How to Coach With a Batting Tee

A slight imperfection in a batting stance or swing can mean the difference between a strikeout and a base hit. Proper hitting techniques are easily taught with the aid of a batting tee. Even major-league baseball players use batting tees to recapture their swings in spring training and to get out of hitting slumps during the season. For young players, batting tee drills provide lessons leading to proper batting stances and correct swings, resulting in more hits and higher batting averages.

Things You'll Need

  • Batting tee
  • Home plate
  • Baseball bat
  • Baseball
  • Marker
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Instructions

    • 1

      Stand the batting tee directly on top of home plate. Adjust the batting tee so that its height is even with your waist at the middle of your strike zone. Demonstrate a proper batting stance for your players. Stand upright, do not crouch. Spread your legs and rest your weight on your back foot. Hold the bat at shoulder level with the top of the bat pointing backward over your rear shoulder. Swing the bat directly over the batting tee to demonstrate a level swing.

    • 2

      Direct a player to stand in the batter's box using this correct batting stance. Adjust the batting tee to the height that is in the middle of the player's strike zone. Make adjustments to the player's stance as necessary.

    • 3

      Place the baseball on the batting tee. The side of the ball that faces the batter will have a large orange or red mark that you have drawn with a marker. Direct the batter to concentrate on the mark and to swing the bat directly through it. This will teach the player to keep his eyes on the ball and to keep his head still while swinging the bat.

    • 4

      Lower the tee to a height that is even with the batter's knees. This is the bottom of the batter's strike zone. Explain the importance of swinging through the ball instead of merely meeting it. Swinging through the ball will generate more power. Lift the the tee to a height that is even with the batter's armpits. This is the top of the batter's strike zone. Reiterate the importance of a level swing to avoid getting under the ball and popping it up.

    • 5

      Place the batting tee six inches in front of home plate. Have the batter extend the bat toward the tee. Point out that lunging at pitches before they reach the plate eliminates power since weight is transferred from the back foot to the front foot. Insist that the batter keep his body weight resting on the back foot and avoid lunging at pitches.

    • 6

      Return the batting tee to the center of home plate. Direct the batter to hit pitches in the middle of home plate back through the middle of the field toward center field. Move the batting tee to the inside half of home plate (the half nearest the batter). These pitches should be pulled (hit to left field for right-handed hitters and to right field for left-handed hitters). Attempts to hit inside pitches to the opposite field are likely to result in a foul ball. Move the tee to the outside half of home plate. Balls in that area should be hit to the opposite field. Attempts to pull outside pitches are likely to result in weak ground balls.