Archive for April, 2010

Baseball Hitting Tips

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Here’s another question I received from a player:

Q - Dear Coach Brockhoff, 

       Hi, my name is Matt.  I am a high school baseball player and I have used the the super eight hitting system.  I am just writing to ask a question about how to improve my swing plane.  When I was younger, my coaches told me to try to hit the top of the ball and pound the ball ino the ground.  I didn’t really know mutch about hitting at the time, so I took their word for it.  I spent years drilling these ”wood-chopping” hitting mechanics and have developed some bad habits.  Now, whenever I make contact I consistantly hit the ball into the gorund and I have trouble getting line drive elevation.  I was wondering if you could write back and explain how to improve my swing plane and give me some drills that i could do to help me out.  thank you for your time. 

Sincerely, 

Matt

A - Hi Matt,  

It is unfortunate that you were taught this swing down technique because you cannot get your bat head in line with the pitch this way.  Your bat should swing through the ball diagonally up at all times, never down.  If the pitch is high, then come right through it.    This baseball hitting technique will produce line drive elevation.  Dry swing this over and over using the proper stroke, also Tee and toss drills. 

Our ReaderBoard drills featured in our Super 8 Hitting System #4 DVD (Combos) is a good resource for practicing the proper stroke lines.   

Best wishes and good luck,

Coach Brock

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Baseball Hitting Tips and Drills

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Here’s another question from a coach that I received the other day:

Q -  I have a youngster on my team that we are having a hard time making him keep his head in the swing. When he finishes he is looking in the stands and nearly screws into the ground. He is a very good athlete and one of the best in the league but, he has developed these horrible habits. Do you have any specific drills to help break him. I have tried a ball on the ground in front of the plate to concentrate on to finish the swing. We have worked on the fence, on the tee and soft toss. He seems to improve then when he gets to the plate back to the same bad habits. Need your help?

Mike

A - Hi, Mike

Thanks for the question.It appears that the reason that he hits well is that he is turning well and that’s good.  But he needs to make his head independent of his body turn.  It must not pull out and his eyes must remain horizontal, like reading a book.  If the head tilts, this controls the body. 

Practice pivots while bringing the head into the hit zone.  Another drill is that during batting practice, have him stand without a bat and hold his head as through in a vice.  He can take dry swings while you hold his head in place.  Practice over and over, turning the body, with the head looking into the hit zone.  Another good drill is to take batting practice just taking the pitch with what is called a full take.  He will load and stride and the head reads the pitch all the way to the catcher.  This is the only movement.  Hands stay back, with no pivot of the body.   You can also place an object on the first base line and hit would look back at the object after he swings.  

Refer to our Super 8 Hitting System #5 DVD (Hitting Agenda) for a full explanation of these baseball hitting tips and drills. 

Hope this helps. 

Best wishes and good luck,

Coach Joe Brockhoff

 

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Hitting Drills For Kids

Friday, April 9th, 2010

I received this question the other day from a coach that is coaching a 7 year old coach pitch team. I’ve included some hitting drills for baseball to help out.

Coach Brockhoff,

Q - I am an assistant coach on a 7 year old Coach Pitch Team. This is the first year out of tee ball for these kids. We have struggled to teach our players not to “Cock Back” their shoulders and arms during their stride towards the pitch. This move straightens out their left arm and tends to cause them to drop the bat to level behind them and try to hit the ball with their hip motion and wrist release (similar to a golf swing). We have tried the tee drill from your video series, but many of the revert to the old swing once an actual pitch is in the air. Do you have any dynamic hitting drills for baseball that can help ingrain your swing? Thanks.

Brent Quinn - Las Cruces, New Mexico

A - Hi, Brent.

I fully agree with your comment. The “Cock Back” does encourage the front arm to spoke and causes looping on the backside. Our “Hitting Agenda” video fully addresses this from our Super 8 Hitting System. It is a series of drills which reinforces the techniques in a hitting series.

One of the best drills shown in the video series is the “Drive” drill. Have the players get into their drive position, in which their hips are already pivoted toward the pitch, with the back foot pivoted so that they are on their back toe. Then, have them practice hitting from this position. They are already in their pivot. Therefore, this decreases the tendency to drop the bat on their backside. Their contacts will be noticeably better.

Hope that helps,

Coach Brock

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