I picked up this hitting drill from a softball coach several years ago. At the time, it seemed a bit silly, but when I watched the man transform automatic strikeouts into quality at bats, and decent hitters into all stars, I knew that he had something.
The fact of the matter is, especially when dealing with younger players, the number one reason that batters fail to do well at the plate has to do with the fact that they have no idea where the ball is. On every single rookie team across America, I guarantee there is at least one player whose eyes never leave the coach as he is pitched to, and the only way that the player will ever get a hit is if the coach manages to hit his player's bat.
Then, even on up into much older age groups, you have the kid who has all of the potential, has a beautiful swing, but for some inexplicable reason, he misses over the top (or underneath, or is late, etc) with every single pitch. This drill will help both of these situations, plus many more.
First of all, you need to make a trip to your local sporting goods store and pick up some practice golf balls - the light, whiffle style variety. They are extremely cheap, rarely costing more than a dollar or so per dozen (if that). Go ahead and pick up two to three dozen of them.
Now, at your next practice, set up a station devoted to hitting these tiny balls (you do use stations at practice, don't you?). The best method for this is a soft toss drill, with the coach stationed at a 45 degree angle, about six feet to the front of the batter. Make sure that you keep as little arc in your pitches as possible, and pitch them out "over the plate". Allow your batter to use his game bat while hitting.
At first, you may see some frustration, but every kid, without exception, will eventually figure out the secret to hitting these little suckers - they are absolutely forced to watch the ball all the way in. In no time, they will be hitting, and hitting hard - kids get a huge kick out of how the little balls jump off of their bats.
To effecticely vary things, you can move to a traditional pitching position directly in front of the batter, or move to the opposite side. You can also throw from the side and behind the batter, so tht they cannot see the ball until it is in front of them.
Pitch quickly - make the batter set back up into their stance as soon as they hit the ball, but dont rush them to the point that they don't have time to maintain proper mechanics, and thus pick up bad swing habits.
Once your kids are adept at hitting the whiffle balls with their bats, you will see an improvement - sometimes, a huge improvement - in their hand-eye coorrdination at the plate. But we're not done yet!
Now, it's time to move to the big challenge, and the big payoff. Provide a length of broomsick similar to the length of the typical player's bat. Have them hit the tiny golf balls with this stick, instead of with their bat. Continue to force them to maintain a proper batting stance.
Again, you may run into some frustration, but again, the kids will pick up on how to do the drill. Encourage them by poiting out the obvious - if they can hit a tiny ball with a skinny stick, they will have no difficulty hitting a regulation baseball with their "big" baseball bat!
Guess what? You will be right. Of course, this suggestion doesn't hurt as it gives a player added confidence.
Make the golf ball drill a regular part of practice. Preseason, midseason, postseason - it doesn't matter. You will see huge returns on your time and five dollars' worth of equipment, I guarantee it.
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