A hitter who swings at everything strikes out swinging. A hitter who knows the strike zone gets walks and good pitches to hit. This drill teaches the eye before the swing.
What you need: 15 baseballs, a tee or screen for the coach to pitch from, home plate.
Setup: Coach pitches from 35 feet behind a screen. Batter stands at home plate with the bat ready.
How to run it:
- The strike zone is the width of the plate, knee height to chest height.
- Coach throws 10 pitches. Some strikes, some balls. Mix them.
- Batter does NOT swing. They call out “ball” or “strike” as the pitch crosses the plate.
- Coach tells them right or wrong after each pitch.
- Last 5 pitches: they swing only at strikes.
What to watch: Are they calling pitches that are clearly out of the zone “strikes” because they want to swing? That’s a sign of being in attack mode without seeing the ball. The eye has to slow down.
If they’re struggling: Throw only obvious strikes and obvious balls. No close pitches.
If they’ve got it: Add the close pitches (just at the knees, just at the chest, just off the plate). Now they have to make hard calls.