Many athletes are scared to miss.  They concern themselves with making contact… rather than DRIVING the baseball.  At young ages, it’s especially important to get athletes comfortable aggressively swinging the bat.  This drill does just that!  Hit the tire… swing against a heavy bag… when you’re coaching older players, these swings are for strengthening the swing.  When you’re coaching younger athletes, the goal is to get hitters to finish that swing!

EXECUTION – This is a hitting drill to encourage athletes to complete the swing, and swing aggressively. Using a heavy ball AND a distance competition helps to get young hitters to let go!

Set up – Use two batting tees (optional 3-Step hitting cones placed as markers for the hitter’s feet).  For each tee and hitting area, use cones to mark a semi-circle “defender line.”  Athletes will keep helmets and batting gloves on, rotating around the defender line until it is their turn to hit.  Fielding gloves are only needed if you use safety-balls or real baseballs (or safety baseballs).

Action – Hitters each take five swings off the tee.  The first four are “normal,” driving wiffle balls and working on swing mechanics as appropriate.  For the fifth swing, place a soccer ball on the tee and encourage your hitter to blast that ball!  Involve a distance competition for fun to see who can hit the ball the farthest.  Defense is to rotate one spot clockwise after each batter.

DC KEYS

1. 3-Step Hitting Cones – Place three cones (red, white and blue) at the position of the feet.  These mark the back foot, front foot, and front-foot-stride positions.  These cones really help athletes to set up correctly each swing, which can expedite the drill significantly.
2. More Help = More Tees – With extra volunteers, bring more tees and get additional hitters swinging.  There MUST be one adult per tee and plenty of space between hitting areas.
3. Homework Assignment – Heavy Ball Hitting is helpful at all levels of play.  Athletes are required to swing through the ball and do so with aggression to move the heavy ball.  Consider it with hesitant hitters, those that stop their swing, or as a drill to increase swing strength and batting power

EQUIPMENT LIST