Importance of Bat Speed

Having a higher velocity swing will enable you to hit the ball harder and further. The key to an effective swing is to consistently maintain high bat speed by having fundamentally sound mechanics and selecting good pitches to hit that won’t break down you swing. There are bat swinging devices that will guide your swing through the correct slope and force you to have a short swing to the ball, still allowing a good extension and follow through. Being “short to the ball” generates bat speed from the “whip” like action your wrists make. There are bat swing-speed devices that use lasers to measure velocity giving swing speed feedback. This way you can see for yourself if your swing is consistently generating desired power.

Tee Work

Hitting off of a tee is the best practice for your swing and it doesn’t require anybody else but you. The ball is always placed at the ideal point of contact in the hitting zone for an inside, down the middle, and outside pitch. There is no doubt this will train your muscles to remember the correct swing for those various points of contact because it can be and should be done over and over again. You will develop an excellent, but more important a consistent swing. Being set up in a position to hit the ball squarely will be automatic.

The tee should be set up slightly in front of and on the inside portion of the plate to simulate an inside pitch and slightly toward the back and outside portion of the plate to simulate an outside pitch, hitting the ball to their respective fields. Remember, when practicing to hit the ball to opposite fields, you want to let the pitch travel deeper into the hitting zone before making contact. That is why you place the tee on the back portion of the plate. Place the tee right over the plate to simulate a pitch down the middle and practice hitting the ball straight up the middle “through the box”.

As far as the height of the tee you should change it back and forth from high to low, allowing your body and hands to feel the various points of correct contact. Primarily, you want to raise the tee as high as possible in your strike zone because it will train you to keep hands up and “strong” throughout your swing. It can help to eliminate any unnecessary dropping of the hands and back shoulder. Picture your shoulders as an “airplane” trying to land. You would want the wings of the plane to remain level as you hit the runway and it is the same for your shoulders when hitting a baseball. If you find yourself hitting the tee at all or popping the ball up off the tee, it is an indicator that you are dropping your hands or shoulder or both.

Bat Selection

Bat selection is very important. Of course, you want to use a baseball bat that is comfortable and can be swung with ease. With so many bats out there it can be a long test of “trial and error” before you find the bat that works for you. There is a basic model for selecting a length and weight depending on your body size. Like everything else there are unique and exceptional cases such as having very long arms or maybe extraordinary forearm strength and bat speed which will be a determining factor in choosing the right bat for you. I maintain a website that has detailed reviews on many of the bats out there to give an idea of what may work for you with the ability to buy baseball bats online.

Soft Toss

“Soft Toss” should be done daily after “tee work”. “Soft Toss” will develop hand-eye coordination and is good practice for keeping your weight back to maintain power during your swing.

The player tossing the ball should kneel about 45 degrees from the batter using a steady, smooth arm motion that can be “timed” by the batter. As the player tossing the ball lowers his arm, the batter should be “loading” up keeping his weight stored on his back foot. As the player raises his arm to toss the ball the batter should be just getting into a position to strike the ball.
Really focus on keeping your weight back, head and shoulder in, and your hands “inside the ball” when you swing. When I say hands inside the ball I mean that they should travel between you and the ball. This drill has an outstanding effect on helping to hit the ball square with authority.

Fence Drill

The “Fence Drill” will help you to drive your hands directly at the ball and will literally prevent you from swinging “around the ball” because you will hit the fence every time you do that. Swinging around the ball creates a bad “pull” swing that is too “long to the ball” with increased difficulty hitting to opposite fields, and will usually result in weakly hit ground balls. First, start off by standing square to a fence fully extending your back arm and hand. This is the distance you want to be when you take your swing. Remember to keep your hands inside the path of the imaginary ball by staying “short to the ball” and whipping your hands through the hitting zone. You should not make contact with the fence if you are swinging properly. This will train your arms and hands not to extend to early during your swing. Do this repeatedly to make the proper mechanics become muscle memory.