One of our most popular drills that I teach my hitters is the "Shine The Light"
baseball hitting drill.
One of the most effective methods in teaching baseball, or even any other subject,
is to find a word or phrase to aid a hitter to better comprehend the drill we are
getting them to understand. It works a lot better if they can be "word" or "phrase"
pics.
The most common problem we see in youth hitters is the long looping or sweeping
swing. This is caused by a number of different factors, but mainly overstriding and
dropping the back shoulder. We want our hitters to be quick to the baseball so we
use our "Shine the Light" drill so the players can imagine the knob of the bat as a
flashlight, and direct the "light" or knob of the bat towards the pitch. This will help the
hitter obtain a short, compact stroke and virtually eliminate "chops" and "pops".
Common problems that may occur:
1. Hitter may drop the knob of the bat in the direction of their feet or ground and take
the hands out of position.
2. If the player slightly raises his lead shoulder just a little (even 1 inch), this will cause
the knob of the baseball bat to lower downwards.
So, to recap:
Imagine a beam that is glowing from a flash light on the baseball. Tell your players to
instantly "Shine the Light" to the baseball, forcing the bottom of the bat (knob) in the
location of the pitch. This one simple drill will virtually eliminate and correct any
loop or sweeping swing, and will help you increase bat speed in get the barrel of
the bat in the proper postion.
This is one of hundreds of baseball hitting drills that we teach our hitters. Try it out next time
you're in the cage.
Baseball Hitting Drills
