Hitting Drills to Help with Understanding Pitch Shape and Spin
"We are changing our approach. Our approach is see the ball, hit the ball." - Coach Steve Pritchard
Hitting is one of the most difficult skills in all of sports. Compounding that is the belief of most amateur hitters that their hitting fundamentals are why they struggle to hit. While this is sometimes true, it is not the reason most hitters struggle. The main reason hitters struggle comes from their swing decisions. A hitter can have the prettiest swing, but unless the hitter understands pitch shape and pitch spin (pitch recognition), he/she will not be successful.
Two stories come to mind about the importance of pitch recognition. The first is from when I was in high school. During my sophomore year in high school, we had a very talented team. At the time, my high school team was a perennial powerhouse and was always expected to be in the state baseball tournament. Our team was having a successful year that year, but we were not hitting as an offense the way we were expected to hit. We focused on having fluid hitting fundamentals. While we looked good in the batter's box, we were struggling to string together consistent success. Our head coach realized it wasn't our fundamentals that were the issue, it was our pitch recognition. After one of our games, our head coach told us that our hitting mindset was changing. We weren't going to focus so much on our fundamentals as hitters, but instead to simply see the ball and hit it. After that change, we started to be more successful as an offense.
The next story comes from Eastern Michigan University's head baseball coach Robbie Britt. Britt is a mentor of mine, and I remember him telling the coaching staff and our hitters when he was at the University of Charleston (WV) the story about his high school playing experience. He went into his coach's office and told his coach that his swing and fundamentals were messed up. His coach stopped him and said it wasn't his swing, but the pitches that he was swinging at that caused his issue. One of our core tenets as an offense was based on swing decisions. We practiced swing decisions daily. In fact, during my two years at the University of Charleston (WV), we lead our conference in all hitting categories. Thus solidifying the importance of quality swing decisions.
Pitch Spin Drills
There are several drills that I will go over today, but it is important to note that there are a bunch of drills out there to help your team in these two areas. I also encourage you to be creative with these drills. Create variations that are engaging and fun for your hitters. The first set of drills can be accomplished underhand. All the coach needs is an L screen and to be able to underhand toss a hitter in front of them. The variations of this drill are as follows. You can have your hitters see two-seam or four-seam fastballs. You can give them constraints such as swinging at the four-seam fastball and taking the two-seam. You can also have them tell you which fastball they take or hit. A variation of this is using colored baseballs. For example, you put colored dots on the baseballs. You can tell the hitter to swing at only one color, or they can tell you which color they swung at or took. Lastly, you can throw these baseballs overhand too while applying the same concepts. The link below is a video showing you these sets of drills in practice.
Pitch Shape Drills
To help hitters understand pitch shape, hitters need to see and practice against different pitches. Pitch shape is simply how different pitches move. The first drill can be done underhand or overhand. The coach simply is throwing random fastballs and curveballs. It is important to note if you are throwing underhand, just make the pitch go slower. The key here is for the hitter to hold his weight and not lunge forward. If the hitter lunges forward, then he loses. The hitter no longer is hitting in a position of strength. Therefore it is important to preach to your hitters to think fastball while keeping their weight in between their legs. I would also tell your hitters to think middle of the field to the opposite field when hitting curveballs and hit the fastball where it is pitched. Another drill that can be used involves using two L screens. One on the third base side, and the other on the first base side. The first base side is to replicate a left-handed pitcher and the third base side is to replicate a right-handed pitcher. You can have the coach throw a mix of pitches to the hitter, but this helps the hitter understand how pitches will move from the view of a right-handed pitcher and a left-handed pitcher. You can also do this if your program is blessed to have two pitching machines. Speaking of two pitching machines, you can place them back to back. The first machine will be a fastball, while the other one will be a curveball machine. Having them back to back will give the illusion that the pitch is coming out of the same pitch tunnel. Below is a video of the pitching machine setup for this drill.
Lastly, I believe there is no substitute for game reps. Any time you can have live reps in practice between a pitcher and hitter is what is best for understanding pitch shape and spin. I have read and seen programs that have scrimmages almost every practice. Whether that is one inning, a full day of scrimmaging, or three-inning scenarios. With that said, the above drills are great substitutes and can help build awareness with your hitters on how to handle understanding pitch spin and shape.
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