Don't Forget Your (Batting) Tee Time!

Don't Forget Your (Batting) Tee Time!
By guest author: Olan Suddeth


Most experienced coaches are already quite familiar with the advice I am about to give. In their case, please forgive my restating of what might be obvious, and browse some of the other articles on this site. The new baseball coach, however, would do well to pay attention.

I am about to reveal to you the single most useful tool for improving the hitting skills of your batters. Please, take a seat. I don't want the shock to overcome you. Are you ready?

I present to you: the batting tee!

That's correct. The tee is the single most useful tool for improving the hitting skills of your batters. You may bellieve that your players are too old to benefit from a tee... and you could not be further from the truth. Did you know that major league hitters practice by hitting off of a tee every single day? Are you suggesting that your eight (or ten or twelve) year olds know more about hitting than Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Derek Lee, or other big league stars?

Now that I hopefully have your attention, I will explain why this is. Understand, there is no substitute for live pitching - tee drills cannot help with your batter's sense of timing, or his ability to pick up on or identify pitch location, pitch type, velocity, etc. But unless you have Greg Maddux pitching your batting pracice sessions, there is no way you can hope to put the ball in the same place every time, which allows you to analyze the batter's swing. With a tee, you can really watch what your hitter is doing, make suggestions, and get many, many repititions in in a reltively short period of time. This is the reason that, if you were to take your player to pretty much any professional hitting coach in the country, the first thing the coach would do would be to drag out a tee.

If your player has a hitch in his swing, you can identify it with a tee. If he needs to work on the inside pitch (or the low pitch, or the outside pitch), you can simply move the tee and give him extra repititions. If he has a loop or dip in his swing, you can place a second tee behind the one holding the ball and force him to adapt a correct swing path. With a tee, you can build the all-important muscle memory needed for a good, consistent swing.

I cannot emphasize this enough - very few practices should ever go by without your players hitting off of a tee. This is an absolutely ideal station activity, is easy to place, and if you happen to also own a net, can be done in even the smallest of spaces.

The bottom line: if you do not own a tee, and you coach a youth baseball team, go and drop a few bucks on one today. You will not regret the investment in the best hitting tool ever made.

Olan Suddeth is a little league baseball coach in the Birmingham, Alabama area. His website, Youth Baseball Info (http://www.youthbaseballinfo.com) offers free drills, articles, and tips for youth baseball coches, parents, and fans.

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Baseball Training Techniques and the T-Ball Game

Baseball Training Techniques and the T-Ball Game
By guest author: Chris Moheno


The ball is placed on an adjustable "tee" that is in the player's personal strike range, and they swing at the ball on the tee, instead of having a ball pitched to them.

This game is often played by young school age boys to learn the baseball training, such as batting positions, how to swing and the rest of the rules of baseball. The primary advantage of playing tee-ball is that the ball is automatically in the player's personal "strike zone", so they don't have to learn the hand-eye coordination that is necessary with a live pitcher. Other than that, the rules of T-ball are the same and it is primarily helpful for teaching baseball hitting skills.

If is not unusual for the young boy's tee-ball or T-ball leagues to allow the game to be played with wiffle balls and bats for safety reasons and because they are lighter. Actual T-balls are slightly larger than a baseball and softer, and there are actual bats and gloves that are used.

As the boys get older, they can learn to play with real baseballs and bats, which help them in baseball training as they enter the correct age to start learning to hit a live pitch. On some of the leagues, coaches will have them practice hitting a few live pitches to start developing the baseball training they will need later.

Because of this, the players that play tee ball or T-ball are typically between 4 and 8 years of age. There is a minimum of 12 players on each team and no more than 20, although it should be limited to 15 players. The reason for this is that each inning allows every player on each team to bat, and the inning is over after each team has allowed every player a time at bat. Games are four innings and scoring is not always used since it is to develop baseball hitting skills and learn other baseball training.

There are no strike-outs or walks and the ball must travel more than ten feet or it is a foul. Batters can't steal bases- the ball has to be hit for them to move around the bases. It teaches the players the skills necessary to play baseball and it allows all players a chance to bat and play the field.

The whole idea of T-ball is to teach the young players baseball hitting techniques and the other baseball training they will need as they graduate into playing the more difficult game of baseball. It is believed that the younger the players start, the easier it will be for them to master the game. T-ball or tee ball lets them learn baseball techniques at a slower and more enjoyable game that is not as competitive.

Many children also make the decision that they want to move into playing baseball fairly easily and on their own, as their confidence level increases and they become bored with playing tee ball. This allows the child to move easily into baseball training, which can be much more challenging and competitive. Most of the T-ball players make this transition very easily and have already mastered the hardest part of baseball hitting skills and understand the challenges they will face when they move from T-ball into baseball training.

It makes it easier for the coaches to enhance T-ball practices by throwing a few pitches for practices and the players can gradually work into this important part of judging when a live pitcher has thrown a ball in the strike zone, or out of it. Because their eyes have been trained to look for the ball in the "tee zone", it gives them an advantage over the players that have not played T-ball and decide to start playing baseball.

T-ball or tee ball, can teach young players the baseball hitting techniques they will need to know and it can also teach other baseball training, such as catching fly-balls, grounders and pop-up flies. It teaches them how to throw to base, throw to home and what the rules are as their T-ball play becomes more advanced. It is a great way for a child to transition easily into a great baseball player, when the time comes.

Chris Moheno kindly invites you to visit this comprehensive baseball training website where you will find baseball scholarship tips and answers to your general questions about baseball training and strength training, as well as a free newsletter with baseball training tips and advice.

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