Improving Baseball Skills: Hitting

There are several things that you can do to improve your baseball skills. All of these involve drills and practice, and the best thing that you can do is keep at it. One of the hardest things to improve on is your swing. Hitting is an integral part of the game and one of the most important stats that a player can have. If you can get the hits, you can go far in this game. No matter how good your glove is, without a bat, you won't make it anywhere. The younger you are when you start practicing, the more of a natural you can become. Here are several things that you can do no matter what age you are.

Establishing your swing is the first thing that you can do to get on the path to a higher average. Your stance is the basis for your swing and can either make or break your hitting. One of the biggest things that you need to keep in mind is uniformity. You want your stance to be the same each and every time you approach the plate. One way to do this is to lay the bat across the plate drawing a line from the bottom two corners. Drag the bat along this line through the batter's box. Now lay the bat back down with the barrel end along the outside edge of the plate. With two fingers draw a line in the dirt at the top of the grip. Use the bat to follow this line through the back of the box. This gives you a corner to place your front foot. By setting up a method like this to map out your footing, you can be ensured that you are in the exact same spot every time. Repetition is just the beginning. You need to make sure you have a solid stance. The more complex and different your stance is, the higher the chance is that you can develop a problem or find yourself in a slump due to mechanics. A simple stance is easy to repeat, comfortable, and easy to correct. Stand in your position at the plate with your shoulders squared to the plate and your feet shoulder width apart. Bend slightly at the knees and relax. You want to be balanced. To check the balance of your stance, assume your stance and hold it for about 30 seconds. If you can stand there like that without wobbling or falling over, you have a well-balanced stance. Once your stance is established, you can work on your swing. Keep your weight on your back leg when you start. Slowly transition your weight forward as you transfer the bat through the zone and into your forward hand. As you start to swing, turn your hips outward. This will increase your bat speed and transfer the energy to the ball. You will want to go through this swing in slow motion prior to every at bat. Run through it several times to get in the "groove" of your swing.

Your swing is only part of the equation. Being able to see the ball and pick it up from the pitcher is another big part. Reaction time is very limited when it comes to hitting. The ball will be at the plate in less than a second at the big league level. This means you need to stay on top of things from the start. You will need to see the ball as it is released from the pitcher's hand. One drill that is good for improving this is using numbered balls. You can start with yellow tennis balls for this. Using a bright red marker, write a number 1-4 on several balls (you want at least 2 of each number). Without the batter knowing which number you have, randomly select one and pitch it. The batter (bat is optional for this drill, but you want to be in your stance) then has to call out the number prior to the ball crossing the plate. This helps hone reaction times and being able to pick up the ball. Once the batter has mastered this, you can use a black marker to draw the number. Once they are proficient with tennis balls transition to baseballs. To make this drill work right, the pitcher needs to hold the ball in a way that the number is displayed just prior to the release.

There are several other things that you can use to improve your batting. The biggest thing is practice. Constant practice will improve your proficiency. You can lob balls over the batter's shoulder so that they come down near the plate, varying pitches in and out of the zone, using pumpkin seeds or ping pong balls tossed from the side, and several other things can really help you get better. Once you get the mechanics and reflexes down, the rest is just practice. Constant practice is the only way you will get comfortable and truly good behind the plate.