5 Stations During Batting Practice For Little League

By John R Di Nicola

It has been stated many times that pitching and defense wins ball games. We all know that it would be real boring if that is all teams did. It has been proven time and time again you can win without hitting. However we do have to address the issue so we have to practice hitting. Listed below are 5 stations that will help get your hitters ready for the live action of a game. You will need assistant to carry out these drills. It is important you recruit help. How much help you get will determine how many of these stations you will be able have in a practice.


Hitting off 'T"
Soft Toss
Tracking
Bunting
Batting Practice

Hitting off the "T"

You will for sure have to have hitting of a "T". This is mandatory. You will be limited to the amount of pitches you will throw each hitter. The more swings that get hitting off the "T" the better they will be prepared for batting practices and the game. The first few times through this stations have them hit the as if it were down the middle. Make sure the "T" is no higher than the players waist. Working on the following:


important that the feet are shoulder width apart and player is balanced
when hitting the ball the top hand always on top of the ball
hit the top of the ball driving it downward
pivoting back foot raising heel as the hands follow through hitting zone

As they get comfortable you can position the "T" for the inside pitch and out side pitch. Important when working on outside pitch to position the "T" behind home plate so as to illustrate to players they have to wait on the out side pitch. Also teach them to bring their hands back so their front shoulder turns in toward home plate. This will bring front foot in so they can drive the ball. Most players will open up the front shoulder and hit the ball off the end of the bat or completely miss it.

Soft Toss

The soft station is an extra in Little League. You may want to wait till later on in the season to use this station. Basically a coach on one knee positioned beside player and tossing ball to different zones of the plate. Players swings through ball using all the proper techniques from "T" drills. Hands on top of ball driving through the ball.

Tracking

This an an excellent drill to teach the Little League Player on keeping their eye's focused on the ball. Your above average hitters always work on tracking. Most of them will take pitches just to get the feel of how the pitcher is throwing. They always make the pitchers throw a lot of pitches. Teach them to follow the ball all way to the catcher mitt. This something they should do during batting practice and the game. The more they see the ball the bigger it looks. You can use a rag ball or a whiffle ball.

Bunting

The art of Bunting is so important at all levels of baseball and most neglected. In this day and age of baseball the Home Run is king. It has been proven in recent world series that small ball will win more championships than the Home Runs. Have them bunt at least five balls, down first base line and third base line. Later on you can work on bunts for base hits.

Batting Practice

Because you have so much do and trying to get all the players to hit you have to limit the amount of pitches to each batter (15-20). Have players first work on making contact. You will have the seasoned Little Leaguer who knocks the cover off the ball and then you will have the ones that you really have to work with to get them to make contact. This is why if you have the luxury of having the help to run the stations it would greatly speed up the learning curve.

Most likely you will only use the "T" and Live Batting Practices. Using this model will afford you to run a practice without having a marathon practices. Do not try and do all 5 stations the first practice. As you become comfortable you can adjust your practice schedule and add stations. Most likely you will never do all five in one practice

Observe

Make sure batter is doing correct mechanics. Never let them get it half right.

Practices Makes Perfect

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. If you would like further information on this topic or other information you can E-Mail me at: jdinicola@easypitching.com

You can follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/easypitching

Web site: http://www.easypitching.com

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

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The 4 Best Batting Tees in Baseball:
Advanced Skills Tee
Stay Back Tee
Hands Back Hitter
5 Position Batting Tee

Baseball Hitting Tips - How to Recognize a Curve Ball Quickly!

By Larry Cicchiello

Recognizing a curve ball quickly is not an easy thing to do. Hitting a well located curve is not easy either.That's why you will hear the expression, "he's a good fastball hitter" ten times for every one time you will hear, "he's a good curve ball hitter." I'm well aware that part of that is because there are many more fastballs being thrown, so of course more fastballs will be hit harder. But I'm also well aware that the movement on the curve ball makes baseball hitting much more difficult and the slower speed disrupts timing.
The quicker you can recognize that it's the curve that the pitcher is throwing, the better chance you will have of hitting it well. Like we've said many times, a fraction of a second is an eternity when it comes to baseball hitting and it most certainly applies here. That's why pitchers who have "late breaking" pitches are usually very successful, because the batter does not realize it is a breaking ball until it's much too late.

Ways to Recognize the Curve Ball Quickly:


Watch the release point of the pitcher very closely. The pitcher's release point may be slightly different from the fastball point of release.
Watch the trajectory of the ball as soon as it's released by the pitcher. It could very well have a slight arc to it
Watch the pitcher's arm angle. There's a strong possibility that with the fastball, the pitcher may come almost directly overhand and with the curve he may drop down a little to three-quarters. This happens very often.
Practice watching as many curve balls as possible.

Let's say you play three times a week and get about ten at bats per week. Out of those ten at bats, you see about one curve per at bat, which is about ten per week. I strongly suggest that to improve at recognizing a curve quicker, you must see more than ten per week. If you are serious about baseball hitting and having better at bats against the curve ball, here is what I highly recommend you do.

Whenever you have batting practice with your team, ask the pitcher to mix in some curve balls during your last ten swings.

If one of your pitchers is pitching batting practice, stand behind the backstop and practice trying to recognize his curve ball as quickly as possible.

If one of your pitchers is throwing a "bull pen," go stand nearby and watch him closely. Try to read the curve as quickly as you can. (If you're serious about your baseball hitting, you will find the time to do these things.)

By doing the things listed above, you may very well be seeing 50 curve balls per week instead of only 10 per week. I'm well aware that it's not as efficient as if you were up there hitting in the batter's box but it will still improve your recognition of the curve. How can it not help? It has to!

Hitting the Curve Ball:


Quick hands are an essential part of successful baseball hitting. If your hands are quick, you can "stay back" longer. By staying back and not over committing, this is extremely useful when attempting to hit the curve ball. There is much less of a chance you will be fooled by it and be off balance and too far out in front. There is no substitute for having quick hands.
"Hit it where it's pitched." An old cliche but a tough low and away curve ball with very good downward movement is not an easy pitch to hit. I highly recommend hitting it to the opposite field. Very few well located low and away curve balls are pulled by a batter and hit well.

Larry Cicchiello is the author of "Excellent Baseball Coaching: 30 Seconds Away." His site offers many FREE baseball tips on hitting, baseball pitching tips, baseball coaching drills, baseball fielding tips, etc. You will be FULLY EQUIPPED!

You can visit his website at http://www.larrybaseball.com/

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

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