Posted by: rql () on Sun Nov 23 18:11:06 2003

I was trying to work on the tee the other day and find a way to use the tee to work on adjusting to speed,and to practice making the adjustment.I would clear my mind and think fb for timing and then at the right time in the load I would think curve or fb.What I was finding is that in order for me to hit the ball well I had to keep my hips cocked and weight back,yes this is obvious,but how to do it was that instead of slowing down or spreading out my stride in some way to make up the delay.I would drive the lead foot down which would stop the "weight transfer" [I think this is the key to hitting the offspeed pitch].When I did this I was still able to drive the ball consistently though not as far as a normal swing.This is an area that holds back many young and older hitters alike.

I feel this approach for me works best if I am say looking FB in a count where I don't want to take a fat curve pitch but not a 2 strike count necessarily.To me timing adjustments where the ball is 10-15 MPH different and your looking for the higher speed is very tough,the sequence must be stopped in a position or slowed down before weight transfer has started.This is an area I would like to get a better handle on how to teach hitters.Now if I had 2 strikes My timing was set differently and my thought process was different which split the speed in half in the middle between the 2 pitches ,here with only a five MPH adjustment I could just slow my toe touch right into the swing with a smooth transition.
I believe a drill could be designed with the tee where a hitter goes into the load thinking fb and then someone else say fb or cb and try to make the timing adjustment,then carried a step further to the straight toss drill.