Pulling off the ball is a common mistake by many hitters. In order to get consistent contact, the hitter must be sure his head stays closed, in other words, looking down into the contact area. Here are some great baseball hitting drills to help you out.

It is very easy to get into the habit of pulling off the ball. This is especially true for power hitters.

Have you ever seen a power hitter hit a home run and thereafter, he can’t couch the ball? What happened?

The home run took him out of himself. So as he pivots, he is also pivoting his head.

First of all, hitters should never take a 100% stroke. Doing this invites pulling off the ball.

For efficiency, the stroke should be no more than 95%, saving 5% for command.

As coaches, we sometimes go too far in the other direction by telling them to “just meet the ball.” And now they start to aim the bat, which is not good either.

Hitting is a controlled explosion. Continue to be aggressive, with a 95% stroke.

So what do we advise? The hitter is pulling off because he’s rotating his complete body when he hits.

He must focus on his head rotating in the opposite direction to the hips. As the hips rotate to the pitcher, the head should rotate to the ball.

Here are three baseball hitting drills for this:

DRILL #1

Place a pile-on or glove across from the hitter just outside the batter’s box in front of home plate (45% angle). After the hitter makes contact, he looks into the pile-on area. This keeps the head inside.

DRILL #2 (with pitching machine or live pitcher)

Hitter assumes his stance, with no bat. To simulate holding a bat, his top hand grabs the thumb of his bottom hand. Coach stands in back of the hitter and holds his head on both sides . The hitter takes batless strokes at the pitched ball, while coach restricts the head to keep it on the ball as it enters the hit zone.

DRILL #3 (Full Take)

The hitter will coil, stride, and read the pitch to the catcher.

This keeps the head independent and disciplines it to stay with the ball. Note: This head discipline should carry over to his regular hitting, in the “full take”, a pitch that is an obvious ball.

Coaching Points. The hitter should not go to the point where his head is pushing against the back shoulder. This locks up the back shoulder and restricts his extension.

The head swivels. It should never tilt while reading the pitch. This causes the body to tilt also and the eyes to look on a vertical plane. Eyes must stay basically horizontal for best vision and body control.

These techniques are fully explained in our baseball hitting instruction web site for the “Super 8 Hitting System”, including batting aids and a series of baseball hitting videos, which demonstrates many baseball hitting drills.

Coach Joe Brockhoff

Received a great question from a customer this morning. Here it is:

Q – Coach: I got your $57.00 dollar DVD and watched them and they are great. A couple of questions are I believe my son has a loop in his swing he is eight years old. I believe the fence drill will fix that. That will also fix the dropping of the hands correct? The guide stilck drill is AWESOME ALSO. Which knuckles get lined up. He is left handed so his left handed knuckles are lined up with his right hand top knuckles not the knuckles on the fiingers of the right hand but the hand correct? Also the rocking step. When the front heel comes up you want the hips to urn in correct. orry for the questions just want to make sure that I am doing this right. Thanks Joe

A – Hi, Joe

Glad you were able to find my video helpful for you in instructing baseball hitting drills eight year old son.  This is a great time to help him to develop good habits that he can build on as he grows into the game.

Knuckles of his top hand should be up when he is in his stance,  and they face the pitcher when he is in contact with the pitch.  Remember, they never face  down or away as he goes to the pitch.  The knuckles of his bottom hand actually line up little between first and second knuckles  of the top hand.  Remember when he is in the contact position,  his knuckles top hand knuckles never face up.  They always face the pitcher.

All of those baseball hitting drills are good.  Be sure that he practices what we call the “A, B, C” drill.  “A “ is his position after he makes his stride.  Keep in mind that in his stance, the bat is at the point of the shoulder, with the  percussion slightly cocked toward the pitcher in a 2 o’clock position and remains in this position while he takes his stride.  The “B(Drive)”  position is when he makes his pivot toward the pitch, still keeping his bat on his shoulder.  The “C” position is his contact position.  In this position the top hand must be under the bat, and the bottom hand is over the bat.  You can check this out by having him open his hands while in the contact position.  And the bottom hand remains under the bat until after first extension.  Then he can roll the bat at that point.

Be sure to focus on keeping his bat on his shoulder throughout the pivot process and only leave when he goes to contact the pitch.  This will help to insure that he does not drop his hands in a loop. All of our drills are designed to reinforce this concept.  For pitches down the middle or inside, make contact out in front of the plate (90 degree pivot).  For outside pitches, contact is made a little deeper in the strike zone with only a 45 degree pivot.  We call this a hip flex.  A good way to remember this is “square to”…”go to”.

