"Save the King" Drill

This drill comes from Marcus Murphree our April 2004 Drill of the Month Winner.

Equipment:

• Balls
• Bucket
• Plastic Water Bottle
• Bat

I hate seeing strikeouts. As a hired batting coach, I never feel like more of a failure than when one of my pupil's K's because he fails to just make contact with the ball, or is frozen by a 0-2 curve. This drill is designed to drastically improve contact on 2 strike pitches.

This can be done in a batting cage, by a backstop, a chain link fence, or anywhere that has a place to corral the balls after the drill.

Place a bucket with a water battle balanced on top of it behind home plate (this simulates the king.) Have the batter step up and begin to pitch to him. Contact is a MUST, fouling off pitches is just as good as a rip up the middle because it is keeping him (the batter and the king) alive.

After the batter seems to make contact on some BP pitches, vary it a little bit e.g. fastballs, some breaking stuff, and then work pitches in the dirt. THE BATTER MUST SWING at anything to keep ball from hitting the bucket and tipping the bottle (the king.)

The fun comes when you can really test the batter's contact ability by throwing 2 balls at once, or bouncing one and then throwing another. The kids eventually learn that contact is a MUST in a 0-2 situation, or when runners are moving for a hit and run.

In order to "keep score" just take note of who lasts the longest. The beginners sometimes will make it through the BP rounds, the good ones can hit the breaking pitches, and the great ones have exhausted me as the BP pitcher.

I hope you enjoy the drill and most of all HAVE FUN!