ThumbPRO Baseball Digs Into Hitting Drills
ThumbPRO Baseball Hitting Drills Are the Foundation of Every Hitter
There are hundreds of baseball hitting drills out there. Some are great, a few are okay, and some need to be taken and locked away forever. But, after narrowing the field, I found these are the top five essential hitting drills to develop young players quickly.
These drills are easy enough for little league players to employ but can build a foundation and improve hitters at all levels.
Some of these drills require a tee, and some need a second person to feed you soft toss. So, grab a friend who also wants to improve their swing, and let’s get started.
ThumbPRO Baseball Hitting Drill #1: Tee Work and Keeping the Head Down
Okay, let’s start to hit some balls. This drill requires a tee and a net. If you don’t have a net, hitting in a cage or an open field also works.
The Drill: Hit a ball off the tee and continue to stare at the tee after you’ve made contact. That’s it. This drill keeps you from pulling off the ball and ensures you see the ball as you make contact.
For many hitters, there is a tendency to look up to see where or how far they hit the ball. And most of the time, this hinders the player causing them to pull their head in anticipation. This drill works wonders to stamp out this bad habit and keep your mechanics in check.
ThumbPRO Baseball Hitting Drill #2: Swinging from an Open Stance
This is an excellent drill to gain the necessary muscle memory to find a good swing path consistently.
The Drill: Using the tee, open your stance at about a 45-degree angle (shown in the picture below). Now, without stepping, hit the ball up the middle and finish your swing high above your shoulder.
I know hitting a ball in an unusual position seems awkward at first. But this drill will force your bat through an optimal swing path, creating extended time for your barrel through the hitting zone. And the longer your barrel is in that hitting zone, the more frequently you’ll produce solid contact.
ThumbPRO Baseball Hitting Drill #3: Soft Toss
Now is the time to ditch the tee and grab your friend. This drill brings all the mechanics you have worked hard on and introduces a moving ball to the swing. If done right, this is the best drill for gaining better hand-eye coordination.
The Drill: You’ve seen this baseball hitting drill before. It’s the one where one player kneels and tosses a ball up for the batter to rip it into the net. The key is to have the toss be methodical, slowly swinging the arm back and forward. This tempo allows you the time it takes to load your hands, step and swing.
This drill is used by every coach at every level because it works. It is excellent for developing your swing and allows players to get maximum reps in a short amount of time.
ThumbPRO Baseball Hitting Drill #4: One-Handed Swings
This drill is intended to isolate the hands to see what each is doing for the hitter’s swing. When both hands swing the bat, what needs to be addressed and corrected is not always apparent.
The Drill: This drill can be done with a tee but is most effective with soft toss. Grab a bat with one hand and choke up to the top of the grip. You can also use a shorter, lighter bat if one is available. Now take some swings. At impact, your bottom hand’s palm should parallel the ground. After switching, your top hand palm should face the sky at impact. If the hands don’t reach these positions at impact, it will create weak contact.
Another by-product of this drill is the feeling of more power once the hitter returns to using both hands.
ThumbPRO Baseball Hitting Drill #5: Two Ball Soft Toss
Don’t let your friend leave yet. We need him for one last drill. This drill will help you focus on a moving ball and adjust to execute your swing.
The Drill: Your friend’s job is to toss up two baseballs simultaneously and call out “high” or “low.” As the hitter, you must hit the ball that he calls out.
This drill helps you adjust to different pitches. You can’t guess in this exercise, just like you can’t guess in a real at-bat. With heightened concentration, this drill will help you visually pick up the ball in flight and adjust to put a good swing on it.
ThumbPRO Baseball Hitting Drill Bonus Tip: Use a Baseball Thumb Guard
Most of the best professional baseball players use a baseball thumb guard.
Why, you ask?
One reason is that a thumb guard protects the hands from the dreaded bat sting. ThumbPRO thumb guard helps places the bat into the fingers, the strongest part of your grip. Thus, creating increased bat speed resulting in more power.
But it’s not just for professionals. Every hitter, young and old, can benefit from using a thumb guard.
There are a few different thumb guards available on the market, but ThumbPro has perfected the game. ThumbPro is an ergonomically designed baseball thumb guard that is comfortable and won’t slip out of place. And with three different sizes, there is one made to fit you perfectly.
Just slide the ThumbPro on your thumb, grab your bat, and it is already in the most effective and comfortable bat position.
Furthermore, coaches love seeing the advantages young players gain while hitting with a ThumbPro. Baseball coaches know that using a thumb guard eliminates the fear of bat sting and boosts the player’s confidence at the plate.
Did I mention that can help you hit the ball harder and further? In outside studies a gain of 10-15% more bat speed was shown while using a ThumbPro.
There Are More Than These Five Drills
Each of these drills is great for instilling the essential parts of a dynamic swing. But they aren’t the only ones. So go out and explore to find which routines work best for you.
Hitting off live pitching is still the best exercise to replicate in-game pitching. But live pitching takes more time, decreasing the number of swings each player receives on each practice day. The importance of hitting drills is to build your hitting foundation while allowing maximum reps and quicker results.
There is a reason why hitting drills have been around since the birth of baseball. Like it or not, there is no better way to find and maintain your best swing.
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