harder and more solidly. The coach that is pitching is mixing fastballs, curves and change ups into the pitches as well. We usually throw from a slightly shorter distance than the 54’ the kids have to face in games. I think this makes them concentrate and react with a quicker bat. We will practice this drill usually twice per week. During this drill we are real relaxed and the kids love it, because of the competition. Put a bucket in center field and a bucket at second base to hold the balls that are relayed in when they are hit, this makes the drill go faster. | |
