Youth baseball drills: increase batting speed using visualization and keywords
The Problem: Rolling the wrist on contact
Baseball hitters often roll the bat on contact for several reasons. First, they are coached to do so from the earliest age on. This method of training will never allow a hitter to maximize his/her ability, only resulting in ground balls and ‘outs.'
The Super 8 Hitting Solution: "Land the Plane"
To avoid rolling the bat, the batter's bottom hand should face down, with the top hand facing up when coming in contact with the ball. For visualization, instruct batters to imagine the bottom hand landing the plane, and the top hand crashing the plane.
To increase your hitter's batting speed, try this "Landing the Plane" drill:
- Starting with bottom (lead) hand
- Stance position, bottom hand (lead hand) starts at shoulder point.
- Palm open, facing down.
- Other hand on hip.
- Front heel lifts, player loads.
- Hips rotate square to pitch—hand at shoulder moves straight to front of body, where hands would be while bat is in contact.
- Hand remains palm down.
To increase your hitter's batting speed, try this "Crashing the Plane" drill:
- Move to top (power) hand
- Same stance but with palm open, facing up and forward.
- Hips rotate square to pitch, hand will move to same location, but with palm up.
As always, repetition is key. So do the drill again, incorporating these enhancements:
- Put both hands together, but with bat added, starting at the shoulder area.
- Move bat into contact (hands should be in same position as before.)
- Open hands while in contact position.
- Top hand open, palm up, under bat.
- Bottom hand open, palm down, over bat.
Tip: Complete the stroke successfully by ensuring the top hand continues under the bat, through contact, and first extension. The bat will finally roll as it comes to the second extension position, just before stroke completion.
By using the Super 8 Hitting System instructions described here, with images in mind, hand action is dramatically improved. The batter is not swinging to contact but snapping at the point of contact, yielding a remarkable and measurable improvement in speed and contactability.
Questions and Answers
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