Hitting

By sliding your grip up the handle of the bat you impart some mechanical constraints on your swing. However, these constraints create some good habits in a baseball swing that when practiced routinely, help develop a short and direct swing that stays inside the baseball.

The load pause drill helps develop your power by creating linear drive. Linear drive is an important mechanical component to your baseball swing. By driving the body forward you are leveraging your body weight to create speed and force in your swing, thus increasing your power. The best place to do this? Your legs! By pausing your load, you have no choice but to drive forward with the back leg. This creates linear drive. The deeper you get into your leg, the more explosive your movement!

This drill helps to develop a strong front side with push - the rock back - and create pivot in the back side. Doing so helps hitters stay balanced on the front side and stay behind the baseball.  The push and straightening of the front leg helps hitters develop good, deliberate internal rotation into the lead hip and create drive in through the back hip.

The two step drill is meant to get your lower half moving so it is particularly great for younger hitters still learning to use their legs. The movement essentially forces a loading action and can be performed to varying degrees. It's a great and simple way to understand the benefits of weight shift to create linear drive in your swing thereby increasing power.

This video features the 'windup drill.' It's a great drill for developing an understanding of rotational drive and power in a baseball swing. The greater the angle you set, the deeper you can get into the windup position and the more explosive your rotation forward through the ball will be. When it comes to game time, every batter should strive to create this feeling for a quick and powerful swing.