Does anyone know any good tee drills in baseball, to help my swing?
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 at
11:29 pm
I am 17 years old if that helps.
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What I suggest doing is, get someone to video tape you swinging, and then have it analyized by someone who knows what they’re talking about. Then have them help you with what you need to work on.
To make the most out of your practice, I suggest using mental imagery (as well as doing so on deck and even after each pitch once you’ve got it down where you can do it quick enough).
First I’ll tell you why they work, and then I’ll help you in what to do.
"Each skill trial [swing] lays down catecholamines at the nerve synapses in the evoked neuromuscular pattern ["muscle memory"]. On the next trial, nerve impulses find it easier to follow the "chemical trail" than when there was none. That is why specific skill warm-ups and mental imagery work. They invoke the appropriate chemicals pattern of a movement and make it easier to perform the skill reliability."
11.4 of The Science and Art of Baseball Pitching:
"Mental imagery (rehearsal) is a procedure that can be used to learn strategies and to assist in the control of mental focus before and during a game. Mentally rehearsing a physical skill sets the body to respond better in the action that is imagined or rehearsed. The perception or imagination of a motion in a person produced impulses in the neuromuscular pattern to perform that motion (Bakker, Boschker, & Chung, 1996; Harris & Robinson, 1986) and excites the same areas of the brain used in real ations (Lacourse, Randolph Orr, & Turner, 2003). The benefit that occurs from this pheneomenon is called "neuromuscular facilitation" and is known as the "Carpenter effect"… The effect of this imagery is not as great with intermediate or novice level atheletes as it is with élite performers. Teaching imagery skills increases the use of imagery and is associated with performance improvements, particularly in difficult skill elements (Rogers & Buckholz, 1991)."
What you’ll want to do first is (and if closing your eyes at first helps, go ahead) see yourself in your mind. See the field, the pitcher, players. Look as if you’re watching yourself via bird’s eye view (like a movie). See the pitcher throw the ball, and see you hit the ball successfully.
Then, imagine it through your eye. You’re in the batter’s box. The pitch is coming, and focus on your mechanics, not all of it, but make sure you’re swinging in your mind like you would in a game. Don’t go through it slow, because then you’re laying down the neuromuscular pattern to go slow.
For me, I focus on a little twitch in my left knee (I bat RH, throw left, I’m weird), firing the hips, and then my shoulders (so I stay connected. I don’t use the term firing the hands, because it never really worked for me. My hands would get too far away from the "box"), and then crushing the ball.
As you practice this more and more, and more and more and more, you might notice your muscles start to twitch a bit when you’re using mental imagery. This is good.
So! You think about it in your head, then take a swing. Then repeat after you go through it in your head again.
Also, another tip. When you’re in the hole, start doing this, also, talk positively to yourself. "I WILL hit this guy. I WILL get on base. I CAN DO THIS!" Etc…, because positive self-talk is good, and negative self-talk, "I think I can hit this guy. I don’t want to let my teammates down," etc… Is bad.
So, you’re doing that. Guy gets on or whatever, and you’re on deck.
Pick up a bat, mental imagery, swing, I WILL get on base. Mental imagery, swing, positive self-talk, etc…
It’ll help in making sure to replicate the swing you want. It’ll give you a better chance for success, and it helps in improving your mechanics.
To wrap this up (I had to add this), when you’re hitting off the tee, don’t hit 500 balls in a row. Hit about 5-10. Take a little break (so you don’t get tired, as fatigue hinders learning and skill development), then repeat. As you get the mechanics you want down, then start hitting 15-20, take a break, another 15-20, so that you’re doing it in fatigued states as well.
For skill learning to occur, learning has to take place in blocks so that feedback from one trial can be used to modify the next trial. That feedback gradually causes good elements to be retained and poor elements to be altered. The essential feature of learning is that the proximity of trials allows the learning benefits (the feedback) from one trial to transfer to the next.
As your mechanics are improved, and your skill improves, then start hitting both in non-fatigued and fatigued states. "Arnett, DeLuccia, and Gilmartien (2000) showed that males and not females benefit from practicing in fatigued conditions. Performance in fatigued situations improved after condition-specific practice. A coach must be wary not to practice only in fatigued states but to balance the two experiences and to err on the side of too little rather than too much fatigued practice."
You could get a hit away or get a bucket of balls and a buddy to short arm toss them to you from the side (from about 3 feet away) and hit them into a fence. Both of those improve bat speed. If you’re looking for power, I’d suggest lifting and using donuts (around the bat) more often. Mixing both techniques will generate more power and a faster, smoother swing.
use a small wiffle ball that will not fall through the tee because it’ll make sure you keep your eye on the ball
T Drills and More
T drills should isolate the lead and top hand mechanics separately, and finish up with every facet of the total swing which includes tracking, stride, launching, driving through the ball, and finishing.
A Few Fun and Effective Drills
About 30 years ago I developed the frisbee T Drill to improve getting the lead hand through the zone faster on inside pitches. Poly balls work great with this drill. A special angled T had to be made to allow for contact off the hips. The was done to simulate where the lead hand should be on inside pitches. A regular T can be used to simulate outside pitches. 20 years ago during my college coaching stint we’d wrap a newspaper with tape or a thick broom handle covered with pipe insulation & taped with either athletic or insulation tape, and threw it with the lead hand at a baseball on a T. Both drills are still viable today.
The speed bag station has caught on with others! I’ve had the speed bag as a station by my hitters for some time now. It’s great for eye-hand coordination and building forearm strength. This station also fits in well with the Combat Hitting philosophy…controlled aggression.
In an effort to have a variety of stations, I now use the Wii and its Table Tennis game. The one exception is that you have to add wrist weights while you play. To have the endurance to play this 10 minute drill will take some practice to accomplish. Color it, anaerobic.
This drill IS fun and has multiple benefits.
Addendum: At your age I’m sure you know that mechanics is a small percentage in the act of hitting. If you choose to be a successful hitter, hopefully, you’ll work on the other 85% as well.