“3 Sounds” Bat Speed Drill

In today’s blog post, I am going to share with you an awesome bat speed drill that will improve your player’s hitting power, leading to a winning season!

“3 Sounds” Bat Speed Drill

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Setup: If you’ve got a heavy punching bag perfect, but a small garbage can or any kind of object roughly one and a half feet tall that you can fit in between your legs will do. You’ll also need a bat, a couple of baseballs, and a partner.

Execution: The goal of this drill is to synchronize the three sounds of your swing — your back knee hitting the punching bag on the ground, your chin hitting your back shoulder, and your bat hitting the ball. While only one of these is going make any kind of real audible sound, the goal remains the same. To simplify the drill, get into a stance where you have already taken your stride, so that the only leg movement you need to worry about is rotating that back leg. After 10 swings, remove the object between your legs, get into normal batting stance, and execute five normal swings.

Coaching Tips: You can do this as a soft toss or even just a dry swing drill, but starting off with the dry swing until you get the technique down is probably a good idea. To really get that back leg moving, you need to focus on swiveling the hips — don’t just bend your knee forward and change your swing for the sake of the drill.

If you enjoyed this bat speed drill, be sure to check out my Softball Drills and Practice Plans series, complete with video demonstrations!     And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will share more awesome bat speed drill ideas, tips and techniques!