Today’s hitting drill focuses on helping your hitters understand the timing of a pitch coming to them. This is a great timing drill for hitters that focuses on keeping the hands back until the ball comes into the zone, as this Side Toss drill uses a tennis ball to allow for a bounce into the strike zone.
As you know, during Phase 1/The Stride phase, the hands have to stay back, especially when you are going after an outside pitch, an off speed or a change up.
This particular hitting drill helps your players work on loading up in Phase 1, and keeping the hands back until the ball comes into the zone.
Hitting Drill Set Up:
- This drill requires a tennis ball, a bat and 2 players — one hitter and one to throw the ball.
- This drill is done best on a hard surface, so if you are doing this drill outdoors, be sure to flatten down the dirt so you have a nice, hard surface to bounce the tennis ball on.
Hitting Drill Sequence:
- The pitcher is going to toss a tennis ball to the hitter by throwing toward the ground in front of the hitter.
- On the toss portion, when the ball is dropping down, the hitter is going to go into Phase 1/Stride and keep her hands back. Many times, a big problem you will see is that players stride and bring their hands forward at the same time.
- The hitter keeps her hands back until the ball bounces back into her strike zone, and then she will hit a line shot into the soft net.
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