Curveball Drill

Nathan;

the "high tee" is your best drill. #2 is place a screen 30' from the hitter with the face turned to protect the pitcher, then "underhand from behind the screen. !st drill teaches "backspin" and second drill teaches "reaction" hitting.

Bob

Couple curveball/recognition drill drills we've used:

1) Set up L screen short, front toss distance away but put at an angle so ball is coming across the batter or plate.  Do underhand front toss from there.

2) from further distance back throw 2 seam and 4 seam fastballs and have batter call out which one it is as quickly as they recognize the pitch.  No swinging involved.  Helps with spin and pitch recognition.  Once they get good then they can only swing at 4 seamers or vice-versa.

Also agree that Hi T is a great tool and useful for keeping "hands back" and making a direct path.

Find someone that can throw curveballs

"What drill do you do to keep the hands back?"

The hands aren't the problem.  It's the hips and shoulders.  If they open too soon, it doesn't matter where the hands are.  Stay coiled in longer.

Nathan posted:

What curveball drill do you do for your hitters?  

 

What drill do you do to keep the hands back?

 

Do you do soft toss under hand or over hand?

CB's - machine - steady diet, then live arms in cage, steady diet, then live arms in cage, mix with the hitter knowing, then mix with hitter not knowing.  If you have a couple coaches that can throw CB's from different angles or slider and curve, all the better.

We also do the angled flip with some arc and oppo focus.  

Hands back - another drill is tennis ball one hop front flip.  time the load on the bounce... forces a "wait" similar to off speed with the swing.

Soft toss underhand or overhand - yes, progression and purpose determine which.  When working mechanics, specific focuses, or need to work very specific pitch location, short underhand.  When incorporating a more realistic timing element, back it up a bit and throw overhand.

I highly recommend the "Don't miss the Fastball" Drill!  

When I threw BP, I often substituted a plastic cover baseball. this would act like a slider and the hitter would be conscious of this and he would "stay back" and watch for movement.

Bob

IEBSBL posted:

I highly recommend the "Don't miss the Fastball" Drill!  

This

Went to a seminar by Kevin Wilson, who works with MLB level hitters. He asked "how do you hit an MLB curve? You hit the FB before it. How do you hit a CU, you hit the FB before it. Because at that level, unless they make a mistake, you're not hitting either one".

I agree with the sentiment of several responses.  A friend a former MLB pitcher once told me there is no such thing as a "good curveball hitter" only guys who are good at hitting bad curveballs.