Depending on where you live, many rec seasons have ended and summer break has begun! Pool parties and water gun fights will take the place of baseball practice and games, but that is no reason why your player can’t continue to learn baseball skills this summer. Especially for the younger players, muscle memory is key to development. The more reps a player gets, the more likely they are to master a skill. Mastering skills brings confidence in these kids. Here are three easy drills you can do with your player at home a few times a week to work on that mastery.
Hitting off the tee
All you need is a tee and a net. Even if you don’t have baseballs, tennis balls or similar will work just as well. Have your player hit 10-15 balls off the tee and do this two to three times. For ease, line them up to hit balls straight ahead as if it was a pitch down the middle. For younger baseball players, a great drill to include is the Slow Motion to the Point of Contact Drill. Have your player take their swing in super slo-mo up to the point of contact. Then, reverse back to starting position, and swing full speed. This drill helps a player visualize where their hands, bat, and lower body are while they are swinging. Click here to see it in action.
Get that glove out
A simple way to get started here is to get your player about 15 feet away and simply roll them ground balls. Move them around, change speeds a little, whatever you like. The point of this repetition is to get comfortable attacking the baseball. To get more advanced, one of our favorite drills for fielding work is the 1-2-3-4 Hold. You don’t even need a ball for this one. You can set a ball in front of your player for reference. Your player will then go through the four steps of approaching the baseball, starting with a glove-side first step through getting down into the fielding position. For members, click here to see the training video in action.
Throwing- Who has a towel?
Beyond simply playing catch (which, by the way, is one of the best things you can continue to do over the summer), you can get your player to have some fun and try the Towel Drill. The purpose here is to get your player’s throwing mechanics in order. To get the pop of the towel on the mitt or the chair, a player has to use good form to get their arm back and up and then extend past their body and whip their wrist downward. This mimics getting the ball to spin up and down as opposed to sideways, which we see in many younger players with improper form. Here’s the drill in motion.
Try to do these baseball drills a couple of times per week in the backyard or even in the living room for the last two. You’ll see continuous improvement in the player’s form and most importantly, in their confidence.
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