Polyball Batting Practice: A Safe Alternative to Live Baseball Pitching

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Polyball Batting Practice

traing effectively for baseball using the wiffle ball

A Safer and Effective Alternative to Live Batting Practice

I want to be clear from the start that the reasons I like poly ball batting practice are:

It can be done indoors or out

It allows the hitters to hit moving pitches - daily - from a live pitcher (or pitching machine) - by "moving pitches" I mean pitches that have movement i.e. curve, slider, tailing fast ball.

The mini poly ball in combination with the small diameter bat improves the hitter's focus and contact.

It allows a batting practice pitcher (usually the coach) to throw hundreds of pitches pre-game with very little fatigue.

The balls are easily contained - a useful advantage for pre-game batting practice when a batting cage is not available.

And lastly, it is also safer than live pitch baseball batting practice.

Now with respect to the above, let me say that I think a "good mix" of batting practice for the hitter / trainee is about 50% polyball batting practice and 50% baseball batting practice. This is a good blend of practicality and allows for the strengths of both practice systems to be utilized to fullest advantage.

It is the last point from above - the "safety" point that I wish to address in this article.

As the players get older - high school age and older, safety (of the batting practice pitcher) becomes more of a concern with aluminum bats and the hopefully well developed bat speed of the players. In order to practice "reactive" hitting or "two strike hitting" a live pitcher is often required to give the batter a good random mix of pitches to which he must:

1. Clearly identify the pitch

2. Clearly identify the location

and then "react" to the pitch in the form of a good swing or in the taking of the pitch.

One of the "issues" that the coach must address in live pitching is the speed of his fastball must be on par with the speed of the fastball the the hitter will be seeing in a game situation. The most common way to deal with this is to move the mound closer to home plate so that the "reaction" time is the same as it would be in a game even though the pitch speed may not be.

Therein lies the danger.

Pitching live batting practice from 35' or 40' away doesn't allow much reaction time to a batted ball "through the box". Even though all live batting practice as such should involve the use of an "L screen", it is common to get careless and to "forget to duck" behind the safety of the screen, particularly when the BP pitcher is throwing "pitches" (curve, cutter, and whatever etc...) as he is trying to complete the pitch (as well as admire his pitching prowess?) and is often forgetful of the ducking part.

If you are pitching batting practice day in and day out to older players - high school and older you will have a close call sooner or later. Of course with polyball batting practice there is little danger of serious injury and it is a whole lot easer on the pitching arm.

Polyball batting practice should be a part of any well designed hitting program, making full use of the advantages of such practice.

Improve Your Baseball Hitting

Train at Home with a Polyball Pitching Machine

Trend Sports Crusher Mini Lite-Ball Pitching Machine

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Polyball Batting Practice

The most practical way to improve your hitting skill. Serious batting practice - at home. (indoors or outdoors.) Fast balls, curve balls and sliders. Don't waste another coin at a commercial batting cage. Great for all ages and skill levels.

"If you are not doing Polyball Batting Practice -You are probably not taking enough batting practice"

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The Grobat is a perfect adjunct to the Personal Pitcher