Balanced Batting Practice
Batting practice has long been used as a place where players can get “right” for the game. Much has been debated and scrutinized over the past few years about the merits of Traditional Batting Practice (Coaching throwing 45 MPH from 45 feet). While many now consider hitting against a pitching machine at high velocities or even working with different machines to simulate real pitches and release points (New Age BP). I don’t believe that this is a one or the other type of topic. I think that we as coaches need to find balance with how we organize batting practice.
There are two competing ideas here one being that Players (often) want to feel good about their swings heading into the game. Facing a machine and swinging and missing (a lot) can take a tool a players psyche. Many coaches do not want players to be feeling bad about their swing heading into the game.
The other side points to the idea that players will swing and miss a lot during the game (especially if they only face traditional batting practice). Making practice hard is good for players. It should be a struggle. Every coach who has looked at the research or information which is available will say that this New Age BP (NABP from this point forward) will considerably help your team get ready for games. There is no debate really when it comes to the value of it. It helps. It is hard. It is going to challenge players both mentally and physically.
I do believe there is a balance that can be struck between these two. The first conclusion that comes to mind is the idea that we should probably be having “Good” pitchers throw from the mound to hitters to make this the most game like. I agree but I don’t know if the arms are there yet for coaches to use. I think the in future we might. Rather I think that we can strike a balance between the best of these two concepts. Lets call that the sweet spot between difficulty and feel good. The biggest reason for this is motivation. Players will lose motivation if they are getting dominated in practice…every single day.
I believe that during the week when no one is watching players need to be challenged. No game til Thursday..cool lets make this difficult for players. Now just because we can set up a bunch of different machines doesn’t mean that we should. You have to value the information that players are giving you. The coaching staff is going to have to scale down the speed or movement if they see players moving beyond that sweet spot. Difficulty Vs. Feel Good. Often times if I feel that players are getting dominated that the final round or two of the day lets call that Extra Work are players getting their best swings off. Now I am not suggesting that we do this without any pressure. Boom there is the balance. The definition of practice is “ the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method as opposed to theories about such application or use.”
Yes the theory of NABP is AMAZING! When you put it into effect it can not be the only way to do this.
Coaching in the Cape when we had extra time we use to do a big feel good round. Simply hitter would come in to the cage. We went best swings. As you can imagine this turned into a home run derby very quickly. The coach would throw traditional batting practice and players would TEE OFF on him. It was very interesting to see the challenge that was presented to hitters. Hit it hard or get out. If we are going to move away from Traditional Batting Practice to the NABP we need to still put pressure on players when taking Traditional Batting Practice. The challenge is going to allow them to still be engaged in the activity. Just because we are going feel good meaning that we are making it easier for hitters to make contact doesn’t mean that we ease off of the gas pedal so much that we no longer provide structure.
Think of this in a different way. If you are learning math the teacher does not provide you with only challenging problems but rather they look at it from multiple different angles. Easier problems help you breakdown the problem into easier chunks for you to understand and follow while the harder problems will push your understanding and ability. Both are useful. Both have their spots. Both add value. If you are only doing one or the other you are missing an opportunity.
