2 Awesome Hitting Drills to Find Your Strike Zone!

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As a good coach, you want to include a mix of linear and rotational hitting drills and styles in your practice plan, so your hitters can benefit from an understanding of not just the strike zone but the zones within the strike zone where they can be most effective.One excellent way of doing this easily and efficiently is with live pitching — and in their first series of 3 at bats, you will tell the player what they should look for based on 4 quadrants of strike zone(low/in, high/in, high/out and low/out) and track the results.

In their second series of 3 at bats I will have them tell me what zone they are looking for — track same and in 3rd series let them know they are on their own. Inevitably the results are always the same — much higher on base % (walks and base hits) when focused on 1 zone compared to not.

2 Awesome Hitting Drills to Find Your Strike Zone!

Strike Zone Drill

This works best on an even flat surface or cement/concrete floor. You can also do this drill with plastic golf balls and a broom stick for better hand eye coordination for batting

How this drill works —

Have the player face a high chain link fence, standing about 10 to 15 feet from the fence.
Stand behind the batter far enough back not to get hit with the bat and bounce a tennis ball into her strike zone.
The player will spot the ball as it comes into her strike zone and then hit the ball forward into the fence.
The player should always stay focused on looking forward and waiting until the ball gets into her strike zone before she hits it.

Inside Outside Hitting Drill

This is a pure hitter’s drill, as you just have a batter and two tees to work with. This is an excellent drill for your players to work on at home (after they have a solid understanding of the mechanics!)

How this drill works —

The hitter will stand at the plate and he or she will take their typical stance. It is important that the player stand at the plate the same way no matter what type of pitch they expect to receive.
With one tee on the inside of the plate and one on the outside of the plate, the batter will attempt to hit the ball on the inside tee and the outside tee — and do it with the same stride towards the ball for this inside, outside hitting drill.
In order to make this drill a little different, you can make the height of the tee a little different, so it simulates pitches coming from different places in the strike zone.

Result — Your hitters will learn to use the same stride and focus to hit the ball no matter where it comes in the strike zone. Which will make every player a better hitter!