so 5 days a week i play baseball BY MYSELF. my dad is too busy and buildings he owns so about once every 3 weeks he'll play for an hour. but i dont have a tee or money to get one. so i throw the ball up swing fast and go get it and repeat i do that for about an hour along with running drills. then i throw against the fence for grounders and help my arm strength. any ideas on batting??? cause my swing is bad and when my dad pitches i can hit the ball a lot farther than when i throw it up. cause of the bad swing…and ideas?? THANKS
oh yea i know i SHOULD be playing softball but i dont i play baseball (2nd base) and i love it.
also if you have any secondbaseman tips id love to hear them!!
First of all.. the reason the ball goes farther when you hit from someone pitching it is simple physics. The combined speeds of your bat swing and the exerted force put on the ball from being thrown (or pitched) to you will result in a much higher amount of force; thus the ball will go much further and much faster when it is pitched or thrown to you and you hit it.
If you're batting alone, it can be pretty frustrating. In general, you need to be practicing baseball with another person, especially when learning about your defensive skills. This is because baseball is a game of enormous strategy (both on offense and defense). This is why many people find that watching baseball is quite boring; but to play is one of the most thrilling sports (for me). I love to watch and play, and played until I got an injury while playing College baseball, 2nd base as a matter of fact!
In terms of batting skill improvement and practice; the best thing you can really do if you're alone is one of two things….
1) Go to the nearest batting cage facility (most decent-sized cities will have either a batting cage that y ou can pay for by the hour, or at a sport facility that has a gym and weights, and batting cages as well)…a machine will pitch to you while you're inside the netted or fenced cage. You can adjust the speed and can even change the pitches to curves or fastballs, etc. Nowdays they probably have some that will choose it's own pitch randomly so that it's like facing a real pitcher (I'm not positive, just guessing). One tip however: when in the batting cages, make sure to stand back away from the batter's box upon the first few pitches from the machine. The machines sometimes need to be adjusted first and if you stand in the box immediately, it may just drill you with the first pitch (wear a helmet for sure)!
Second thing you can do for batting is to find a large rural area or lot, and an old wooden bat or even a stick (this is what I loved doing while growing up)…make sure you're far away from any property that can be damaged (broken windows or cars being hit - i've done both on accident, much to my parents' chagrin)… use the old bat or stick to hit rocks with. hit small sized rocks (maybe not bigger than say a golf ball) with the old wooden bat or stick. You'll be seeing the baseball look like a grapefruit after a few months of hitting rocks!
Defensive skills really requires that you have a team practice or at least 1 other person to hit to you (really you need a coach for this). In baseball, you have to always be thinking before every pitch.. "What will I do in this situation? Where will I throw it if the ball is hit on the ground to me with 1 out and a runner on 2nd base? On a fly ball, where will I position myself in the shallow part of the outfied while serving as the "cut-off man" for a relay throw to home plate?" Many things and a lot of strategy. This is why you really need a coach that can train you on not only how to have athletic skill, but also thinking skills. One quick piece of advise I can give you on fielding ground balls… don't ever be afraid of the ball, always go towards the ball (dont' let it chase you), and lastly… pretend that you're trying to catch an egg in your hands (glove) without breaking it - soft hands. When you catch an egg, you naturally pull in your hands towards your body so that you avoid extra pressure on the shell of it (so that it doesn't break). Fielding a baseball that's hit on the ground is done the same way. I hope this helps.
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http://www.Kudda.com presents thousands of free youth sports coaching videos. In this baseball drill, Coach Robertson demonstrates the proper stance.