Hitting - Keeping Your Timing

Sounds like Dad needs a little more velo . Find an instructor that has some pop on his fastball. Have him throw live bp in a cage at 80+, that should do the trick.

1. Pro Batter Pitching Simulator
2. Visual Mechanics Training
3. Rythm and Timing Drills

You're right Old School...I can't "run it up there" the way I once could. I used to "touch" 80, but now I'm happy when I can touch my toes.

Let's look at it from this perspective...

Let's say the MLB playoffs were washed out starting today for more than a week due to bad weather or something.....

What would those guys do?

Remember, there is no minor league games going on to get work in. So...

Hit in the cage, live arm and soft toss.

You are correct, timing is an important aspect in hitting.

But not the most important in my opinion.

Confidence is the most important tool a hitter can have. If a hitter knows he's worked hard and has prepared as much as possible, his confidence will remain intact.

Hit however you can and keep the confidence up...

Everything else will take care of itself just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by doubleday:
You're right Old School...I can't "run it up there" the way I once could. I used to "touch" 80, but now I'm happy when I can touch my toes.

DD I think all of us dads have a similar problem with the velocity... lol

What I always did was get in a long cage and shorten up the distance. Throw the same way but with the distance less it will increase the MPH and help with the timing issue.

I also agree with KG about the confidence factor. The game is set up for the hitter to fail.

I have to agree with Ken. We can not control the weather, so you do what you can with what you have. Luckily, our new baseball facility here allows us to get quality hitting in. I don't mean to rub it in but...

With our portable indoor mounds, we can let our pitchers get a bullpen in and let our hitters see live pitching. We do not do alot of that right now because of all the fall ball going on, but we have that capability.

I think the key is keeping the bat speed up. Coaches/scouts will see the bat speed, which is what they are looking for anyway.

Yes, the pitchers are behind an L-screen.

quote:

Originally posted by funneldrill:


With our portable indoor mounds, we can let our pitchers get a bullpen in and let our hitters see live pitching. We do not do alot of that right now because of all the fall ball going on, but we have that capability.

As a hitter, hitting BP against live pitching did me more harm than good as a player.

During these sessions, young pitchers don't have the maturity to understand these sessions are to work on things for both hitter and pitcher.

Quickly, it turns into a contest between teamates. Pitchers tend to try and throw a bit harder and hitters just try to keep from getting hit in the rib cage.

Seriously, I think if you polled hitters most would say they can't stand hitting against live pitching during BP.

DBAT Frisco / Addison / Mansfield / Lewisville locations offering the following...

Each Monday

Oct 19-Nov 9
7:30-8:30 PM LIVE Hitting League - Session One

Hit off live pitching every week. Limited to 4 teams per night. Teams may have 5 or 6 players per team. Will be held at the D-BAT facility at which you register. Sign up as a team for $100.00 per player. High School players only. $125.00

Each Wednesday

Oct 21-Nov 11
7:30-8:30 PM
LIVE Hitting League - Session Two

Hit off live pitching every week. Limited to 4 teams per night. Teams may have 5 or 6 players per team. Will be held at the D-BAT facility at which you register. Sign up as a team for $100.00 per player. High School players only. $125.00

One thing we do when there are no better options is to hit off a machine at high speed for one round (by high speed I mean 70 mph from about 50 ft. due to 60 foot cages) and then hitting off 55 mph and working on staying back and going the other way. Not the best option but seems to work well. Another thing we focus on on occasion is doing front toss drills from 15 feet and timing the release to contact with an attempt of getting it as close to .40 secs simulating fastballs and .45-.50 for off-speed. Again, not as good as facing live pitching in game situations, but you deal with what you have to work with.

KG,

quote:

Quickly, it turns into a contest between teamates. Pitchers tend to try and throw a bit harder and hitters just try to keep from getting hit in the rib cage.

The ProBatter is accurate to within 2 inches and it has no emotions so it is teamate and ribcage approved.

Doubleday

quote:

I can't "run it up there" the way I once could.

ProBatter throws from 40-100 mph.

CPen

Now you have sampled our Visual Mechanics System and Rythm and Timing drills ..... can you integrate some of it into your program?

Many of the mechanical swing issues that we all work on as coaches and instructors are really caused by poor visual mechanics. That's why players hit good in the cage but cant translate it to the game sometimes. Seeing the ball late = poor swing technique. When you train the visual aspect it is much easier to control the mechanical end.

Ken

quote:

Let's say the MLB playoffs were washed out starting today for more than a week due to bad weather or something.....

What would those guys do?

Over 20 ProBatter machines have been sold to MLB Clubs. Including all of this years playoff teams. Im sure they would integrate that into their BP routine since it can emulate any pitcher they would potentially face. Windup, stretch, pitches, locations ..... you name it.

FR NTX

Thanks for the demo yesterday. Definitely something we could use. Our guys haven't seen live pitching in over a week, and have been limited to cage work. Wish we had access to the pro batter. It's as close to the real thing as you can get, if not better. None of our pitchers can "spot up" like that thing can.

In regards to the rhythm and timing aspect, your "eye trick" would benefit anyone. If it could make me see the ball earlier, imagine what it could do for an athlete... haha.

Thanks again.

quote:

Over 20 ProBatter machines have been sold to MLB Clubs. Including all of this years playoff teams. Im sure they would integrate that into their BP routine since it can emulate any pitcher they would potentially face. Windup, stretch, pitches, locations ..... you name it.

Yeah, I'll call Rudy and see if they are using a screen sample of Oil Can Boyd on their rain outs.

quote:

Originally posted by Ken Guthrie:

quote:

Over 20 ProBatter machines have been sold to MLB Clubs. Including all of this years playoff teams. Im sure they would integrate that into their BP routine since it can emulate any pitcher they would potentially face. Windup, stretch, pitches, locations ..... you name it.

Yeah, I'll call Rudy and see if they are using a screen sample of Oil Can Boyd on their rain outs.

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After this year, you might want to call someone else.