How to Pitch Batting Practice

Batting practice is a traditional part of a baseball team's preparation. Knowing how to pitch productive batting practice can hone your team's hitting skills and ready them for game situations.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Bring a bucket of old baseballs that are still in good shape to the mound and set up behind an L-screen. An L-Screen is a wire screen shaped like an "L" that the batting practice pitcher places in front of him to prevent line drives from hitting him.

2. Communicate to the hitter how many swings he is going to get and how many he has left at certain times. This will let the hitter know how long he has to work on certain aspects of his swing.

3. Get in a rhythm with your motion. Pick up the ball, show it to the hitter, and then pitch. Don't deviate too much from the rhythm of the batting practice. Throw strikes. If you can't throw strikes, you can't pitch batting practice. It's not called walking practice. Your batters are there to make contact.

4. Coach the hitter if you see something he can improve on. This is batting practice and the hitter is trying to get better. This is the time to work on weaknesses, such as hitting the outside pitch the other way or pulling the low inside pitch.

5. Shag baseballs once you are finished with the round. Everyone involved should pick up the baseballs. If you are on the field, have the rest of your team out in the field to shag baseballs.