Tee Work Fundamentals
The tee is absolutely one of the best hitting tools around. Inside every major league clubhouse you will see a tee. There may be different variations of it, but the concept remains the same. The better you can get at utilizing the tee, the better your hitters will become. The tee is an excellent tool for showing the hitter where in the hitting zone pitches need to be hit and an excellent tool for creating muscle memory. Here are few tips to ensure that you are using the tee properly.
The ball position on the tee is not where you want to make contact with the pitch, over the middle of home plate. The tee is merely an apparatus to hold the ball, which happens to be shaped as home plate on the bottom. When using the tee, pay more attention to where the ball is rather than where the home plate is under the tee. Whenever possible, have an actual home plate under the “tee” home plate to allow the hitter to see where each pitch needs to be hit.
For the inside pitch, place the tee ball in front of the stride foot on the inside part of the actual home plate.
For the middle pitch, place the tee ball even with the hitters’ stride foot on the middle part of the actual home plate.
For the outside pitch, place the tee ball in the middle of the hitters’ body over the outside part of the actual home plate.
Regardless of where the ball is placed, make sure the hitter has his arms and body in the proper position at contact and adjust ball accordingly. Arms too extended or too close to the body will reinforce improper swing mechanics.
Putting the tee ball in the proper position to hit each pitch will greatly enhance the hitters’ perspective on where each pitch actually needs to be hit, will allow the hitter’s body to be in the proper position at contact and will also allow him to make more solid contact consistently.
Tips For The Advanced Player
Do not stare at ball and hit it. Envision pitch coming in from pitcher and follow path down to the ball.
Why: Try to replicate the actual approach to a real pitch. By focusing on the ball only, too many things can go wrong and you can still hit the ball well. The most obvious fault being the over-rotation of the shoulders and the cutting off of the field of vision to the pitch with the head. If you over-rotate the shoulders while looking at the ball, your head is not going to move because you are looking straight down at it. If you are looking at the pitcher and over-rotate, you can lose sight of the ball because your head will follow your shoulders. Try and make it as game-like as possible.
Move the tee around to different locations and different heights.
Why: Learn where to hit all the different pitches and their locations.
Keep the same stride/approach to hit each pitch: in, middle, away.
Why: Try to be consistent with your approach. During the game you should not be striding to different spots. At the upper levels of baseball, you do not have the time to recognize the pitch location and then stride to the correct spot to hit it. It is difficult enough to learn one swing without complicating the matter by having to learn three or four swings. If you stride to a different spot in anticipation of a certain pitch, your body is going to react differently to being in that spot, therefore creating a different swing. Learn one correct spot and perfect it.
Since the ball is stationary, strive to make every swing perfect with perfect balance.
Why: The tee is one of the only tools that allows you to swing at a pitch that is not moving. Use it to perfect your swing. Create muscle memory. If I’m taking off-balance swings off a tee, chances are I’m doing it in the game as well. Ensure you are getting a full upper and lower body turn and remain balanced at follow through.
Pay attention to ball flight after contact. If hitting in an open area, the path of the ball may give insight as to how solid contact was made. For instance, if ball is slicing away or if ball has too much topspin, there could be a technical problem in the swing that needs to be addressed.
A great way to see ball flight is to use whiffle balls. Otherwise, always use real balls to ensure you are hitting ball on the sweet spot of the bat.
Why: Whiffle balls will create more spin and will magnify any incorrect contact. Also, I always want to know if I’m hitting the ball on the meat of the bat. If you use softies or whiffle balls a lot, you do not get that same sensation of solid contact and may not realize your contact was not made on the proper spot on the bat.