"Off-Speed Pitches" Drill

This drill comes from Rich Kocinski our April 2002 Drill of the Month Winner.

Teaching to wait for off-speed pitches...

Vary the toss from one aimed at the batter's waist (a fastball) to a toss popped-up about to the player's eye level that he has to wait for in order to hit (a curve or off-speed pitch). This allows the player to recognize different speeds quickly and learn to react to them.

Use both white and yellow plastic "poly balls." Hold the white ball in one hand and the yellow ball in the other. Release them in a soft toss fashion and announce which color ball the batter should hit. As the batter's skill increases, a third ball (marked with a stripe) can be added. This gives them three targets to try to differentiate. This drill will help the player develop his hand/eye/bat coordination.

Another good drill to help develop hand/eye/bat coordination is to toss plastic practice golf balls at distance of 15 feet to the batter. The balls do not travel in a straight line and are, at times, difficult to hit.