Tee Work With a Purpose: Drills That Carry Into Games

Every hitter owns a tee. Most use it the same way: ball in the middle, belt high, swing until the bucket is empty. That trains one swing at one pitch.

Used well, the tee is the best place to change how you move, because nothing else is happening. There is no timing to solve and no pitch to recognize.

Set it up properly

• Move it. Inside, middle and away. High and low.
• Change contact depth. Out front for the inside pitch, deeper for the pitch away.
• Use a target. Aim line drives at a spot in the cage or on the field.
• Step in fresh. Reset your feet between swings.

Give every round a job

Pick one thing and judge the round on that.

• Loading the rear hip. Feel the turn into the back hip before you go.
• Direction. Drive the ball where it is pitched: inside pitch to the pull side, outside pitch the other way.
• Staying through the ball. Line drives to the back of the cage, not hooks into the side net.
• Posture. Hold your angle through contact on the low pitch.

Drills worth using

• Stance rotation drills, starting pre-turned to feel the hips lead.
• Walk-through or step-behind swings, to feel weight shift and momentum.
• High tee, to train a flatter path and getting on top of the high pitch.
• Deep tee away, to train letting the ball travel.
• Offset or two-tee setups, to train path.
• Top-hand and bottom-hand swings with a short bat.

Add front toss

Front toss, or flips, adds a moving ball and a little timing while keeping things controlled. Use the same drills, then check whether the change survives.

Keep it honest

• Low reps, full attention. Five to eight swings a round.
• Measure sometimes. Bat speed and exit velocity off the tee show whether a change helps.
• Film from the side and from behind.
• Do not stay there. A swing change that only works off a tee is not finished. Take it to the machine and to live pitching.

How much

For most hitters, tee and flip work is a third of practice, not all of it. It prepares the swing. It does not prepare the hitter for a pitcher.