Different Forms of Batting Practice to Work on Game Like Situations

Different Forms of Batting Practice to Work on Game Like Situations

"Any time you can have a drill where it starts on the mound, a pitch is thrown to a hitter, and it is put in play to a defense it is a worthwhile drill." - Monte Lee (Head Coach of the Clemson University Tigers)

There are times in a season where coaches feel like they need to practice a ton of different situations. With all of this being said, there are unique and different ways to have batting practice while also allowing your players to experience multiple situations than just hitting.

These past few weeks I have learned of different ways to have Batting Practice to accomplish a lot of game like baseball related skills. The forms of Batting Practice that will be discussed in this post are: Tiger BP, Base-running BP, A/B Hack BP, and Barrier Wall BP. Each of these forms of Batting Practice work on hitting, base running, and defense. 

Tiger BP

This form of Batting Practice is fantastic for a team who doesn't have a lot of coaches because it accomplishes a lot of game like situations in a short amount of time. You will break up the hitters into four groups. The hitters will get four rounds of swings. The groups who are odd numbers will be infielders and the even numbers will be outfielders and catchers. There will be two even groups and two odd groups. One’s will work with two’s, and three’s will work with four’s. Each pitcher only (PO) on your team will be paired up with an outfielder. Each swing taken in BP will have a dead ball, live ball, dead ball, and live ball set. The dead balls will have the pitchers shagging the balls. The live balls will have the outfielders taking balls live off of the bat. The goal of the pitchers are to make sure there are no balls lying around that could injure any player. There will be a pitcher behind the coach on the BP platform. On live reads the ball is live so all defenders will play the ball as if it was in a game. On any ground ball that hits the L screen the pitcher will pretend to field a ground ball and then throw a ball to second and the defense works on turning a double play. Additionally there will be one group hitting and another group on the bases. For example when the 1's are hitting the 2's will be running the bases. As you can see there is a lot of moving parts in this form of batting practice but it also accomplishes a lot of game like repetitions. 

Base-running BP

This form of BP has the same set up as Tiger BP. For each group that hits, give them 12 minutes for their rounds. A difference between this form of Batting Practice and Tiger BP is that when a group hits, they will also have players in that group on the bases and hitting at the same time. Two members in a group will be hitting while the other two members are on the bases. The members hitting will have 6 minutes to hit. The next group to hit would be on the bases as well. For example, when group 1 is hitting they will have two guys in the cage and two guys at third base. The base runners in group 1 will be working on tagging up on fly balls and the contact play. Members in group 2 would have players at first and second base working on reads off of the bat. This form of batting practice works on offensive situations, base -running, and defense. 

A/B Hack BP

A/B Hack BP will work on two kinds of swings for hitters. It will work on their A Hack (best swing/regular swing) and their B Hack (two strike/situational swing). This form of batting practice can be done on a field or inside in indoor cages. The emphasis with this form of Batting Practice is the hitter. The A Hack needs to be used when the hitter is ahead, beginning of the at bat, or leading off the inning. The B Hack needs to be used with two strikes or advancing a base-runner. Some players hit better with their B Hack and that swing becomes their A Hack. The beauty of this drill is that it enhances the intelligence of the hitter and helps them find out what to do in certain situations. 

Barrier Wall BP

Barrier Wall BP is a constraint/game type of Batting Practice. To set up this drill the coaches and players put up a wall of screens. The objective for the hitters is to hit the ball over the screens. Some coaches may think this drill will promote bad habits, but to hit the ball over the screens the ball will need to be hit on a line. In other words, this drill promotes line drive hitting. To make this drill even more difficult, tell players areas they can and cannot hit the ball to. For example, in this round the hitters are to only hit the ball up the middle and the opposite way. 

In conclusion, each of these forms of Batting Practice will accomplish all sorts of baseball situations in a short amount of time. Some forms of Batting Practice have an emphasis in an area such as Base-Running and A/B Hack BP. With that being said, each of these drills can give your players a lot of repetitions in defense, hitting, and base-running.