You can reinforce all of these concepts with the mat drills and also during his batting practice.  He can actually practice the “A-B” and then hit the pitched ball to help reinforce this and carry it over into live pitching.  We illustrate all of these drills in our Hitting Agenda Video from the Super 8 Hitting System 8 DVD set.

Hope this helps, Joe.

Keep up the good work and best of luck,

Coach Brockhoff

We’ve often heard baseball coaches tell their players, “Trust the hands!” Is that a good coaching concept?  No, I say.  It’s the opposite.  In fact, here’s one of the most important lessons I teach players during baseball hitting drills:

“HIPS TAKE US TO THE BALL.

HANDS TAKE US THROUGH THE BALL.”

Our hands are auto reactors, providing some of our body’s quickest muscle reaction. If we hold our hands up and pop our wrists, we can do that repeatedly very quickly. If someone were to throw a punch at us, our hands would quickly and automatically pop up in defense.

As an infielder, we don’t have to think about a ball thrown to us. Our hands react to the direction of the ball and make the catch without having to think about it. Think of the catcher after he gives the sign. He is taught to frame the pitch. His hands automatically go to the pitch without any thought or direction.

Yes, the hands are auto reactors. Is this good for the hitter? “No!” When the hands move too early, this is when we hear the coach yell out, “Wait on the pitch!”  Good coaches know that a hitter who allows his hands to react automatically as his first movement towards the pitch will never have full body support.

Now, let’s apply this to our baseball hitting mechanics.

Here are the steps:

1. Coil (Load): The hitter collects his weight on the backside.

2. Stride: a linear step towards the pitched ball (30-40% of weight transfer).

3. Body Rotation: Hips rotate toward the ball.

4. Hands will then, and only then, execute the stroke.

Repeat, “hips take us to the ball, hands take us through the ball.” Don’t trust the hands . . . yet.  Discipline the hands to wait until we get into launch position—hands inside the ball and hips rotated—then turn to the pitch and initiate the stroke. 

They travel in rotation with the pivot, but they do not commit to the pitch until the rotation is complete. This rotated position with the hands still back is what we call the “drive” position. It is at this time that the hands will launch.

“Now” we can trust the hands.  Try it, and watch the ball explode onto the bat.

Coach’s Corner Extra Tip: Remember that when we hit, the hands are in a double lever system. That is, they don’t personally go to the ball. They are holding the bat, which goes to the ball. The hands always end up in front of the body. They are responsible for directing the bat to the proper cut line on the pitch.

More tips and drills can be found in our Super 8 Hitting System.

Best to you,

Coach Joe Brockhoff

This course will cover baseball hitting drills from our Super 8 Hitting System. We will cover the batting stance with baseball hitting tips and what position you need to be in when you first step in to the batters box. The front side is responsible to takes us to the ball in put us in a better position to hit the ball with power and accuracy. The back side is the power side… you want to be in an athletic position such as a football player in a defensive stance. Click on the video below to avoid making costly mistakes in your baseball hitting drills.

Baseball batting practices across the nation and around the globe are essentially the same:  players try to hit every ball as hard and deep as they can.  There’s nothing wrong with that approach to hitting, unless, of course, you want to achieve maximum hitting ability. 

I’ve studied hitters during practice practices (BP) for years and come to the same conclusion each time.  Hitters who take every pitch in this manner get pops, chops, and routine ground balls with every pitch.  In fact, the going rate of hard hits is three or four out of ten. 

Instead, try my proven Power-10 baseball hitting drills, which will help players hit the ball hard with super contact every time. Power-10 drills used in batting practices will train hitters to hit each ball well, making practices more meaningful.  Hitters will concentrate more on hitting the balls hard and sharply, rather than hitting everything deep.  As you see below, this method is proven by improved batting averages.

Efficiency at least 80%:        batting average over .400

Efficiency at least 70-80%:   mid .300 batting average

Efficiency less than 70%:     .280-.300 batting average

Here’s how the Power-10 baseball hitting tips work:

A hitter chooses which pitches to hit. But call a strike if he takes a good pitch.

Scoring:

Hard Hit = 1 point

Week hit = 0 points

Swing and miss/foul/strike = (-1)

A hitter strives for a minimum 7 out of 10 (70%). If a hitter is not at that level, he needs to work for that. If time permits, players can do more than one Power-10. With these batting drills, they look forward to the challenge of getting better each time.

Coach Joe Brockhoff Super 8 Hitting System

Coach Brock here with another question from a parent:

Q – How do I keep a hitter ( my son ) from throwing his shoulders to the ball. He is hitting ok but weak.                                                                                                                                    

Thanks Again

Bud

A – It is important that the front shoulder stay closed and does not open until after the stride is completed.  This usually is a result of high tension in the hitter or else he may be trying to muscle the ball.    

