365 Days to Better Baseball - Baseball Hitting Timing Tips

Tuesday Tips to Tattoo the Ball Gaining that Elusive Timing

Teaching batters to time the ball is never an easy thing, especially when change of speeds comes into play around age ten. Some kids seem to have good timing, while others do not, and of course, it disappears, at times, even for those that often have it. A great amount of game like batting practice is necessary along with the necessary baseball hitting timing tips.

Following are baseball hitting timing tips for batting practice that help players find and keep good timing.

Baseball Hitting Timing Tips and Drills

Coaches should:

1. Continually work on better hitting fundamentals, which allow hitters to wait longer on the ball, making it easier to hit different speed pitches
2. Begin batting practice sessions with slow speeds, so hitters feel comfortable waiting for the ball, a major key to hitting
3. Having hitters hit with a no-stride swing, at first during batting practice, helps hitters stay back and wait for the ball, too
4. Alternate slow pitches with faster ones to helps timing and is more game like than throwing the same speed, pitch after pitch

Other Baseball Hitting Timing Tips

1. Teach hitters to hit the ball in the direction of the pitched ball, outside pitches to the opposite field for example.
2. Have hitters think of hitting balls back through the middle before each pitch, which makes for smaller adjustments on inside and outside pitches
3. Have players treat batting practice as in games and have them hold up on pitches that are not strikes

Finally, maintaining good timing will always be difficult without a compact, fundamentally-sound swing. Developing that compact swing is a continual process with the use of baseball drills and positive reinforcement under good coaching supervision.