Pop-up Eliminator Drill

Setup

This drill can be executed using a baseball tee or just by throwing soft-toss. The hitter should be setup in front of a net to catch the balls that will be hit. A coach or player kneels across the hitter to feed the hitter balls.

Instructions

The batter is to hold the bat with only one hand.  The arm that should be holding the bat is the arm that would be closest to the pitcher.  When a ball is placed on the tee or tossed in front of the batter, then the batter will swing by driving the knob of the bat towards the ball and make the barrel whip around to hit the ball.  This drill forces the batter to hit down on the ball.  The back arm is typically responsible for causing the bat to cross the strike zone in an upward motion causing a pop-up.  Hitting with only the front arm, teaches the batter to stay on top of the ball without dropping the back shoulder.

Variations

To allow the batter to get comfortable with the swing, have the batter hit a few balls with the front arm and then switch to using both arms. Make sure the batter has the same motion when changing between the two configurations.

Coaching Points

• Teach the batter to have a fluid motion without dropping the back shoulder which can be translated into the batter’s swing with two hands.
• Without having the power of the back hand, the batter can also focus on hip techniques to give the batter more power.

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