Intricate And Advanced Hitting Skills

Intricate And Advanced Hitting Skills
By Jim Bain


At times there seems to be such a tremendous amount of information pertaining to how to play baseball we become literally overwhelmed and shut down. We don't seem to know which drill or exercise to perform in what order.

I've found that sometimes just throwing a few drills, tips or advise out and letting the player choose which to take first lends to getting back on track and that's exactly what I have done here by offering various hitting drills from which you may choose.

1. Batting Gloves It seems somewhat out of place listing batting gloves as a way to hit as it really has nothing to do with mechanics. However, the use of batting gloves have become so popular it's worth a mention.

When buying batting gloves, only buy gloves that do not wrinkle. They will be more expensive, but ironically batting gloves were first used to keep players from developing blisters due to extended batting practices. Now ill fitting or wrinkling gloves are producing the blisters they were intended to prevent.

2. Batters Box We are constantly drilled to keep our head still as we swing in order to maintain eye / bat contact with the ball, but we never stop and think about always standing in the exact same spot in the batters box. If we constantly change where we stand in the batters box, it changes the perception of the oncoming ball and produces muscle confusion, which will prevent us from ever being able to consistently hit a breaking ball.

Unless you're changing your batting location in the box permanently, take your stance in the exact same spot every bat, every game. If the catcher's squeezing you, crowd back...he'll move.

Follow Through We're always hearing the Coaches yell "Follow Through" to their pitchers. Maybe we ought to start doing the same to hitters. We say we want to Hit the ball, but actually that's not quite correct. What we should be saying is we want to Hit Through the ball.

When finished swinging a hitter's bat should be high over and behind his head. Just as there is a beginning to a swing there is an ending and swinging through the ball is where the power originates. Have you ever seen a golfer stop his swing immediately after he hit's the ball? Be sure to finish your swing.

Bringing the Knob Thru the Zone You've probably heard the saying "Throw the Bat head thru the zone." What they are referring to is bringing the barrel of the bat, the sweet spot, in front of your hands. This offers a quick bat and power when good contact is made.

I'd like to offer a different theory. In order to maintain better bat control, which means more hits, but not necessarily of the power type, we lead with our hands. Another way of saying this is we lead with the knob of the bat.

In order to do this we control the bat with our top hand (on the bat). When we bring the bat thru the strike zone the top hand must be palm up. This guides and controls the bat towards the ball. Using this technique will make you a better hitter as far as contact.

Jim Bain - Former Minor league baseball player, who since retiring has dedicated his life to teaching baseball to youth. Visit his exciting info packed website: http://www.Learn-Youth-Baseball-Coaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Bain

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