Best Hitting Drills for the Advanced Player

Shane Hoffpauir

In this article, I show you a few of my best hitting drills for the advanced baseball player and softball player.

I take you through a normal hitting progression with one of my advanced baseball players, Shane Hoffpauir.

Players, coaches, and parents ask for my advice regarding softball and baseball equipment.
As a result, I compiled a list of the baseball, softball, and coach’s equipment I recommend below.

Advanced Player Hitting Drills Video

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Also, be sure to follow Shane Hoffpauir on Instagram and Twitter.

Best Hitting Drills for Hitters

Warm Up – Form Up – Time Up – Game

Scott Hemond

First, it drives me crazy when I see players step out of the car, walk to the field, and start swinging out of their shoes.

Slow it Down to Speed It Up.

Scott Hemond (scotthemondbaseball.com)
Scott Hemond Baseball Hitting Mechanics
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Players must focus on the little things so the big things take care of themselves.
In fact, I released an entire hitting course centered around isolating vital parts of the swing and perfecting those movements.

Scott Hemond Take Care of Little Things
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So, I suggest going through a hitting checklist as part of your pre-game and pre-practice routine to increase the feel.
This is also a great way to prevent a hitting slump.
Then, warm up with isolation hitting drills to catch any break in your fundamentals.
Next, start forming up your swing by putting the individual movements together.
Step in the cage and start timing up your swing with the ball.
Finally, step to the plate and – GAME ON!

Scott Hemond - Warm Up, Form Up, Time Up, Game
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Heavy Bag Drills

First, I did not record Shane warming up on the heavy bag in the video.
I require all of my players to work through a progression of heavy bag drills before they step foot in the cage.

Advanced Softball Hitting Drills

In fact, each of my advanced and best hitting drills in the cage mimic one of my heavy bag drills.
Furthermore, these baseball and softball hitting drills with a heavy bag are a key component of my foundational hitting course.

Heavy Bag Hitting Drills
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Front Hand Tee Drill

The front hand tee drill utilizes a tee and a light bat.
Shane uses a little league bat that he can comfortably handle with one hand.

The player hits the ball with the front arm up the middle or to the opposite field while leading with the hand to create lag.
As you can see in the video, the player is not trying to crush the ball. He is focusing on rhythm and keeping his hand and head in the correct position.
Also, this drill prevents extending the arm too early and spinning out.

One Hand Baseball Tee Drill
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Back Hand Tee Drill

Once the front hand drill looks solid, we switch hands and focus on keeping the elbow close to the body.
This drill helps get the back shoulder inside the ball and the front side down.
In addition, this hitting drill forces the player to swing with their shoulders which helps keep their shoulders in the zone longer.

Back Hand Baseball Tee Drill
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As you can see, Shane’s head remains in perfect position through each drill.
Remember, it’s over if your head is crappy – cancel Christmas.

bad head position - common hitting mistake
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Alternating Hand Tee Drill

The alternating hand tee drill combines the first 2 drills.
After Shane hits the ball with his front hand, he switches hands as he brings the bat back.

alternating hand tee drill
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alternating hand tee drill
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Then, he hits the ball with his other hand.
I place a ball on the tee after each swing in order for Shane to get into a rhythm.

alternating hand tee drill
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alternating hand tee drill
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alternating hand tee drill
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One Hand Let Go

The one hand let go drill requires the player to take a full swing and extend after contact by letting the bat go with one hand.
The focus of this drill is to extend after contact and not extend too early.

one hand let go tee drill
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extend after contact tee drill
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Leg Swing One Hand Let Go

This drill progression combines basic leg swings with the one hand let go tee drill.
Essentially, this drill helps the player feel the lower half getting engaged in the swing.
It makes sure the front side gets down and really helps with a hitter’s load.

I review the importance of leg swings in my revolutionary online hitting course.

leg swing extend after contact
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leg swing extend after contact
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leg swing extend after contact
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leg swing extend after contact
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Quick Tip on Hitting Drills

For my advanced players like Shane, I encourage each player to customize the best hitting drills to serve their swing needs at that time.

In other words, players can shorten the session by doing less reps with each drill.
Or, more reps with less drills.

