A baseball hitting drill is a structured exercise designed to enhance a players ability to improve their swing, create more optimal contact, and improve their overall hitting mechanics.
These drills often focus on specific aspects of hitting, such as hand-eye coordination, improved sequencing, lower half drive, bat speed, and proper swing path. Players can refine their technique by practicing these skills, leading to more consistent and effective swings during games.
Finding the right drills to add to your training routine is crucial because they help players address and correct flaws in their swing and increase their confidence at the plate
This article will explore the best hitting drills designed to enhance your lower half during your swing, focusing on three drills:
- Knee down
- Knee drive and hold
- Knee drive finish high
1. Knee Down Hitting Drill
The “knee down” drill enhances rotational mechanics by focusing on hip and knee movement, grounding, and energy transfer in regards to sequencing from the ground up. To start, position yourself in your regular hitting stance with your feet firmly planted on the ground and your body balanced. Place a pad or target between your legs; this pad will be a focal point for your hip and knee movement during the drill.
Place a pad or target between your legs.
Begin by taking a load. This is called a preload position or launch position.
You may feel your weight slightly shifting back and preparing to move forward. Engage your core and brace yourself in this stance once you have completely landed in your preload. Your feet should be completely flat on the ground and your hands should be in a stretched position. This is a fully loaded position.
The main focus of the drill is to rotate the hip and knee down toward the pad as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Rotation of the hip and knee down toward the pad.
Imagine there is a bat attached to your hip that you need to swing towards the pad.
The motion should start from the hip rather than concentrating on the bat. The bat in your hands will naturally follow the rotation of your hip.
The imaginary bat is attached to your hip. While performing the rotation, push into the middle of your feet to stabilize yourself.
Your back foot should remain planted on the ground, while the front foot helps brace and balance as you rotate. Your back foot will rotate as this happens, resulting in your back foot shoelaces facing the pitcher.
Push into the middle of your feet for stabilization.
Execute the drill by pushing and bracing into the ground with your back foot while rotating your hip and knee towards the pad.
Maintain pressure and balance, even if your front foot lifts slightly; this lifting is a normal part of the learning process and understanding that both feet have equal and opposite reactions. This drill gives implicit feedback because the brace/brake of the front leg and foot will not be possible if the knee doesn’t go down to the pad.
There are two variations of the drill:
- Preload Drill: Start with a preload and then perform the hip and knee rotation towards the pad, focusing on staying grounded and bracing effectively. Balls should be tossed at the low strike to help create more efficient contact.
- Regular Timing Drill: After practicing the preload, perform the drill with a regular timing move where the rotation occurs more naturally without the preparatory preload.
Knee down hitting drill in execution.
After each attempt, assess the movement to identify hip rotation and balance improvements. If the front foot lifts off the ground, the knee cannot reach the pad, or there are balance issues, it indicates a need to improve bracing.
Key points to remember include:
- focusing on hip rotation rather than just moving the bat
- ensuring that you push fully into the middle of the back foot as you load and track the pitch
- letting the back foot shoelaces face the pitcher as you rotate to the pad
- bracing the front foot the best of your ability as your collect rotational speed
Practice in short bursts with adjustments based on feedback. Keep the rounds short (3-5 swings) to ensure that fast and full effort is being used.
Regular practice of the “knee down drill” will improve rotational mechanics by focusing on hip and knee movement, grounding, and energy transfer in regards to sequencing from the ground up.
2. Knee Drive and Hold Drill
The knee drive and hold hitting drill is designed to enhance your ability to decelerate effectively and build power in your swing. This drill is a variation of the knee down drill, but instead of working all the way down to the ground, you’ll end in a position similar to a lunge.
Lunge rather than bracing into the ground.
Start by assuming your regular hitting stance and, like before, visualizing an imaginary bat hanging from your hip.
As you initiate the drill, think about driving your front knee downward. The goal is to simulate the motion of your swing without fully reaching the ground, ending up in a lunge-like position. In this position, your front knee should be lower, and your body should be braced, with your core fully engaged to maintain stability. Your front foot will lift slightly off the ground while your back foot remains anchored. Once the knee drive happens, the back foot shoelaces can face the pitcher.
Perform the knee drive with intensity, focusing on engaging your core and driving the knee downward aggressively.
Hold this lunge-like position at the end of the swing for TWO SECONDS. During this hold, your legs may shake slightly, and your core should be actively braced. The emphasis here is on bracing and maintaining the position with power.
Engage the core and drive the knee downward, holding a lunge-like position.
A crucial aspect of this hitting drill is learning to decelerate properly. Effective deceleration is essential for accelerating more quickly in future swings. You can only accelerate as fast as you can decelerate. By doing this drill, your brain will begin to understand that you can slow down more efficiently, which will enable your body to move faster and create swings that have much more bat speed. This in turn, will help to create more power.
For practice, complete two preload knee drive and holds, where you perform the knee drive without a pitched ball to get used to the movement. Follow this with two regular timing swings with a pitched ball to integrate the drill into actual hitting scenarios. Continue to keep these rounds short to ensure that fast and full effort is being used.
3. Knee Drive Finish High Drill
The “knee drive, finish high” drill focuses on improving your lower half mechanics by emphasizing knee drive and finishing with a high follow-through. This variation aims to enhance your ability to anchor and brace while keeping the upper body effectively engaged and working through the baseball. To start, position yourself in your regular hitting stance.
As you execute the drill, drive your front knee down in the same manner as the other two drills, simulating the action of the swing but differing in maintaining a higher finish. The goal is to achieve a lunge-like position with your knee driving downward but with the upper body finishing higher, which directs the swing toward the middle/opposite side of the field. The finish high component will happen AFTER contact is made. By working on a lower half drive and an upper half finish high, we are beginning to help our brain navigate the different movements our body needs to be optimal as both parts of the body need to do different things.
Achieve a lunge but with the upper body finishing higher.
Begin by performing two preloads, executing the knee drive and finish high drill without a pitched ball.
Focus on driving the knee down and finishing with your hands above your head/ear. You may feel like the upper body is slightly falling over the plate, which is helping to initiate a backside crunch. This elevated finish maintains proper swing direction and will start to improve swing path and overall swing mechanics. During the preload phase, hold the finish for TWO SECONDS.
This hold helps reinforce the bracing and stabilization of the lower half, as well as ensuring your body is properly engaged to decelerate properly.
After completing the preloads, move on to regular timing swings with a pitched ball. Execute the knee drive, finish high, and hold the position for TWO SECONDS.
This phase integrates the drill into actual in game timing, emphasizing maintaining the high finish while adjusting to different pitches and different speeds. Observe how the knee drive and finish high affect the overall swing and adjust as necessary. Remember, the finish high should not happen until after contact is made.
Final Thoughts on Hitting Drills
Incorporating these baseball-hitting drills into your routine will help enhance your swing and improve grounding, lower half rotation, and energy transfer in regards to sequencing from the ground up.
For optimal results, perform short rounds of 3-5 reps for each drill and complete 2-4 sets per day. ALL OF THESE DRILLS CAN BE PERFORMED WITHOUT A BASEBALL. All you need is something to swing and a big enough space to do the drills.
To watch these drills in action and to better visualize them, I’ve created a video course on the ISNation app that you can view.
Click here to check out my course “Everything Starts From the Ground” on the ISnation app.
The app features free mental wellness tips for athletes, as well as physical wellness courses to help you stay healthy and injury-free.
Good luck, and please let me know if you have any questions about this in the ISNation community feed.
