One of the biggest problems when trying to create a good practice environment for youth players is keeping them focused for the entirety of the practice time. One of the best ways to help keep your youth players interested and focused is to implement some fun and basic drills. We’ll take a look at three drills youth players can do to help their bat path, rhythm, and power at the plate, while having fun and staying focused.
Written By: JK Whited
Stay Through The Ball With The Ping Pong Drill
In case you miss it in BR Weekly, I wanted to share with you a drill that has worked extremely well for almost all my hitters recently. It’s a simple yet effective idea because it connects well with something that we almost all have done at some point in our lives, ping pong!
How to Stay Through the Ball Better
The purpose of this drill is to slightly exaggerate the idea of “staying through the ball”. As we know, it requires not only barrel speed to hit the ball hard, but barrel accuracy. If only one of these ingredients is present, the hitter can not be their best. This drill will help the hitter feel a barrel path that allows for a large margin for error and increase the likelihood of a well-struck baseball even if their timing is slightly off. We know how important this is for long term success.
In this drill, the focus should be placed on:
- Upper body posture
- Vision
- Proper upper body rotation followed by especially lead arm
- Barrel/lead arm release tracking towards the middle of the field to slightly backside
- Good stability through the swing
The Ping Pong Drill
I hope that this drill helps many of you, especially those with barrel path issues. If needed, use a ping pong paddle and try to keep the ball going over the centerfielder’s head. If you pull your lead arm across, you’ll put too much side spin on the ball for it to carry. The feedback should clue you into how well you struck the ball.
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Exit Velocity | Front Leg | Garrett Gordon | Hitting Drills | Hitting Theory | JK Whited | Lower Body | MLB | Stride | Swing Mechanics