Hit inside your front foot

Take a look at the following photographs showing four of the best hitters in baseball.  In each photo you will notice that contact with the ball is made when the ball is inside the front foot.  

One of the biggest challenges young players (and therefore their coaches) face is jumping or lunging at the pitch.  When this happens, contact is made out in front of the front foot.  Power is lost and when the batter gets any type of off-speed pitch they are bound to be way out in front of the ball.  At the MLB level, pitchers throw too hard and have command of too many nasty off-speed pitches that any batter who jumps or lunges at the ball will get eaten alive.

The best way for a batter to practice hitting inside their front foot is to put a batting tee just in front of home plate and position their lead foot just behind the ball as shown in this photo.

When the batter strides, the lead foot now positions itself just beyond the ball which forces the batter to make contact just inside his front foot as shown here.

When a batter does this consistently on pitches down the middle and on the outer half they improve a host of things with their swing.  It promotes a more hands-inside-the-ball approach to contact.  It develops the feel of the ball coming to the body instead of the body going to the ball.  It keeps the stride length in check.  It also can improve a batter’s opposite field hitting.

Note: A pitch on the inner half will require contact to be made slightly in front of their lead foot.  If you plan on practicing that pitch, adjust the tee forward accordingly.