Without getting into technique or timing, one of the things many youth hitters need to focus on is consistently hitting the ball hard, i.e. putting the barrel on the ball. Regardless of the drill (tee work, soft toss, front toss, live batting practice, etc), if they can do this, chances are their swing is pretty consistent. But many moms, dads and coaches will ask how to practice this. Here are a few tips to take your hitter to the next level.

1. Move pitches around to different parts of the strike zone. Challenge your hitter to take balanced swings and hit line drives off the barrel of the bat every time.
2. Start slow and let them have success with the tee first. Remember ball placement is key when hitting off a tee. The correct ball placement will show your hitter where in the hitting zone they need to make contact with each pitch and also show them where they will hit the ball hardest (see Baseball Zone’s Tee Work).
3. When doing controlled throws (soft toss, front toss), start by telling the hitter where you are going to throw the ball. Again, early success will help the hitter’s confidence.
4. The next progression during controlled throws is to tell the hitter where you want them to hit the ball without telling them where you are going to throw it. Now they need to get their hands and the barrel to the proper spot to hit the ball to the location of your choice.
5. The last progression is to just have the hitter hit the pitch wherever you throw it.

Kids need to understand where the barrel is and what it feels like to hit the ball there. The more they can do it, they better they will get.

"CMBSB vs UCA" © 2013 White & Blue Review, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/