I can't tell you how many emails I get explaining how well their players hit the ball during practice and how much they struggle hitting during games. If this is anything that your players struggle with then you'll want to know why it happens and how you can start to turn your hitters into great game hitters.

The reason that players hit so well in practice and seem to struggle during games is that there are two parts to hitting; one part is the physical swing - which hitters practice in the cage (usually against a predictable machine) and off a batting tee. And the other part of hitting is judgment - which is what hitters deal with in games.

The judgment portion of hitting requires tossed or pitched balls in order to start mastering decisions about which pitches to swing at & when to swing at them, and which pitches to let go. While this seems simple it's the hardest part of hitting and the one we give our players the least amount of practice time on. Using a pitching machine is probably the worst thing we can do since all the pitches are completely predictable unless you're using the Swing Zone Pitching Machine Accessory.

Without the Swing Zone attached to your pitching machine every ball that comes out of the machine not only comes at the exact same speed, but ends up at the exact same place. So a hitter quickly figures it out and then simply hits the predictability of the pitch without actually learning to judge and track the pitch.

To help your hitters improve the Judgment portion of hitting they need to start seeing a lot of tossed or pitched balls. Basically, you've got to start including a lot of front toss during practice to help them get used to, and good at, pitch judgment and selection.

Here's a great drill series to help teach your hitters how to start using their eyes better when they're hitting, and as a result, start making better decisions when hitting:

CATCH PITCHING:

• Have your hitter put her bat down and put on her fielding glove
• Have her stand where the catcher stands, and simply catch balls being tossed or pitched to her
• Have her notice how little she watches the pitcher but how much she watches the ball
• Then have the batter get into the batting box (still with her glove), stand in her batting stance and actually catch the ball as it's pitched or tossed to her
• Ask her if she's using her eyes the same way she was when she was standing behind home plate. If not, then tell her to use her CATCHING EYES.

• Now the hitter gets into the batters box, but still no bat
• This time the hitter will put a fielding glove on her top hand (a lefty glove if a right-handed hitter and a righty glove if a left-handed hitter)
• She'll get into her batting stance putting her hands (with the glove) in her batting stance.
• The tosser will be about 10-15 feet in front of the hitter with some balls.
• As the tosser tosses a ball the hitter turns and moves her hands and the glove toward the ball just as she would if it were a bat. But in this case she will actually catch the ball with her glove instead of hitting it - but she will catch it in the same position in relationship to her body as she would if using a bat. She should work to catch it near her front foot
• It will take the hitter a few tosses to get used to it but just make sure they use their body and their feet the same way they would if they were actually hitting.
• If they struggle remind them to use their eyes the same way they did when they were catching the ball - USE THEIR CATCHING EYES TO HIT!