Frozen Ropes: Hitting Drills for Next Level Performance

with Tony Abbatine,
Founder, Frozen Ropes;
2018 USA Softball National Team Coaching Staff - overseeing the mental and visual skills;
Has worked with the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, and the Los Angeles Dodgers as a player development department consultant;
Adjunct College Professor, Sports Psychology, St. Thomas Aquinas College;
author of numerous articles on player development featured in: Sports Illustrated, ESPN, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Baseball America and various television media.

Build an elite level swing by keeping things simple! Efficient swings have few holes for opposing pitchers to exploit. Tony Abbatine offers a clear progression of hitting drills to develop top-tier baseball or softball hitters.

Coach Abbatine provides several drills important to developing consistency while minimizing over-coaching and over-complicating hitting. This drill series does a great job of isolating various swing flaws, helping players understand the best fixes available while maintaining a commitment to the full process of hitting.

Utilizing Drills

While drills can be an important part of practice and development, coaches have to understand how to use them effectively to truly help the player develop to their maximum ability. Coach Abbatine presents a quick overview of his hitting style, and then goes in-depth about how he uses drills to teach these principles. Each drill that Abbatine shares has purpose, and every one builds on the drill before to give players the greatest chance at development.

In addition to offering a proven teaching style, Abbatine also shares details of how to best evaluate hitters. These techniques are critical for evaluation in the recruitment process and in player development.

Barrel Control Drills

The core of Coach Abbatine's hitting philosophy is getting the barrel to the ball. He introduces a three-drill progression he uses to help teach barrel control - an essential element of hitting. The Punch, Rifle, and Sword drills each take the swing one step further until the hitter is taking almost a full swing, focusing on controlling the barrel.

Hitting Drills

Coach Abbatine opens his library of hitting drills to the viewer. While his drills address all aspects of the swing, most of them help the hitter to keep things simple. Using this resource, learn how to develop a complete hitter that is dangerous even against the most effective pitching. You'll see:

• Selfie drills that allow hitters to work individually, warm up, and develop coordination.
• Body Control drills to help hitters develop consistency in their mechanics from stride, to launch point, to finish.
• Hand position drills that help hitters develop an appropriate launching point and barrel control.

Abbatine provides an informative resource for developing hitters that is simple and educational. This video is great for both novice and professional coaches, as well as any player seeking improvement in their hitting!

56 minutes. 2018.