Posted by: Major Dan (markj89@charter.net) on Fri Jan 18 05:21:06 2002

Does anyone have any advice on pre-game batting practice that has been noticeably effective for your players?
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> > Kevin, in my opinion you should hit in B.P. the same way that you would hit in a game. You should be relaxed see the ball and hit the ball. Work on seeing the ball right out of the pitcher's hand. Now, when you work on mechanics you should hit off a tee or hit a heavy bag. This is because hitting a ball thrown by a pitcher requires a great amount of concentration so any mechanical thoughts should leave the mind. See the ball Hit the ball.
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> Kevin,
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> Pre game preparation should be getting lose and mental. There is nothing that can be done just before a game that will make a big difference. If it's not done in practice, just before a game is too late.
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> F. J.
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What we do with our team is some rounds of softtoss into a catchnet and we use whiffle balls (the pickle type - holes evenly spaced around the ball). For the whiffle balls, the hitters surround the coaches (pitchers) in a circle, each about 15 feet away. We sort of dart throw the balls, one pitch per batter and working our way around the circle. 2 or 3 coaches can be in the center so everyone gets lots of swings (20-30 anyway). After a few warmup pitches, we do 'hit the coach', hit opposite field, pull the ball and try to place the pitch accordingly.
The whiffle balls don't go far, don't hurt anyone and from a short distance, make you react quickly so you get some 'live' pitching in before the game.
This can be done in a relatively small area, as opposed to live BP using the whole field.
We also keep the catchnet up behind the bench so hitters can softtoss during the game if they want.