Welcome to the Coach's Corner

“Keep your hands inside the ball when you swing!”  You have heard your coach say that many times.  But how do you develop a swing that lets you keep your hands inside the ball?  What does that mean? 

Keeping your hands inside the ball when swinging means you keep them close to your body.  It keeps your hands on the shortest path through the zone.  This insures you have quick hands through the hitting zone generating faster bat speed and more power.

And one simple way to help learn to keep your hands inside is a drill called the Fence Drill.  For this drill all you need is a bat (preferably an old one until you get good at this drill) and a fence.

Start by facing the fence.  Then stand a little longer than a bat length away from the fence.  Next, take your bat and swing through the hitting zone.  If you are utilizing the proper technique your bat will swing through without hitting the fence.  If you are sweeping your hands through the zone with a loop, then the bat will hit the fence - pretty much immediate feedback.

If you are just starting this drill, start with swings that are only 75% speed.  Once you get used to it you can swing at full power.

You should be hitting with a stiff front side and have your wrist action in with the swing and extend through the zone.

This simple drill will help you develop the proper technique for moving your hands through the hitting zone while generating more power.

It is January and that means it is time to start thinking about baseball and softball again.  It may be the darkest time of the year, but what you do now will help prepare you for when practices start.

The best way to strenthen your arm for the season is by throwing.  And one of the throwing drills we recommend to our students is the simple drill of long toss.  Long toss strengthens and improves the stamina of both the arm and shoulder.  It also improves velocity by improving hand and arm speed.  And who does not want that?

There are many ways to do long toss, but this is one that we enjoy doing with the kids.  It only takes about 15 minutes and should only be done every other day.  But there is no better way to spend 15 minutes and get improved results.

Before we begin any drill, we recommend a thorough warm-up and stretching.  Be sure arms are warm before you begin this drill.  Long toss is not a warm up drill.

The basic outline of this drill is to start with you and a partner standing 60 feet apart (45 feet for younger kids).  Throw 4-5 times each at this distance.  Next, step back 15 feet and repeat the drill.  You should end up 150-180 feet apart.  When you are at your full distance, you should throw 15- 20 times broken down by 5-6 tosses at 75% strength, 5-6 at 90% and 5-6 at 100% strength.

As you complete this drill, move closer together, throw 1 or 2 balls each at this distance before moving closer, ending with throwing 4-5 balls from 75 feet.

The technique part of this drill is to make sure you use the crow-hop when making your throws, using your body’s momentem and throwing with a 3/4 arm throwing motion.  Be sure to flex at the waist and use the full arm motion, ending your throw with your throwing hand low and outside your leading leg.