The other day I was working with a collegiate hitter. We started our swing progression on flips. After trying a few things out, we progressed to overhand batting practice. The swings were alright, but they weren’t the best - so we tried something new.
When we went straight into batting practice, however, the swings started to clean up. Now we didn’t really change much. I didn’t give him a different drill or a cue. He wasn’t really thinking about much anything different. The simple change in environment - flips to batting practice - seemed to do the trick.
After going through some of the video, I put together a theory. I felt like we could make the swings even better. To confirm my theory, I asked him: “Do you handle velocity better, or slower pitching better?” His answer? Velocity.
Over the next few rounds, I made my batting practice much firmer. The swings, sure enough, got better. Three rounds later, he took the best swing I’ve ever seen him take. His hands - the one thing he can’t stop thinking about - were slotting into a better position. His deceleration sequence was night and day. He was no longer getting stuck on his back side. Everything was happening out in front. The only thing that changed was the speed of batting practice.
When this hitter no longer had time to waste, he stopped “procrastinating” and started using his time much more efficiently. There was more of an urgency to act. You’ve probably worked with a hitter who profiled out pretty similarly. They constantly complain about hitting slower pitching, but have no issues when it comes to handling velocity. It never made sense to me, until I came across a discovery from a British economist back in 1955.
It’s not the swing. It’s the time we think we have available for the swing.
In our most recent blog: How my time editing newspapers taught me something about hitting I couldn’t understand, read the full article to learn:
The power of deadlines and the role they play when it comes to hitting
The “deadlines” hitters have to navigate aren’t dates, but fractions of a second
Why some of your hitters complain that they can’t hit slower pitching
It’s not the speed of the pitching. It’s how they sync up to the speed of the pitching
Strategies you can use to teach your hitters how to hit pitching that isn’t firm
If they can’t hit slower pitching, don’t let them say they weren’t prepared
Struggling to teach your hitters how to get their best swings off in time? Try this drill out from our mentorship portal: Clap constraint waterbag turns.
This variation spices up a familiar drill by creating a sense of urgency. On the clap, your goal is to turn and pull the bag back as fast as possible. You have no time to spare.
Clap constraint variations are perfect for athletes that include:
Loose movers
Need stability
Can’t stop their lower half
If you got a lot out of this drill, we have hundreds of others to offer inside our mentorship portal. Check out a free sneak peek using the button below.
