Advanced Toss & Batting Tee Drills

This latest instructional program from acclaimed coach Marty Schupak is a surprisingly entertaining at-home guide aimed at young baseball players who want to improve their batting skills. Over 40 different drills are presented here—ranging from simple to more advanced and complex—most of which only require a tarpaulin, a tee, a bat, and a batch of balls (some drills require additional items). No actual pitching is involved: someone just needs to repeatedly drop balls via soft toss into a batter's zone. The drills focus on improving the batter's rhythm, balance, hip rotation, reaction time, control, and eye-hand coordination. Starting with simple soft-toss drops, the drills add increasing challenges, such as the one-hand batting tee, which requires the batter to swing alternately with top or bottom hand to understand better the role each plays in using the bat. Another drill involves two balls of different colors being simultaneously tossed, with the pitcher calling out the color that he or she wants the batter to hit. The target tee drill uses four targets (manila envelopes, for example) taped to the tarp's corners: the pitcher tosses a ball and calls out a specific target for the batter to hit toward, which intensifies control at the plate. Although carefully designed to create noticeable results, many of these drills look like they would be fun for anyone and would almost serve as party games for kids (such as hitting recyclable plastic objects of varying sizes). Highly recommended. Aud: E, I, J, H, P. (T. Keogh)