TEE DRILL – A MUST HAVE FOR ANY YOUTH BASEBALL COACH!

by Brent Henze
(Lakeville, MN)

Start kids on a tee early in their career!

Start kids on a tee early in their career!

Using a tee at a youth baseball practice is imperative! For some reason, some youth baseball players don’t like to use a tee. Some say it is for Kindergartners, some say they aren’t very good at it…. The list goes on and on…

I have watched many youth baseball coaches consistently only work on hitting during live batting practice. The baseball players never get a chance to improve their swing consistency before stepping into a game situation. Baseball players need tons of repetitions to develop a natural swing which means they definitely need more swings off a tee compared to live pitching.

If any of us would ever have the privilege of seeing a major league practice facility, we would see MANY batting tees! Even major league baseball players use tees on a regular basis! There are many reasons why EVERY baseball player needs to use a tee.

Using a baseball tee allows players to get repetitions that regular batting practice doesn’t allow. Baseball players can work on one aspect of hitting at a time, like hitting to the opposite field, pulling an inside pitch, hitting a low and outside pitch, etc. When using a tee, you really don’t need anyone else around to help.

So, if you are serious about coaching youth baseball or if you are a serious baseball player, invest in a batting tee and some sort of net to hit into. It will be one of the best purchases you can make to improve your hitting skills.