Tee Drill

I came up with a drill that I use constantly to groove your swing so that you will stay inside the ball and not drag your bat. It will give you the muscle memory to create the proper bat path.

I do this drill in my garage so I stand in front of the garage door.

Place a home plate on the ground. Make it out of cardboard if you don't have one. Set a batting tee on the outside, rear corner of the plate.

Put a length of tape or a narrow board between you and the plate. This represents the inside line of the batter's box.

Stand eight to twelve inches in front of the fence and get into your stance. Now go through your swing, slowly at first.

The goal is to keep your hands along the board as you swing through the strike zone. If your swing gets "long" and out away from your body, you will hit the batting tee. And if you drag or dump your bat behind you, the bat will hit the fence behind you.

Your top hand should be "palm up" and your bottom hand should be "palm down" as you swing.

Your front shoulder does NOT rotate horizontally as you swing. It pulls up and back(Blue Arrow). The harder, or quicker you pull your shoulder up and back, the more "snap" you will get in your swing. Your hips will open much faster and also open fully giving you maximum bat speed.

Pulling up and back with your front shoulder will make it easier to keep your hands "inside" the flight of the ball and keep you on plane with the pitch longer. This gives you a much longer contact area.

Somewhere along the line you may have been told not to drop your rear shoulder. Keep your shoulders level. That's completely wrong. In order to keep your hands inside the flight of the ball and pull your front shoulder up and back, your shoulders WILL TILT.

This drill will also give you the necessary rear tilt with your upper body. As your hands, arms and hips are moving forward, your upper half is tilting the opposite direction. This causes an enormous amount of stretch. This is the physics of bat speed.

Keep your swing down, then slightly up through the strike zone. Don't hit the fence behind you.

If you let the bat head drop behind you, it will hit the fence.

This is a drill that you can do by yourself with unlimited repetitions. This will give you a shorter swing and a quicker bat. A swing which will keep you "on plane" with the pitch, create more bat speed and allow you to hit the ball harder.

You will also be able to hit a pitch on the inner half of the plate to center or your opposite field hard instead of pulling it on the ground.

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