Skill Set: Hitting

Difficulty Level: Easy

Number of Athletes and Coaches: 1-2 athletes and 1 coach, or 2 athletes as partners

Average Time to Complete: 10 minutes

Equipment Required: Tee, baseballs, net or screen to hit into

Goal: Load so that weight is shifted mostly to the back foot, stride while staying balanced

Description of the Drill:

• Tee set up slightly in front of the middle of the plate
• Hitter sets up even with the plate, while the other partner puts a ball on the tee
• Hitter gets ready, looks forward to visualizing a pitcher
• Partner then calls out “1, 2, 3” pausing after each number, on each number hitter will:
  • 1: Hitter loads shifting weight to the back foot
  • 2: Hitter strides while staying balanced, hands separate to move back from the shoulder
  • 3: Hitter swings and hits the ball
• The hitter tries to hit the ball back up the middle
• Partners switch after 5 swings

Add Difficulty:

• To add a degree of difficulty, one of the partners can stand 30 feet away on the other side of the net the players are hitting into (shown below) and go through a dry pitch like a pitcher (without a ball), this gives the hitter a real visual of a pitcher (1, 2, 3 should still be separated motions)
• The hitter can also move the tee to different contact points (inside, middle, outside) as shown for a right-handed hitter below