The first thing to consider is that the shoulders do not hit the ball.  They are not at all involved with the stride.  Teach him to soften the shoulders during his preliminary swings. 

After he gets into the batter’s box, before the ball is pitched, have him bring up his shoulders and then release them to release the tension.  Remember, no energy in the shoulders…just hips and hands.

This is included as part of our full baseball hitting tips, Video #5:

1.       Taking the pitch, first a full take, just looking at the ball all the way to the catcher; then stride and take, looking the ball all the way to the catcher.  This helps the hitter to relax and see the ball better.

2.       Next, stride, pivot, and take the pitch, practicing keeping the energy in the hips only, no shoulders.

Another good baseball hitting drill is the overcorrection drill that is demonstrated on the Combos Video #4 and on the back of the poster.  This drill forces the shoulders to stay in place.

Using the mat drills with the SpeedBat™ is always good for helping the keep the shoulders back and soft.

It is a must that he keeps his energy out of the shoulders in order for him to maximize his hitting ability.

We also have some baseball hitting videos that can help out too.

Hope this helps, Bud.

Best wishes and Good luck,

Coach Joe Brockhoff

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

Today we cover some baseball coaching tips and drills in this video.

Here’s the first video in our Super 8 Hitting Agenda. It is comprised of 3 major areas that will take of the 3 most difficult things to do in hitting. Agenda 1 is the “Read Drills”. Many times when we sit down with our players, we ask “what is wrong?”, and the common response is “coach, I’m not seeing the ball well”. This video will help hitters see the ball better. Enjoy!

Most of us have heard coaches talk about “rolling the wrist” in hitting.  Have you ever wondered what happens to the bat when the wrists roll?  The answer:  The bat head rolls.

Personally, I have seen this happen over and over again during analysis of players in their front view hitting videos.  They took beautiful contacts of the ball and turned them into ground balls because they rolled the bat head too early.

Does it seem logical to roll the wrists at the point of contact when we are trying to attack the ball? Answer:  Absolutely not.  The only time the wrists should roll is when the bat is brought back to the opposite shoulder following the forward extension of the bat after contact.

We must keep the bat head in line with the stroke and not allow it to roll.  When making contact, the barrel of the bat must be kept constant before, during, and after contact.  Otherwise,  the ball will escape.

So, to learn how to hit better in baseball, here is a great rule:  It’s called “UNDER – UNDER”.

Check out your baseball hitting drills.  The top hand on contact, should be UNDER the bat.  Open up the hand on the bat when it is at the point of contact.  It should be under the bat with palm up.

Following contact, the bat head should travel to its forward extension, and the top hand should still be UNDER the bat.  Check it out.  Open up the hand.  It should still be under the bat with palm up.

So again, here is one of our best baseball hitting tips: Use this:  The UNDER – UNDER rule.

One final note:  Here is another way to keep the hands in check.  The knocking knuckles of the top hand always face the pitch on contact and never face down as the bat goes into extension.

These techniques are fully explained in our baseball hitting tips web site for the “Super 8 Hitting System”, completely demonstrated in a series of baseball hitting drills, which includes many techniques for learning how to hit better in baseball.

Hitting for power in baseball has always been associated with the big strong player.  But in our research, we have discovered it is not so much the size of the player, but rather the strength of his hands.

If strength needs to be improved, it is in the hands and wrists.  The ability to use the body is also imperative.  Big guys and little guys can hit for distance if they incorporate body action in their strokes.  This  means they have learned to use their hips first, and hands last, with a powerful snapping action. 

It is imperative that the batter develops a quick pivot and quick hands.

Many young players never develop power because they are taught to just “meet the ball.”  It’s a common phrase in baseball.  As a result, many hitters stop their hands on contact and they never hit through the ball.

A hitter must be aggressive.  Hitting is controlled aggression, while maintaining balance and control

Another problem young hitters have comes from watching baseball on TV.  They let the top hand go too soon.  My suggestion—finish with both hands.  This will further incorporate hitting through the ball.

Add to this the problem that many players are taught how to hit a baseball by getting their hands out over the plate on contact.  Some times this is as a result of being taught incorrectly to get extension over the plate.  Extension does not occur on contact, but rather after contact.  When hitters try to extend on contact, it is like sawing wood, using too much arms and shoulders.  This method will not power the ball.

In order to learn how to hit for power in baseball the hitter has to get his hands out in front of the body to contact the ball, with the top hand over the bat, and the bottom hand under the bat.  The top hand is then like a hammer on contact.

Using the hands like this will increase bat speed at least 30-40% more than the arm swing. 

How to hit for power in baseball comes down to :

1.                                A strong body

2.                                Quick hips

3.                                Especially quick hands, out front on contact

4.                                Hitting through the ball

5.                                Being aggressive