55 Drills for Building Hitters from the Ground Up

Discover 55 drills you can use to develop powerful hitters from the ground up. Starting with the legs, Christina Sutcliffe covers the key components of the swing including hand path and extension before offering advice and drills for slappers.

Legs
Since the swing starts from the ground, Coach Sutcliffe works from the ground up when training her hitters. Using stationary and active leg drills, you'll see how she trains her hitters to generate power from their legs.

Learn how to help your players get more out of their legs with 10 drills designed to improve players' weight shift and leg drive.

Hand Path
Extra movement in the swing decreases consistency so one goal of any good hitter is to have a swing that is short to the ball. This requires an efficient hand path. Coach Sutcliffe introduces 12 drills to help your hitters get their hands to the ball efficiently and with no extra movement.

Extension
Once the hitter makes contact with the ball, the next task is to extend through the pitch. Good extension helps hitters keep their bat in the zone longer, making them more consistent and powerful.

In this video, you will learn about the power lines for each pitch and where extension should happen for inside, outside and middle pitches. In addition to learning about these concepts, you will see demonstrations of 10 drills you can use to develop and improve extension.

Visual Training
Discover 12 drills to help hitters see the ball better and develop concentration skills by training them to focus on the incoming pitch.

Competitive Drills
To help you keep practice fresh and exciting, Coach Sutcliffe shares six hitting games that will challenge your team by pitting them against each other. When your players compete in practice they are prepared for the competitive pressures they will experience on game day.

Slapping
Key pieces to any successful line-up are the table setters, those versatile players who can get on base to set the table for the big hitters to drive them in. Coach Sutcliffe introduces six drills that she uses to train her slappers how to become more explosive out of the batter's box and quicker to first base. She also shows how many of the drills she uses with her hitters can be converted for use with slappers.

Packed with 55 drills, this presentation is sure to give even the most experienced hitting coaches more than a few new ideas.

89 minutes. 2015.