Best Hitting Drills Tip
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One Hand Soft Toss

The one hand soft toss drill is the same as the tee drill.
However, I mix things up by throwing the ball in different locations to make sure the hands stay inside the ball to hit it the other way.

one hand soft toss drill
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one hand soft toss drill
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One Hand Front Toss Drill

After soft toss, I move in front of Shane and start doing front toss.
Shane is an advanced hitter and I don’t start throwing front toss until 40 minutes into our hitting session.
Obviously, I put a focus on the little things – the isolation of key swing positions and movements.

The one hand front toss drill repeats the same movements as the one hand tee drills and soft toss drills.
It is simply a progression – we are forming up the swing from the ground up.

best hitting drills
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One hand front toss drill
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One hand front toss drill
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Quick Tip: Make it Difficult

Shane has been my student since before he started kid pitch.
If I had to guess, he could probably do these drills with his eyes closed.
So, I encourage my players to combine my best hitting drills and make it difficult.

As I’m throwing, I remind Shane to make it difficult by switching hands between every pitch, stop at contact, extend after contact, and more.

best hitting drills quick tip
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stop at contact hitting drill
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let go hitting drill
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best hitting drills
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Back Hand Front Toss Drill

Once Shane finishes the front hand drill, he switches to the back hand front toss drill.
Obviously, this is the same drill we performed on the tee and with soft toss.

best hitting drills
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back hand front toss hitting drill
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back hand front toss hitting drill
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Full Swing Hitting Drills

So, time to start pressing our foot on the gas at this point in my hitting session with Shane.
If something in Shane’s swing doesn’t feel right, he would have stopped me at that point to work out the kink.
Additionally, I would have stopped Shane if I noticed something he wasn’t doing right.
Again, we warm up, form up, and time up with each hitting session.
Whether I’m working with a little league player or a professional in the big leagues, I start from the baseline by focusing on the little things.

First, I throw front toss from the left side towards Shane’s back shoulder.
This challenges him to stay inside the ball and hit it up the middle or the other way.

best hitting drills
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Then, I move to the right side and throw front toss to Shane.
This forces Shane to let the ball get deep into the zone and to not extend too early.
Again, I’m challenging Shane with every ball I throw to maintain proper fundamentals by staying inside the ball regardless of location.

advanced hitting drill
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I encourage all my students to be selective and disciplined at the plate even during batting practice.
If I throw a bad pitch during BP, don’t swing.

pitch selection during BP
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keep head down
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Final Swings

Finally, I move to the center and further back to start putting some heat behind my pitches.
From 35 feet away, the baseball gets to the plate quickly.

Ultimately, I’m trying to beat Shane with changing speeds and location of my pitches.

I like to use some baseball lingo as well as encourage my players at the end of a hitting session.

best hitting drills for batting cage
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best hitting drills for batting cage
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Perfect Baseball Swing Frame by Frame

The best hitting drills always produce a picture perfect swing such as Shane’s swing.
Below are 9 consecutive snapshots of a perfect baseball swing frame by frame.

Conclusion

So, I hope you enjoyed my best hitting drills for advanced players as well as the drill progressions.
Whether you need softball hitting drills or baseball hitting drills, these work for both.
Please leave a comment down below – I’d love to hear from you.

Don’t forget to follow Shane Hoffpauir on Instagram and Twitter.

Related Posts:

What is the best hitting drill for baseball?

The best hitting drill for baseball are heavy bag drills. The Scott Hemond Baseball heavy bag training promotes rhythm, timing, repetition, and muscle memory. It isolates the baseball swing to key movements so they can be worked on individually.

how to fix casting hands baseball hitting drill
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How do you practice hitting without a bat?

The best way to practice hitting without a bat is to use barriers to isolate individual key movements of the baseball or softball swing. The Scott Hemond Baseball foundational online hitting course uses barriers as well as a heavy bag to help hitters improve their skills with repetitive drills.

What are some good softball hitting drills?

A list of useful softball hitting drills to improve all aspects of hitting are:
-Heavy Bag Drills
-Front Hand Tee Drill
-Back Hand Tee Drill
-Alternativing Hand Tee Drill
-One Hand Let Go
-Leg Swings

How do you stay balanced when hitting?

The best way to stay balanced when hitting is to stay lower half heavy.

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