with Randy Schneider,
Ankeny Centennial (IA) High School Head Coach;
former Iowa State University Assistant Coach;
former University of Wisconsin Associate Head Coach (2013 Big Ten Tournament Champions);
Former head coach at Valparaiso University, where he left as the programs all-time wins leader;
2008 Horizon League Co-Coach of the Year
and Joe Yegge,
Kirkwood Community College Head Coach;
8x ICCAC regular season championships,
5x Region Championships, 5x District Championships, 2x NFCA Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year
Developing power hitters takes time and know-how. Randy Schneider and Joe Yegge team up to take your power hitting to the next level in this jam-packed video!
You'll learn how the body powerfully works through the swing process, followed by the techniques that help to improve repetitions without just mindlessly taking swings. The coaches conclude with an extensive laundry list of 30 tee and front toss drills to help solve your power hitting struggles. Every team can utilize these drills to win more games.
Mechanics
Before a player can become a great hitter, they must first develop a fundamentally strong swing. This video incorporates great technique for developing that swing, including:
- Medicine ball work to develop swing strength and bat speed.
- Band work to improve hand path and "feeling connected" in the upper half and lower half.
- Tennis racket work to feel bat lag and improve explosiveness through the ball.
- Frisbee throwing to enhance extension and finish.
From there, Schneider and Yegge show you how to develop sound fundamentals to improve success at the plate. They explain proper loading to gather strength and energy, attacking the front heel for optimal rotational/linear effort, and staying on plane to dramatically increase the ability to put the bat on the ball.
Learn about the speed/accuracy tradeoff and differential learning, and how incorporating both concepts into your practices will improve your hitters' performance.
30 Drills to Develop a Repeatable Swing
Power is the result of a repeatable and efficient swing that is built on body sequencing, and this video provides dozens of drills to provide exactly that. Drills are systematically broken down into segments:
- Lower half drive to take advantage of the biggest and most powerful muscles.
- Bat and hand path to increase the amount of time that the bat is working through the pitch plane and thus bettering the ability to put the ball in play.
- Extension and finish drills to become more powerful and maximize what the body has to offer.
Tee Drills
Coach Yegge shows you twelve tee drills that can prepare your power hitters to maximize their pop at the plate. These drills get players swinging faster and harder while also increasing percentage of powerful contact, resulting in more extra base hits. These drills will help your hitters with:
- Rhythm and feel
- Torque
- Bat control
- Bat speed
Overall, these drills will help your hitters harness the power from the ground and transfer that energy into their swings.
Front Toss Drills
Coach Schneider shows you how to tie it all together with front toss drills to help train the batter's eyes and body to make more solid contact. These front toss drills, like the slow load drill, will help your hitters work on their rhythm and timing. In the Slow Load drill, the hitter controls their load and loads gradually and slowly, before exploding to contact. This particular drill is helpful when facing a slower pitcher.
Discover the "Why" of Successful Swings
Coach Schneider provides lots of physics and biomechanics explanations to help you understand how to get the most out of any body type. Coach Schneider is clearly a "student of the game" and his ability to share what he's learned is terrific. You'll see what it takes to improve consistency and explosiveness through a better understanding of the biomechanics of the physical body.
Schneider and Yegge offer many drills to build your power game. This video will show you how to teach your hitters to be aggressive at the plate and do damage on offense!
49 minutes. 2018.
SD-05317B:
with Randy Schneider,
Ankeny Centennial (IA) High School Head Coach;
former Iowa State University Assistant Coach;
former University of Wisconsin Associate Head Coach (2013 Big Ten Tournament Champions);
Former head coach at Valparaiso University, where he left as the programs all-time wins leader;
2008 Horizon League Co-Coach of the Year
When people talk about offense, much of the talk and focus is on home runs. However, an aggressive running game can help take the pressure off big hitters and help generate runs when your power game has an off day.
In this video, Randy Schneider explains the baserunning drills, leads, and rundowns to strategically apply pressure to opposing defenses and force them to make mistakes.
Baserunning Drills
Get out of the box quicker and more efficiently! Coach Schneider introduces several drills that will help your runners get to and round first base faster. You'll benefit from a structured, easily implemented routine that breaks home to first base-running down into all of the important pieces, which include:
- Starts - Explosively getting out of the box.
- Open Window - Proper timing of looking up to see if the ball made it through the infield.
- Hitting the Bag - Whether hitting the front of the bag on a close play or hitting the inside corner of the bag when rounding, foot placement can be the difference that puts maximum pressure on the defense.
- Breakdown - After hitting the bag at full speed, knowing how to properly stop is important for avoiding injury and for forcing the defense into making mistakes.
Use the Starts drill to get out of the batter's box more efficiently. This is a skill that can benefit hitters on almost every at-bat. Players practice getting to the end of the swing, staying balanced, and driving out while keeping the head low and running through a cone a few feet away.
Leads
Once on first base, learn how to take an aggressive lead that will draw the defense's attention. Coach Schneider explains how to drill different leads for second and third base. Learn how to take a lead off of an aggressive catcher who likes to pick off frequently, while taking a more aggressive lead against a less skilled or lazy catcher.
Rundowns and Situations
One side benefit of being an aggressive baserunning team is that your defense will practice against your base runners, better preparing them for defending against a team that runs aggressively. Coach Schneider does a terrific job of incorporating offensive and defensive work into the same drills to optimize the use of practice time with a small ball scrimmage that keeps the focus on short game skills and aggressive baserunning. He shares techniques for developing an aggressive baserunning program into the typical batting practice that helps players become comfortable between bases. Multiple baserunner scenarios are incorporated to help players understand the dynamic of not being alone on the base paths.
Coach Schneider shows you 12 drills to help you keep pressure on the defense. The more pressure your baserunning game can apply to the defense, the more errors they will make and runs you will score. Let Coach Schneider show you how to help your baserunners apply the pressure!
48 minutes. 2018.