Drills to get arms extended????

In my atempts to communicate this very thing, I have come to telling the batter to extend his arms as if throwing the bat to the base at the foul line in front of him. (Just remind him not to let go of the bat.)

This would be in the downswing or start of the swing.

Doing this sets the bat in motion and makes the bat almost weightless.

From that point, you can tell him to just swing his hands to the ball or to contact.

This eliminates the use of the biceps and allows the bat to travel through the hitting zone for the greatest period.

Always remind him to follow through on his swing. The bat should rise behind him automatically to about the height that it started at in the stance.

quote:

Originally posted by Eric G:
I have an 11 yr old player that I have videotaped him and seems to be not getting his arms extended thru the hitting zone. Is it just a matter of set-up and pitch selection, can it be that simple or are their flaws that can be worked on with a drill of sorts?

Set up some cones on the field at each fielding position in the infield. Have him actually throw the bat at each cone. He will learn his body positions for each target by doing this and extension through the ball. Make sure no one else is on the field when you do this drill.

After he can consistently hit near each target, have him hit off of a tee and aim at each target. You will need to move the tee around, i.e. back, front, inside, outside.

Thanks guys!!!

Have one tee and set it up as you normally would. Then take a second tee and place it so that the ball on the second tee is about 4" in front of the first ball and in line with the pitcher. Have the hitter hit the first ball and continue with his swing so that he also makes solid contact with the second ball. Be careful not to have too great a distance between the two baseballs.