Summer and Fall Hitting Program

I'm going to introduce some fundamental hitting drills to the players during finals week.  The program is called 60 Swings.  It is a set of 4 drills that focus on fundamentals of the swing and developing bat speed.  The goal is for the players to go through the workout 3 times a week.  These are drills we'll use extensively in the fall.  I'm going to challenge the players to start utilizing the drills this summer to help build hitting fundamentals and bat speed.  The page I'm going to give the players is below. 

60 Swings

The 60 Swings program is designed to help you focus on the fundamentals of the swing as well as help you develop more bat speed.  The fundamentals we’re focusing on are hitting from a predominately square and wide stance, starting the swing with the lower body, driving down through the ball, keeping the hands inside the ball, and achieving a strong position at contact.  Each swing in the program is designed to be a game-like swing.  Take your time going through the drills and make your best swing with each repetition. 

→   Heavy Ball Swings (15 swings) – start the swing with the lower body

→   Hit the heavy balls off a regular height tee or from soft toss

→   Hit the ball up the middle on a line

→   Equipment – heavy balls, tee (optional), stride guide

→   Oppo Machine Swings (15 swings) – keeping the hands inside the ball

→   Use the stride guide at an open angle of approximately 25 degrees (inside edge pointed at the yellow rope to the pull side)

→   Hit line drives or ground balls down  the length of the cage

→   Equipment – machine, yellow balls, stride guide

→   High Tee Swings (15 swings) – driving down through the ball by staying above the ball

→   Set the tee anywhere between the belly button and shoulders

→   Hit line drives or ground balls on a downward plane

→   Equipment – high tee, yellow balls, stride guide

→   Insider Bat Swings (15 swings) – achieving a strong position at contact

→   Use the insider bat, soft toss machine, and orange foam balls

→   Hit line drives

→   Equipment – insider bat, orange balls, stride guide, soft toss machine (optional)

Equipment

There are several training aids we’ll be using for the hitting program.  Below are some links, ideas, and alternatives for the commercial products. 

→   Heavy Balls

→   www.muhltech.com – Muhl balls

→   www.bsnsports.com - Item No: 1266351

→   Insider Bat

→   http://insiderbat.com/

→   I’ve also found them on ebay for as low at $49.95 plus shipping

→   Pitching Machine

→   At school we’ll use the pitching machines

→   You can also do the same drill using a partner for soft toss out in front of the plate (behind a screen)

→   Batting Tees

→   Any tee will work

→   You can also make your own tees with materials from Lowe’s or Home Depot – get creative