Welcome back to the 21 Days to Building a Better Ballplayer series. Let’s talk about hitting today. In fact, let’s talk about how using a batting tee can be a huge benefit in helping to develop your swing.
Tee Off for Success
Tony Gwynn is one of the best hitters to ever play the game and he has been interviewed numerous times about what he used to do to work on his swing. On nearly ever occasion, Gwynn has stated that using a tee has helped him more than any other hitting drill. He grabs a bag of wiffle balls and his tee and starts swinging.
“When you hit a wiffle ball off a tee correctly, it acts like a knuckleball. You can hear the air going through the ball. When you don’t hit it correctly, you create spin on the ball and it goes all over the place. When the ball spins alot, I make adjustments to correct my swing. Even after 18 years in the big leagues, every winter I go home and break out the tee and wiffle balls.” – Tony Gwynn
This is coming from a 20-year Big Leaguer with 3,141 hits and a .338 batting average in his career. Obviously, Gwynn was on to something. If it works for him, imagine what it can do for you.
Tee Drill
So, today’s task is grab a bucket of balls and a batting tee and get to swinging. Forget the live pitching, soft toss, and other hitting drills today. Use a basic tee drill to focus on your swing and make quality contact with the ball. Make adjustments when necessary. A great addition to this drill would be to video yourself. Set up your video camera on the opposite side of the plate so when you watch the playback you can see your hitting mechanics and form. This visual feedback will further help you in making changes for the better.
Good luck!
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